Happy National Card Making Day...here it is almost 4 in the afternoon and I haven't made a single card! Not true, I opened my laptop for cards to begin with but then found myself heading in different directions without expectation. I am actually working on these beautiful thank you cards to the various businesses and individuals who helped to ensure a fantastic Breast Cancer Crop for a Cause last night at the local scrap store I design for.
Given the accident I was in during last year's walk when I was run down by a cyclist I knew I would not be able to walk the Journey and given that the injuries sustained contributed greatly to my loss of employment & nearly all my income I knew I could never make the financial donations I had in the past. What I did know was that I could throw one hell of a party when given the chance or called upon to do so especially with my very good friends Heather and Mary, Reflections artist and RSC owner/artist. Heather, my cheeky friend, has executed her fair share of events with me in the past and knows just how to step in and save my day every single time I need it! I am especially grateful to Mary Wigham, owner to RSC, who had understood how I felt about the need participate in the fundraising efforts of the Join the Journey organization for SO MANY reasons and she stepped up and helped me to meet that need by partnering her business with mine.
After Mary spoke with her business partner, Nancy, at Rochester Scrapbooking Company and I spoke with Heather, it was decided that a crop was the perfect way to give back to the community using whatever talents we had between our teams. I was amazed at how well it went despite some bumps in the road. The response in attendance was tremendous with an over-packed group of croppers...and as a hostess to the event rather than a participant I was also able to see how talented this group of croppers were. I was also touched by how generous everyone was. I would not be exaggerating if I said that the very night Mary first announced the upcoming event people were asking how to help and offering up donations of all types. Given that these persons are artists we wound up with gorgeous glass etched mirrors by Mary and a wonderful cash donation, pink scrapping supplies from artist Jenny a very familiar face around RSC, and artist Lisa gave some beautiful items to pamper oneself with from Avon including a beautiful silver pink gem breast cancer tennis bracelet, Nancy, one of the RSC owners, provided a pink ribbon shaped and a much desired Xyron sticker maker (ammended: and then later created a gift of more than $100.00 in pink product which she raffled off at the end of the month).
Jenpachi Steakhouse might just be one of the best restaurants in town I believe. I really do not think enough people are even aware of how perfect a food fried rice with lobster sauce can be when prepared by Charlie's chefs!!! Well there are about 2 dozen women that are now aware because Charlie was so gracious to make a very generous, very last minute donation of a chicken teriyaki with grilled veggies and fried rice dinner for every scrapper AND hostess! That alone was worth more than the crop fees which were donated to the charity, Join the Journey. We were also priviledged to have a "Soul Warrior" survivor from Join the Journey scrap with us last night and she graciously served as our ambassador and is presenting our donations to Join the Journey...so even though I have thanked her before I just want to do so again.
Everyone was so amazingly generous. When Mary announced the first raffle ticket sale she sold 75 tickets in 5 minutes. Then Mary, who had already given so much of her personal self and her artistic creations dug deeper still into her own pockets and purchased another round of tickets for all the croppers right before the first drawing, including Ann who according to her is her most valuable employee. I too have a lot of respect for Ann not just because of her awesome talent and knowledge but because she just has it and she is so fun when we crop. When Ann came in to be a needed extra set of helping hands last night (and that extra set of laughs that I think some of us also needed) I thought it a nice gesture by her supervisor Mary because expressing gratitude is SO vital but so overlooked many times. Ann being there allowed Mary, Nancy, Heather and I to be more involved with the crop than the actual store. With that said, I want to also say that the thank you I was given from Ann last night when we spoke and then again on the Rochester Scrapbooking Company website really is touching and appreciated because everyone likes hearing thank you especially when it isn't expected! You are a blue diamond Ann.
Reflections Keepsakes, my company, did make various donations from RK-Dies to hand-cut, custom designed scrapbook albums of varied types. Heather and I gave items to the raffle of course, but because we wanted everyone to know how valued they were to this event we loved that we could keep pulling out surprises to give away to EVERYONE not just one ticket holder because EVERYONE kept pulling out donations to give to the cause.
Heather she came out of her vacation (which I had feared turned retirement lol) fully refreshed and she went pedal to the metal with producing brand new RK-Dies from our typical stash to give away during the event, cards to thank our event sponsors, designing and assembling Breast Cancer Mammogram reminder postcards and thank you card covers as needed...she is so the "Card Queen" I must say and there are LOTS of great hand-crafted cards being produced here in Rochester but she always seems to have that extra oomph a card needs...the personal that I think can sometimes be hard to achieve in mass producing hand-made greeting cards. And then as if I didn't slave drive her enough I had her just hustling EVERYWHERE at the last moment yesterday...I'm sure you think I was just off playing paper dolls and doing nothing but I assure you I don't have a single paper doll in my possession :0)
Those who take care of the Lord's people will be taken care of by the Lord. This was all about giving, giving, giving and more giving and I believe that the more we sacrifice for the good of others the more good will come to us in time. It was fantastic that Rochester Scrapbooking Company was able to obtain $1000 in sales because 10% of those sales went to Join the Journey from our Crop for a Cause. Ann who was so committed to raising sales for the cause, stood outside the store in the dark and cold with boxes of ribbon booming out her ribbon sale details LOL. Ann I am sorry people didn't wander off the streets for your ribbons because it was a great deal and I actually forgot to grab some myself!
It is just as well that I didn't buy more ribbon I likely do not need as my car broke down last night right as I was preparing to leave for the crop and I mean BROKE with a capital $DOLLAR SIGN$. When I get to Heaven I think one of my questions for God will be to determine why everytime I work on a breast cancer fundraiser something seriously bad happens to me. I understand that it is not charity unless we suffer but come on, everytime I work a Breast Cancer charity something of mine gets broken...my head, my car lol. I am already getting nervous about next year!
Seriously though the generosity witnessed last night by the crop guests, by Mary, by Rochester Scrapbooking Company's customers who were unable to attend was so impressive and a great way to kick of October. Of course now we might just need to have a benefit for my car so I can get to the crops lol, Ann's crop fees so she is allowed in at the crops lol, and Heather's DOT DISEASE so she can actually crop :)...if Rochester Community scrapbookers are this generous for just one cause imagine if it were for 3 causes!
Well hopefully everyone who participated felt like they walked out with lots of goodies, a full belly, a layout or two done, and the satisfaction of knowing that 19 croppers could raise almost $500 in a couple hours as well as the knowledge that they just helped to make our world a better place! My 13-year-old daughter thanks you also because breast cancer runs deep in this family right up to her generation and with more women like the group we had last night in the world how could we not find a cure before the time comes for her first mammogram?
Now...onto the next cause!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment