Latest and Greatest

So what's new? Today, we did another donation of 300 stuffed animals, coloring books/crayons and reading books to the Dept. of Children and Families for children entering foster care. I love working with DCF, I wish we could do even more. I also dropped off more stuffed animals to the Upton Fire Department. The major focus right now is getting people to attend our Anniversary Celebration. Our email invitation has been sent out, paper invitations mailed, FB invite and LinkedIn invitation all done. I've been asking people to spread the word to their friends and social network to get them to attend. I've worked so hard on getting auction items- we need people there to buy the items. Everyone who comes to the event has a great time- it is a really nice event and we have over 100 auction items, most of them are very affordable. It's an issue of getting the word out and getting people to attend. It gets so stressful. I keep having images of me and 10 guests trying to create bidding wars for 100 items- nightmare situation! I reached out to the balloon company that we always work with to get our balloons ordered for the event. I'll check in with the hotel probably next week to finalize our appetizers. I'm still working on getting in touch with people who have promised auction items but we haven't received them yet. There are about 20 auction items outstanding, actually, I think it is a little more than that. It always takes time to coordinate these last items. Some of the items need to be picked up, others can be mailed or emailed. There are always a few people that promise items but never actually donate them. I've never understood why people do that. If you can't donate, that's fine- just let me know. It gets very frustrating to deal with people who say they will donate- some people say it multiple times over the course of a few months, then disappear when the event gets closer- they don't respond to emails or phone calls. Besides the fact that it is a waste of time sending emails and making follow up calls, it is also annoying because when you organize a fundraiser, you count on the people who commit to helping. When those people don't come through, it leaves you doubly in the hole. The good thing is that the vast majority of people who say they will donate, do in fact, donate. In some cases, it may take a lot of emails/calls from me, but it works out in the end. Well, that's it for tonight. There is more to write about, but my mind is going blank. It's not even midnight yet, but I'm tired. Hopefully, the next time I blog, I can write about all the people that have said they're coming to our Anniversary Celebration- keep your fingers crossed for those emails/phone calls coming in please! Until next time friends...