A Year Later - A More Successful Fundraiser

Where has the time gone. My last blog was more than a year ago. Now as my right knee is throbbing from too much yoga yesterday, I am pondering the success we had on July 17th when we held our annual fundraiser. It was a great event, in my humble opinion, and we raised over $17,000. That is the bottom line. But above the line, I have to acknowledge all the people who made the event a success: Susan Callery as our Fundraising Chair... yes, Susan came back after last year to take on the challenge; Debi Derryberry & husband, Harvey Jordan, who not only provided us with an amazing venue, but gave so much of their time, energy and financial resources to put the event on; John Page for his technical expertise and ability to get the job done; and so many other people-old friends and new friends- who came together to put on a great show.

Thanks also to our celebrity friends of the foundation: Ed Begley Jr. and Fritz Coleman. Ed, a member of our board and an internationally respected environmental activist, gave up his evening to be with us. Fritz, a local NBC weatherman and stand up comic/performer, served as our Emcee and did a great job helping with our Live Auction. What was auctioned? Books signed by Ed, Fritz, the authors and myself- and they went for a very good price.

The authors, Shawn Thompson ("The Intimate Ape") and Jean Chaffee ("Azak Learns to Read") came to the event and like other VIP attendees, had a chance to spend quality time with our celebrities (see them all chatting above)

We also had some amazing entertainment: Tango dancing, gamelan music, Balinese dancing, and a wonderful children's song, "Oodle the Orangutan" performed by our host, Debi Derryberry herself.

The food was great - vegetarian and vegan - and the atmospherics were also charming, thanks to the tiki torches, and inflatable stars and other decorations Harvey was able to have donated.

All in all, I am very happy the event went as well as it did. We raised a lot of money and had a great time. Considering I arrived from Indonesia less than 24 hrs earlier, the event could not have happened without our remarkable Fundraising Committee. That Indonesian trip, perhaps a topic for another blog, was also fantastic. One more bottom line...a number of people involved are already talking about next year. Hopefully, I will be more forthcoming with more blogs before next year's event.