Volunteering - The Fund Raiser (long)

I attempted to post this in the morning, but DH (grrrr) decided that we
needed to fix a dinner to take to his Mom & Step-Dad. Between rounds of
cooking, I typed up this descriptive and entertaining (I thought) story of
the fund-raiser I worked at last night. But I failed to save it as a draft
when leaving for the in-laws, and the power was knocked out by tree limbs up
the road from us (that's twice this year), tree limbs were felled by the
first tropical storm of the season as she made her way up from the Gulf
Coast, and even though my computer is on an UPS, it got shut down (come to
find out that DH (more grrrr) had plugged both computer & monitor into it -
monitor was still on, but computer wasn't - the UPS has 4
backup/surge-protect plugs and 2 surge-protect-only plugs - can you guess
where the computer was plugged in????).

Anyway, I am now going to attempt to re-write the story I so ineptly didn't
save befo

As most of you know, I recently started volunteering for the Monroe County
Humane Association (not Society - there used to be one of those here as
well, but the "Association" seemed to do better and the "Society" just kind
of faded away). The MCHA does not run the local shelter(even though they
are in the same building), they do 'education', therapy dogs (or cats), and
what's known as SNAP (Spay Neuter Assistance Program) for those who cannot
afford vet's billing for spay/neuter - they give out vouchers that pays for
about 60% of vet's bill. And they do major fund-raising (both for
themselves and the shelter). What I do when there is mostly office work,
last week I mailed out 'thank you' letters to donors, and some filing, but
the previous week I emailed, faxed and distributed fliers announcing a fund
raiser that took place last night. When I worked earlier this week, I asked
MCHA's executive director, Sarah H, if they needed any help. I never saw a
5'2" woman jump up & down and holler *ohmygodyes* quite like she did!

The fund raiser was hosted by a new restaurant in town, Cheeseburger in
Paradise (mentioned hereafter it will be referred to as CiP). CiP is run by
the same people that do Outback Steakhouse (Aussie themed steakhouse), and
is a tropically themed restaurant based on - you guessed it - the song by
Jimmy Buffett. CiP paid for all advertising (most was free, since MCHA is
non-profit), the band, provided all the food (even if you ordered off the
menu, instead of nibbling on all the 'samples') and 2 free drinks (after
that you had to buy your own, no DUI liability that way). CiP is located in
a building that *used* to be a Mexican themed restaurant, but it closed up
about 6 months to a year ago. CiP totally gutted the building, and even
tore out one exterior wall to make an outdoor patio area that has easy
access to the interior. The interior is tropically themed, with support
posts disguised as palm trees. The 'gift shop' is located near the front
entrance, and is 'roofed' in thatch so you can buy your CiP
T-shirt/hat/can-cozy in style!

They had a table set up for us at the entrance (draped in a 'grass skirt' to
match the tropical decor), where we had some Spay/Neuter wristbands for sale
($4) and car/fridge magnets ($6), as well as raffle tickets ($1) for a give
away later of 2 different prizes of each a $50 gift certificate from Canine
Companion (a local boarding/grooming/training facility that also offers some
vet services - and is located right across the street from the shelter).
The 2 free drinks mentioned earlier were kept track of by me handing out 2
carnival-style tickets to each entrant (were supposed to be 21 or over to
get in, but there was one family we let in that had their teenage son with
them). Later in the evening, some people came by and asked if they could
have more of the drink tickets - they wanted to buy them - so I sold them
raffle tickets and added a couple drink tickets to their fare. Kind of
bribed them, but it worked. Also, the CiP manager, Sarah H & Sarah D would
take some of the drink tickets with them when they went out in the crowd and
mingled, passing them out to some people - and us volunteers raided them
some too (Sarah H told us to)! The CiP manager was no stuffed shirt
either (I think those are outlawed at CiP restaurants) - he was a clown & a
cut-up!

MCHA's education program director, Sarah D, brought her therapy dog,
Journey, who is a very laid back German Sheppard. Sarah D also brought her
(male) Sulfur Crested Cockatoo (those of you in the US, and those not in US
who get TVLand on cable or satellite, think of Berretta and his bird) named
Stella. Stella does not take too well to strangers - you'll get a bite if
you get too close, but he is beautiful, and does some tricks (he used to
perform in a carnival before he was 'rescued), and added to the tropical
aspect of the event.

There were 2 other therapy dogs there, one small terrier or beagle, and a
white wookie-of-a-dog - a Great Pyrenees! Journey was the only dog allowed
inside, she was so laid back. The others were relegated to greeting the
guests as they arrived.

About mid way through the evening, during the band's break, they held an
auction of the following donated items:

3 Jimmy Buffett autographed CDs (provided by CiP, sold for $120 each)
1 bike that had been ridden in a Little 500 race (an annual IU event
that was featured in the movie Breaking Away - the event, not the bike.
Bike was donated by a local pet-supply store, sold for $150)
1 pair of carved limestone bookends (donated by a local artist, sold for
$75 - but when the person paid (a former co-worker of mine that is now on
local city council), she paid $100 - said to keep the change!)
1 Jimmy Buffett autographed surf board (provided by CiP, sold for $2000,
and sold to the same lady that bought all 3 of the CDs - who also bought 10
tickets to the event at $50 each, and told the people showing up to say they
were under her name).

At the end of the event, the manager of CiP grabbed the mic and asked for
Sarah H to come up on stage. He announced that all the wait-staff had
donated their tips for the evening to MCHA, which totaled almost $500.
That, plus the ticket sales, donations and auction sales brought the total
raised for the evening to almost $10,000!!!!!

