Over the 43 year of history of Famous PEOPLE Players, I have learned many valuable lessons. The most important lesson is never to doubt or underestimate anyone’s ability to change and make a difference in one’s life. Throughout the years at Famous PEOPLE Players (FPP) I see, feel and experience this every day.

I remember it as if it just happened yesterday. I was in Sendai, Japan high up on the mountain in a Buddhist temple trying to learn Zen meditation. Forget it! It was as if I was “I love Lucy” trying to sit still and stop thinking. Finally the Buddhist monk said to me, after our session together, “that every moment is a new moment.” That is what I feel every minute of the day when I am with my Players. It is they who make a difference in someone’s life, whether it is the people they work with or the customers they touch. The difference is as huge as an avalanche that suddenly comes down on us. Seema is always coming in every day to say hello to me in my office, bringing me a pitcher of water. Ginny, helping my mother 101 years young, blow up balloons for someone who is coming to celebrate their birthday at FPP.

Kathleen (nicknamed Kat) is forever giving encouragement to her co-workers. “A smile makes a big difference,” I heard her say to a new comer who just joined the company.

It seems when I am at my wits ends and panic starts to set in that someone will suddenly appear and lend a helping hand … an angel rings my door bell. For example, late Saturday night I was working in my office ready to pull my hair out because I could not manage the challenges with my computer, when suddenly my cell phone alerts me to an incoming text. Message read, “I am coming right now to help.” That was from Nali who lives up the street. Nali, who once worked for me, is now a volunteer. Just when I need someone, the angels must have whispered in her ear and there she was standing before me in my office, ready to get to work. I was touched by an angel.

Famous PEOPLE Players is unlike any other place in the world. It truly is where special happens every day. The people with the love of passion all come together, and thus we have a show, a dinner and school workshop and customers leaving happy. It takes just one of us who comes into work and lends a helping hand makes all the difference in the world. Just by being here they hold the company together through good times and bad times. What would I ever do without those simple acts of kindness from each of the players in our company?

Saturday night as I was trying my best to get the dessert out on the table with some of our waiting players, I looked up just in time to see Vivienne and Victoria, our mother and daughter TEAM. They clean the washrooms while the customers are in watching the show. They are my rescue angels, who drive in from Scarborough unknowingly to make a difference. We could not do this without them.

In the office, Annie depends on her two precious volunteers, Dianne and Kathy, to hold down the fort. They work as if there is no tomorrow. They know the answers to the problems that arise as they, without realizing it, are the solution angels to the rescue.

I am so very grateful to everyone who helps me in my job to achieve my goals, all helping me to meet my urgent deadlines. We can all touch each other by just being unique and kind.

This is the world of Famous PEOPLE Players; the people, the passion, the love, the hard work and the gratitude from our players, never once thinking of themselves but always of others. They look forward to greeting the seniors to take them to their dining table. They can’t wait until the school kids arrive for the school show. Benny loves to show them what he has learned, and to think that at one time he was so shy he would not speak for fear of people laughing at him because he was different. Today, well you just simply cannot keep him quiet. He is so proud.

You don’t have to be a genius. You just have to be yourself and care. Their acts of kindness are what makes a difference in everyone’s life that they touch.

Our philosophy is that a grateful mind is a great mind. The motto of this is it is not how high your IQ may be, but how wide your mind and heart can stretch, and that my dear reader is what makes Famous PEOPLE Players after 43 years a company of great minds.

When you come to FPP to Dine & Dream you will meet our special angels, the PLAYERS and I promise you they will make a memorable difference in your life. That is why this is where special happens and that makes all the difference in the world.

Diane Dupuy