Faith, family, and the American flag. These “3 F’s” referred to throughout the Operation Yellow Ribbon ceremony were definitely in the hearts and minds of every person sitting in Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena on Tuesday night. “An Inspiring Evening of Stories and Songs” brought out some of Nashville’s finest artists including Gretchen Wilson, Kix Brooks, Amy Grant, and Charlie Daniels for acoustic performances and was the very moving end to a daylong symposium held on Lipscomb’s campus earlier this week.
Tuesday night’s ceremony began with a video highlighting the mission of Challenge America (founded by Amy Grant & Vince Gill in 2009), followed by a speech from Captain Hughes. Hughes recognized the 31 students currently attending LU under the Yellow Ribbon Program, as well as other military veterans in attendance, reinforcing the importance of fundraising so that other veterans could benefit as well.

The evening’s host, Larry Gatlin, introduced the first musical act of the evening, Gretchen Wilson who sang a beautiful ballad from her upcoming album called “I’d Love to Be Your Last.” Next up was an artist well known for her charity and close ties to LU, Amy Grant. Amy also sang a new song, “Better than a Hallelujah.” (This was my first time seeing her perform live after wanting to see her sing since I was a kid. Despite a couple of rough starts, she was wonderful and I definitely would love to see her perform an entire set someday.) Ret. Army General B.B. Bell, a Tennessee native, who was formerly responsible for the command of all US forces in Europe, came out to introduce Kix Brooks who sang the Brooks & Dunn patriotic tune “Only in America.” While it was easy to see that the crowd had enjoyed the evening’s performances thus far, they got very excited when Kix took the stage and even helped sing along at times.

Last but certainly not least on the list of volunteer performers for the evening was hands down the crowd favorite, Charlie Daniels. (I am a big fan of Charlie’s music and he is one of the nicest, most genuine individuals you could ever meet so I was very glad to see that the stroke he suffered not long ago had not slowed him down one bit! Also, being a pharmacy student at Lipscomb, I couldn’t help but smile when I noticed that he was dressed in the school colors of purple and yellow.) Charlie definitely got the crowd fired up as he told about why these organizations and their missions are so important to him, then sang his original song “It’s America” which left no doubt about his passion for supporting our military service people.

To round out the show, members of the US Marine Corps presented Dr. Lowry and Lipscomb University with a 2010 Semper Fidelis Leadership Award for the efforts being made to further the education of our veterans and for being at the forefront of this generous movement. Then Larry Gatlin, along with his brothers Rudy and Steve came out to sing a final song. Afterward, they were joined on stage by the rest of the night’s performers and speakers to sing “America the Beautiful” along with students from Lipscomb’s music department.
Overall, it was a wonderful end to an event dedicated to raising money for very worthy causes that made me have a greater appreciation for the sacrifices made by those serving in our armed forces as well as those involuntary sacrifices made by their family members. After seeing the tremendous efforts put forth to help our veterans receive the education they deserve, I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud to say that I am a student at Lipscomb University, where generosity and selflessness are engrained into each student and faculty member representing that campus.

To find out more about Lipscomb’s Yellow Ribbon Program or any of the other organizations highlighted during Operation Yellow Ribbon, check out the links below.

Challenge America: www.challengeamerica.com
Folds of Honor: www.foldsofhonor.com
LU’s Yellow Ribbon Program: http://campuslife.lipscomb.edu/page.asp?SID=41&Page=7121

Amy Barton
CMTT Contributor
http://www.twitter.com/amynbpharmd2b