This past weekend, I had my first major fundraising event. It went so amazingly well and throughout the weekend I raised a whopping $6,859! Awestruck, stunned, and overwhelmed are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe how I felt calculating the total. There is nothing more amazing than knowing you are loved.
This fundraising event, as with any major event, was a bit stressful. I knew exactly what kind of event I wanted to do, I wanted to create a variety act show. But after that came a million questions…What venue would I use, who would be the acts, what date, what would I call it, etc etc etc.
Every time I found an answer I felt like 3 more questions popped up in its place. I found a venue, but then I needed insurance. I found a date that worked for me, but then half my acts couldn’t come on that date. I think I went through close to 15 acts to find the 5 that performed in my show. Then as I started marketing I got worried… what if I gathered all of these acts to volunteer their time and no one showed? What if too many people came and I wasn’t prepared with enough food or seats?
I started doubting, what was I thinking? I don’t know how to run an event like this.
So I started reaching out to my friends for help. And they came through in ways that I could never have imagined. Even if they couldn’t be there in attendance they shared the event with their friends, co-workers baked food for intermission, acro friends donated lights to use for the show, my sister and some of the acts helped my coworkers and friends with set-up and clean up, the list goes on and on.
Then the night of tech rehearsal came. I was so tired and so sick, and my throat was on fire but I had to make sure everything worked. My friend Kelly showed up at 8:30pm at night when I got off work just to help me plug everything in and test it!
The day of the event my head was in a fog, I was achy and exhausted and my throat was yelling at me. Yet somehow everything went as planned! All the acts showed up, all the tech worked (except the time I forgot to turn up the volume lol), a huge crowd showed up, the food showed up and was all set up.
I am still in disbelief over the support and love I received this weekend.
Special thanks go to…
Kelly for helping me orchestrate and troubleshoot.
Helga for being so great about helping set up and clean up way beyond what I even asked for and bringing concession donations.
My boss, Anne for letting me use the gym to host the event and then announcing that the gym would match a certain amount of donations.
Megan and Axl for making this their 24 hr stop to perform before heading to their next adventure.
My sister for wiping the chalk of over 100 chairs and lending me her shirt when I realized I left my change of clothes at home.
Victor for helping set up and MCing the event.
Peter for staying after the show to help me clean up the gym!
Kelianne and Max for putting together their act just days before the show when they were so busy and tired with their normal schedule demands.
Max for agreeing to perform his yo-yo act less than a week before the event!
Georgia and her mom Jennifer for fitting the show in before they left for her spring break trip, and for their help with setup.
James for coming up with the name and listening to me complain and helping me troubleshoot and think of acts whenever one didn’t work out!
My coworker Christian for making baked goods I could sell at intermission!
Relatives who spend hours in traffic just to come show their support.
Nate and Madi for their long drive in traffic just to volunteer their time to perform a few mins in my show!
All the JAG families that brought their kids, and the sweet cards that came along with many of the donations.
All of the acro community that came out to show their support!
and endless thanks to all those that donated!!!
Knowing you are loved.
That is a major part of why I am going on this trip. I know that one person making a major difference in the quality of life in a different country is a difficult if not impossible task. No matter how much work I put in or the food I bring or times I pray. It will be a small thing in the scheme of things. However, I can show as much love to all of the people that I encounter as I can. I want to take all the love received this weekend and share it with the world. Everyone deserves to know that they are loved.
“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14
