Fundraising Bash!

A bash it was!
Unbelievable!
Amazing!


We pulled it off with less then a month of planning. The generosity of the community was overwhelming; not only in the donations that were given to us to auction off but in the outpouring of support on the actually day.

Mia (Girard), my back bone, my constant support, had such insight into how the auction should run it was uncanny, it helped that she had been to a few auctions before. Believe it or not I never have been to an auction; Rafiki's was the first. We were lent a fundraising book from a friend who works at non-profit organization and we were surprised at how many of the suggestions for running a successful auction we had already put into play just by our fore thought and planning.

The auction items just kept coming in all the way to the end, photographers brought in prints, more gift certificates, more art, even another time share for 2 nights in Steamboat Springs.
We had over 20 gift certificates, ranging in value from $150 to $25 from restaurants, hair salons, massages, tattoos, clothing etc.

The whole night flowed with miraculous ease. I didn't do a thing to collect donations, they found us. One amazing stories was from a reporter I work with, Rachel Carter, who wrote about the fundraising bash and auction on her My Space page. A few of her fans read it and we received another restaurant gift certificate and a custom skateboard, from a guy who lives in Seattle and just happened to be in town. He even came to the auction. He was so willing to help and repeatedly told me if there is anything he could do just let him know. I really can't describe the feeling I got with all the outpouring of love and support, especially since a large portion of it was from people who never met us before.

We had a tight timeline which we had to stick to and that would be the one thing that I would change for future events. It would have been nice to have more time to for the silent auction, a few of the items went at bit below their actually value.

Friends came up from Denver, Longmont, Loveland and Boulder and most had never even met Rafiki or Patrick which I find so phenomenal.

I planned a speech and a slideshow for the evening. When I got up for the speech most of the folks were busy with the silent auction and having a beer. Joe (Vader) got their attention and I swear you could have heard a pin drop, in a packed bar, a pin drop and all eyes on me. Of course it was a bit nerve wrecking and luckily I had my notes, which I did my best to stick to as my hands shook.

I talked about the ripple effect and how many of the people there had come because they heard about the event through a friend and it spread from there. How the response said so much about the community and I couldn't wait to bring this feeling back to Rafiki and Patrick.

Because I had everyone's attention I felt I also needed to take the opportunity to bring awareness about Zimbabwe. I didn't go into any of the personal issues about the farm being taken over because I knew that could get complicated. I basically asked people to stop, listen and read if they heard or saw anything about Zimbabwe in the news, that what was going on there is a genocide and people need to be aware of that.

I talked briefly about Patrick and Rafiki's stay in the hospital in Zimbabwe which I am sure most people found horrifying and unbelievable, as do I. When Patrick sees Children's in Denver for the first time he is going to go into complete culture shock.

I gave a bit of history about Rafiki's health and how it was the Leukemia was discovered. When I mentioned Rafiki is in remission I got a huge round of applause, which I really didn't' expect, I could feel the tears about to jump out but quickly took a deep breath and held them in. I was determined not to cry!

We then took a group photo with a sign Bell and Evan (Girard) made welcoming back Patrick and Rafiki. I just want Patrick to know how many wonderful people are behind us and want to do what ever they can to help. There were so many people we couldn't even fit in the shot but the visual reference is certainly there.

We showed the slide show but it was a bit challenging with all the excitement and chatter. I few folks caught the images and complimented me on the photography. It was a bit self indulgent. But as my good friend Pat Farrington said this is the time to be self indulgent and this is what it is all about.

The sports writers at the Times-Call,( www.timescall.com) especially Justin William came through in spades. The piece de resistance in the sports department was a hockey stick autographed by Joe Sakic, the Colorado Avalanche captain. It went for $600! I couldn't believe it as the bids kept rising and rising. Poor Justin who was very impressed with himself when he presented me with the stick was a tad disappointed at the fact I had no idea who Joe Sakic was. I haven't really been paying much attention to big sports players lately unless they are in the news for murder, rape or dog fighting. I still idealize Joe Montana and Larry Bird.. do they still play? There was also a nice little bidding war over a basketball from Carmelo Anthony a Colorado Nuggets player. It was great fun to watch the tension between the two bidders.

Joe was an amazing auctioneer, who tried to constantly reassure me before hand I had nothing to worry about, as I continually rang him up with more " what about?" What ifs?" His humor, descriptions of items being sold, and auctioneer skills got everyone in the mood and having a great time. I think even the photographers who donated their photos were surprised and pleased at the same time as they watched the bids go up on their gorgeous work.

We roped in a few other volunteers for the live auction Karin, Julie Q and Mia's brother-in-law Paul to help with spotting out bidders and giving them winning receipts. Paul a giant and powerful presence added to the show of the auction standing on stage with Joe and pointing out bidders with a loud "Oh!"

Bell and Evan ran to find me after we hit it big on the time share jumping up and down to tell me we that we made over a thousand dollars on it.

Paul was so pumped up with adrenaline by the whole event when we finished and we saw each other he gave me a huge hug picked me twirled me around and we both hollered! It was such a rush to watch item after item rise and rise exceeding all of our expectations.

As the auction proceeded a few people came up to me and told me that their faith in humanity had been returned. Wow! How does one respond to that.

" We are supposed to be in the middle of a recession and look at this outpouring," said one supporter.

Two wonderful women from the community came up to me and mentioned that had never met me but know Patrick and Rafiki from the park and had come to show their support.

A guy sitting at the bar who just happened to be there for a drink and saw what was happening charged a $100 on his credit card, because he felt for us. Mia told me of a story of a man who was looking for something to buy in the silent auction couldn't find anything he liked and ended up throwing in some money into the tip jar, later as she counted it, she saw it was $250. We still don't know who the mystery man is but a big thank you goes out to him.

A girl in her 20's who I had never met before came up to me and told me of a coworker of hers whose son had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was struggling financially. She asked me how I pulled this off. She said I was amazing and so inspirational. To be honest my jaw dropped a bit, I had never thought of myself like that. How I pulled it off? Well it just pulled itself off really. I still feel the success of the fundraiser had more to do with the community than me as a person, and I feel proud to be a member of it.

People truly want to help. Hugs and wishes of support came from everyone.

The energy and buzz of the whole evening was overwhelming and the most interesting aspect of it was that everyone there felt it. I had the biggest smile on my face and just keep kissing and hugging everyone. At this point I still had no idea of what we had made and to be honest I didn't even care. The support and energy was and is priceless.

Mia, bless her heart missed the whole thing as she busily keep everything in order and collected money. Bell's friend Hannah, 9, and her mom Lynn helped to tally up the money. Once it was counted Hannah and Mia presented me with the total and I couldn't believe it. Hannah was so proud to have been a part of the whole event and was also grinning from hear to ear. I never let myself dream or think about what we might be able to make but I sure was shocked and overwhelmed by the total, and that is when I could no longer hold back the tears. The generosity of everyone melted me.


I didn't sleep much that night and woke up with a huge smile on my face. I couldn't wait to tell Patrick. When I rang and I finally got the chance to tell him, I asked him to guess what he thought we made. He guessed $500, I am not sure if he was just trying to be nice or not but I do think he was blown away, and at the same time had no idea what that meant. A few mortgage payments, tickets for us to fly back to the States and a start on our medical payments. but most of all a bit of time and a giant weight off my shoulders for a while. An opportunity for me to focus on Rafiki and not worry about ever cent we are about to owe. Some peace of mind and that once again that is priceless.