The value of community
There are many times when people have thanked us and told us how much a performance at the Dakota has meant to them. Now is a time for us to thank you and to share some very positive news. Because in the midst of this experience that we are all, in our individual and collective ways, navigating through, there are things to be thankful for. And community ranks near the top of that list.
We’ve been touched by two vivid examples of this over the past few weeks.
We announced that 100% of all Dakota gift card sales during the last two weeks of March would be distributed evenly to our out-of-work staff. Added to this were several people who, rather than change to a rescheduled show or a raincheck, contributed the value of their tickets to postponed shows to the staff and an individual gift from one long-time Dakota guest.
We had already made a decision to pay our staff for the two weeks following the mandate to close, and these added efforts by our Dakota community provided over $400 for each of our 70 staff members. We thank you all! And we can’t wait to share evenings at the Dakota with you again!
There is another example of community outpouring that is hard to compare to anything. As many of you know, Nachito Herrera has been ill with COVID-19. Not everyone knows just how serious his condition has been. He has spent the past 11 days being kept alive by the critical care team at the University of Minnesota’s surgical ICU, an ECMO machine, his family’s remarkable strength, and the prayers and positive wishes of literally thousands of people around the world expressed through Nachito’s and the Dakota’s Facebook pages.
This morning, Nachito was removed from the ECMO (google this). He continues to remain stable and has made remarkable progress according to his care team.
There is still a distance to go in recovery and we cannot take anything for granted at this time. But everyone in Nachito’s circle of family and friends is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from the community. Words fall short in expressing the depth of this gratitude. As part of that circle, we at the Dakota thank you all.
The Dakota