Sunday, February 17th dawned with a glaze of ice everywhere and our collective hearts dropped.
Would any one come to the fundraiser?
Weeks of planning and arranging, media involvement, a ton of food, hundreds of auction and raffle donations and countless volunteer hours may be thwarted by Mother Nature.
What to do? Plod on; one dollar raised is better than nothing.
I arrived near 1:00 pm, to find the set up in full swing. Youth rock band loading in downstairs, hall decoration done, and raffle/ auction items being set out. Musical acts upstairs were getting set up, and lists were being made.
At 1:45 the people began arriving, sloshing through the ice and water, and each bringing a smile as if they knew what was about to happen. By 3:00 pm the hall was at capacity.
The spirit was electrifying and contagious.
About 3:30, the guest of honour arrived, and the already charged air exploded. She had been released for a few hours, and had to return to Mac to continue her treatment.
People sang harder, played harder and poured their hearts out.
And they emptied their pockets. The 50/50 winner donated his winnings back. The head shave alone raised over $500. Auction proceeds exceeded $1000
While an arbitrary goal had been set, by the end of the day, with more donations to be counted, over $8,000.00 had been raised.
Far beyond what could have been imagined. And there is still more coming in.
A huge event for a girl with a huge spirit resulted in a huge response with huge results.
To those who gave, what ever it was; time, money or gifts, thank-you.
An old saying, “Many hands make the work lighter”, may not be strong enough to describe what happened here.
DJW