Sarah D was almost in tears!!!! She thanked the manager & staff of CiP, us
volunteers & the guests (most of whom had already left).

I got home around 11:30, got to bed between 12:30 and 1am - and then had to
get up early! I had hoped to post this story this morning, but nooooo had
to fix a meatloaf & roasted potatoes dinner (and a loaf of bread too - good
thing the dough is frozen & will rise fairly quickly if you heat an oven to
200f and then turn it off, place frozen dough in the oven with a pan of
water for about an hour). It was all yummy, but I was sweating by time
everything was in the oven to actually bake!

And here it is, almost 11pm now, and I'm not even in my jammies yet!

yawn

I'm sleeping in tomorrow, laundry be damned!

--
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde
in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep

"Magic Mood Jeep©" wrote in message
news:Nu7re.44935$_o.20353@attbi_s71...

Congratulations on the fundraiser. Excellent job!

Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe

Sam Nash wrote:
"Magic Mood Jeep©" wrote in message
news:Nu7re.44935$_o.20353@attbi_s71...

Congratulations on the fundraiser. Excellent job!

Sam, closely supervised by Mistletoe

Thanks! Even though I didn't do much except pass out the drink tickets,
collect a bit of money and then guard the money..... Everyone was a bit
particular about the money, since the local animal shelter was robbed
earlier this year & $1500+, a digital camera & palm pilot were stolen.
Since there was no forced entry, they interviewed *everyone* with
keys....turned out it was someone on the cleaning crew (not a shelter
employee, but an outside firm contracted to clean). Jerk. Correction -
make that STUPID Jerk

Story from online paper (pay-to-view, otherwise I's send a link, dated 3
days after the break-in):

Animal shelter burglary suspect arrested in Iowa
by James Boyd, Herald-Times Staff Writer
February 26, 2005

A former cleaning company employee has been identified as a suspect in the
burglary of the Bloomington Animal Shelter, after he and his girlfriend were
arrested in Iowa on unrelated warrants.

Elijah Reichmann, 22, and Jessica Chandler, 23, were being held Friday night
in Fort Madison, Iowa, on warrants charging them with fraud.

According to Bloomington police Det. Sgt. David Drake, police responded to
the shelter, at 3410 S. Walnut St., on Feb. 18 after a shelter employee
arrived and noticed that some of the offices had been burglarized.

While there were no signs of forced entry from the exterior of the building,
the glass front door to one of the offices inside had been broken.

Employees reported a lockbox filled with an undisclosed amount of cash was
missing, as well as a personal digital assistant and a digital camera.

Reichmann became a suspect in the case after detectives from the Indiana
University Police Department served a search warrant at his residence in a
case involving the fraudulent use of a bank card, Drake said.

During the search, detectives said they found the digital camera that had
been reported stolen from the shelter.

Drake said Reichmann had been employed by a cleaning company that cleaned
the Bloomington Animal Shelter. Reichmann had a set of keys to the buildings
and had not returned them after being fired, police said.

BPD Det. Rick Crussen filed paperwork requested a warrant be issued for
Reichmann's arrest on charges of burglary and theft earlier this week, but a
Lee County, Iowa, jailer said Friday that Reichmann and Chandler were being
held only on the fraud warrants.

Police had received information that Reichmann and Chandler were believed to
have traveled from Indiana to Iowa in a rental car that was later reported
to be stolen.

On Wednesday, Reichmann and Chandler were arrested by police in Lee County;
they are awaiting extradition to Bloomington, Drake said.

*** End note - there is an arrest record for Elijah Reichmann dated March 8,
2005.

I'm so glad to hear the fund raiser was so successful!
Best wishes,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"Magic Mood Jeep©" wrote in message
news:Nu7re.44935$_o.20353@attbi_s71...
I attempted to post this in the morning, but DH (grrrr) decided that we
needed to fix a dinner to take to his Mom & Step-Dad. Between rounds of
cooking, I typed up this descriptive and entertaining (I thought) story of
the fund-raiser I worked at last night. But I failed to save it as a
draft
when leaving for the in-laws, and the power was knocked out by tree limbs
up
the road from us (that's twice this year), tree limbs were felled by the
first tropical storm of the season as she made her way up from the Gulf
Coast, and even though my computer is on an UPS, it got shut down (come to
find out that DH (more grrrr) had plugged both computer & monitor into
it -
monitor was still on, but computer wasn't - the UPS has 4
backup/surge-protect plugs and 2 surge-protect-only plugs - can you guess
where the computer was plugged in????).
snip
That, plus the ticket sales, donations and auction sales brought the total
raised for the evening to almost $10,000!!!!!

Sarah D was almost in tears!!!! She thanked the manager & staff of CiP,
us
volunteers & the guests (most of whom had already left).

I got home around 11:30, got to bed between 12:30 and 1am - and then had
to
get up early! I had hoped to post this story this morning, but nooooo had
to fix a meatloaf & roasted potatoes dinner (and a loaf of bread too -
good
thing the dough is frozen & will rise fairly quickly if you heat an oven
to
200f and then turn it off, place frozen dough in the oven with a pan of
water for about an hour). It was all yummy, but I was sweating by time
everything was in the oven to actually bake!

And here it is, almost 11pm now, and I'm not even in my jammies yet!

yawn

I'm sleeping in tomorrow, laundry be damned!

--
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy
former-blonde
in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep

Wow! Sounds like a great event.
Suz&Spicey