Monday, February 18, 2008

Caitlin Update

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

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