ROTARY LUNCHEON:Rick Harrell - Heroes' Voices

Rick Harrell is the Director of Heroes’ Voices, a non-profit organization that touches the lives of veterans with the gift of music.

Rick spent over 25 years teaching, creating musical events and providing performance opportunities for singers on three continents at many institutions, including the Juilliard Opera Center, San Francisco Opera Center, the New National Theatre Tokyo, Bangkok Opera, Yale University, Operafestival di Roma, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Two and a half years ago Rick made a significant career shift away from the opera world and created Heroes’ Voices, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping veterans live better lives.

One of the greatest challenges that veterans face when returning home is how to reconnect with their communities. Almost 600,000 veterans have, or will return, from Iraq and Afghanistan with some level of either Traumatic Brian Injury or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or both.

Music Therapy is proving to be a powerful tool in treating battle related brain and psychological injuries. Heroes’ Voices creates music programs and opportunities for veterans, provides information relating to veteran’s issues, and encourages cooperative partnerships between existing organizations.

Rick Harrell joined our Rotary Club last September, where he has found invaluable connection and support for Heroes’ Voices.  He has been working closely with several club members, and the club is a major sponsor of the “Heroes’ Voices Concert Honoring our Veterans”, to be held on November 11th, Veteran’s Day, at the Herbst Theatre in the newly renovated War Memorial & Performing Arts Center in San Francisco.

Rick will provide us with an overview of the work of Heroes' Voices, and he'll discuss how club members can get involved with Heroes' Voices and other potential projects to serve veterans in our area.

This is a weekly membership meeting for The Rotary Club of San Francisco, open to all Rotarians, visiting Rotarians, prospective members and guests.

Each luncheon meeting includes three-course lunch from Scala's Bistro. Individual lunch tickets are $40, or purchase a book of four tickets for the discounted price of $145. Cash, check and credit card payment options available. Tickets available for purchase at the door.

Members and guests can RSVP using the links at the top left corner of this page.