What a night -- what a special night! If you missed the dinner/auction, you missed a great party! We had at last count 155 attendees. We had just the right amount of food and everyone left full and happy.
The Tuesday before the party, we set that room up sans decorations, in minutes. Everyone working together, we had it together. It is wonderful to have so many working hard to set the pace for a geat night.
We made money and a lot of people had a great time, especially with Bill Kenner's carring-ons. Mike Leathers helped him auction and both did a fantastic job! We have so many people to thank for making it a success. Wendi, manager at Kroger, donated the meat, and Hays donated the salad. Ruth Ellis donated the garlic bread. The desserts were fantastic and most were made by the Humane Society members. Of course, the many merchants in this town and the many others are to be thanked and will be thanked publicly soon, for the many great donations for the auction. We couldn't have done it without them!
I guess we must get on to a bigger building. Why? We had many new attendees and they had such a swell time they promised they would come next year. Some of the regulars were out of town and some sorta forgot, but many of those who could not attend gave a donation check and that was great.
Brenda Hawkins and Carol Black and I did our thing at the thrift store overflow (at the Connealy Building) on Friday and Saturday and made more than $600. We will be repeating the sale again soon, or if you happen out the Gosnell way, drop in and see if there is anything ya can't live without and we will fix ya up. I will get it in the paper under garage sales this time. There are still a lot of goodies out there and we will accommodate you any way we can. There is still a gorgous wedding dress and several lovely prom dresses.
If you never participated in putting on a dinner/auction, ya can't imagine the work that is put into making it a success. Most of us that have done it for years love to do it, but it takes a lot of starch out of a person. It is tough work and worth every minute we spend gathering the gifts, planning the meal, setting up and showing up. Ain't nuthin' easy about it. Ever give a party and no one showed up? That's sorta what goes through your head. Then there is the breaking down and attempting to get things back in suitable shape, all the time thinking what will be our next fundraiser? No one can say our bunch won't work hard to make a dollar for the cause.
As Jazz would say: "The true calling of a person is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way." (Sorta how Dean Stanley said it.)
Shelter needs: Always bleach and cleaning supplies, paper goods and cat litter! Well, we don't wanna spend our money on things we can get donated. We have heating problems with the age-old heating and cooling units and a gas line we gotta run to the shelter. It takes a lot of money to do what we gotta do. That's why we work all the time! Many thanks to all that have been believing in us. We are gonna do it. Seems like we get one thing taken care of and something like the roof starts leaking. Such is life! Many thanks to all that care.