The Fundraiser went wonderfully! I arrived at Westview Church Saturday at 1:00PM very excited - this was to be the night that made our Jamaica trip possible! My feeling were a little deflated when I saw the gym and all the work that it would take to transform that room from a basket ball court into a dining hall. Phil and Rachel quickly got the whole team working hard. Setting up tables, sounds easy, but it is way more complicated than I thought. We wanted to make sure that everyone, even those in the very back would be able to see the platform. While some of the team rolled in the tables, others had an assembly line cutting the table cloths. Seems bazaar, but the tables were round so the easiest way to transport them was to roll them. Once that was done, Jacinthe put up a great big Jamaica poster that Rachel had made. The rest of us were not just lazing around though, some of us set the tables while others put up chairs at the same time still others were organizing the auction tables and items.
Slowly,the gym was turning into a banquet hall! All this took time. It was nearly 4:00 and that was when the the team meeting was going to take place and still the work was far from done!Green, yellow and black were the colours of the day. Balloons were put up on the tables and streamers were hung all around the gym making it more festive and homey. Thanks to Sam we were able to use the basketball net to decorate.
At 4:00 was the team meeting where we got the instructions on how the night was going to run, we prayed and got back to work.
Since the beginning of the afternoon some of the wonderful women from RBC were in the kitchen cooking away. The team was headed up by Karen Hainaut with the very cheerful and helpful sidekicks, Pat Dawson, Nathalie Hainaut, Franca Ciccarelli, Chantal Savard and Ruth Coones! I want to put in a great big Thank you to these amazing kitchen staff!! They did a fantastic job keeping everything running smoothly. With 10 minutes until our guests were going to arrive we quickly ate the delicious lasagna, made the center pieces and lit the candles and got to our stations. All the preparations were done and all of us had had a great time joking, racing, laughing and bonding! I was assigned to welcome people at the door, a job that I really enjoyed, because I got to greet each person individually and once the dinner was started I could not get such a chance again. Gail and Rachel manned the registration table. It was amazing to see so many people come out (about 250 people). It was very encouraging !! Thanks to everyone who came!
I began the evening with a introductions and welcome which was followed by a prayer for the evening by Caitlin. The team, dressed in black and white, were weaving back and forth serving the first course which was soup.The meal was in full swing, with the crowds eating the mouth watering lasagna. Katherine introduced a trivia game about Jamaica while Anika introduced the way the auction would go. A slide show of info on team members flashed on the screen throughout the evening. We were privileged to hear Rachel and Daniel sing during the meal. Jacinthe and Mark shared their own life stories which was very interesting and touching testimonies of how GOD had touched their lives and brought them to HIMSELF. Phil showed some pictures of Jamaica and a gave an overview of what the team was going to do in Jamaica. Exciting! Gail did a great job with a monologue about how little things we do create big ripples of change. Audrey announced the winners of the quiz, Chris gave out key auction points and Jon & Phil closed up the silent auction.
|
| Anthony Calvillo signed Alouettes jersey |
The Auction was during the evening and the competition for the items was great. Some of our items included a signed George Laraque hockey stick and a signed Alouettes Jersey by Anthony Calvillo. We had about 50 items in total. Thank you to everyone who donated an item and bid on them. Congratulations to all those who won!
Dessert was delicious and there was plenty for seconds and thirds!!! While dessert was being served Daniel and Matteo did a suspenseful live auction. When the evening was coming to an end there were door prizes and special thanks were extended by
Lindsay and Amanda from the whole team! I also want to say a heartfelt thanks to Westview for letting us use the building and Phil and Rachel Hainaut for the overall plans and Urbie Ciccarelli for all he does for us!It was a great evening, very helpful, encouraging and lots of fun! Thanks to everyone that came, planned, bid, donated, helped in the kitchen and helped in other ways! GOD blessed all our efforts and we are thankful to Him "who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think or imagine" Eph. 3:20! We raised over $7000 on Saturday night and have passed our group fundraising goal for the trip!
Click HERE to see more pictures from the night! (Thanks Patty!)
