A young woman in Fitchburg, Massachusetts moved an audience to tears with a touching performance of "Part of Your World," the powerful ballad sung by Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid.
At a fundraiser following the service at First Parish Church, 24-year-old Lavender walked onto the stage to share her gift with the world. In a video of the performance that now has over 23,000+ likes on Twitter, she tells the audience that she's blind, autistic, and "wants to sing a song in honor of LGBT Pride."
The voice that sprung out from Lavender shocked attendees in the most beautiful way. Former U.S. Ambassador Rufus Gifford recorded the moment and shared it with the world.
"I knew Will, who was the Minister, but I never met his adopted daughter, Lavender," Gifford told PRIDE. "I had low expectations. This is not a place where you hear angelic voices necessarily and I've been to a lot of events like this where people's children sing and you just wait for it to be over, but she opened up her mouth and started singing and all of a sudden, there's this holy shit moment. This woman is special and just has this incredible gift and a remarkable life story."
Gifford, who asked permission from Lavendar's dads before sharing the performance with the world, says it's astonishing how much attention they've received. TV pastime series America's Got Talent even reached out to the family, Gifford says.
"They're just overwhelmed and incredibly humbled by this. They know what a talent she is but didn't know how to get her heard," he marvels. "With all the negative stuff around social media, this is a wonderful way to feel good."
