Thursday Happenings

Greetings friends! So what's shaking? Well, we are chugging along- slow and steady, that's how we roll. I had a phone call yesterday with a potential Date Auction sponsor which went well. They agreed that our event would be perfect fit for their target audience. They didn't commit yet, but hopefully I will hear back soon with some good news. I was feeling like I was very far behind on getting auction items for our Anniversary Celebration, so I've been putting major effort in yesterday and today on getting items. The good news is that I did get a number of commitments from donors for items. A few weeks ago, I applied online for Disney World passes for the live auction. They responded yesterday that they will be sending 4 day passes again, which is excellent. Those are worth almost $500. I want to apply to get more airline tickets donated as well- those are always popular, high value items. I also need to find some more area golf courses that would like to donate.

We're also making progress on the calendar front as well. One of the sponsors that advertises in 2 calendar months said they were back on board again. I also set up a date to calendar photos with them too. I was at one of my monthly networking events last night and spoke with one of our calendar sponsors who quickly agreed to sponsor again, which was great. It always makes me so happy when people are so readily helpful. Today- I contacted a local tourist attraction that donates passes annually for our auction. In the past, I've had to mail a letter along with a stamped envelope and they would send the passes- it's not a big deal, but it is a little extra work. I emailed the marketing director to make sure that he was still handling the donations and to check that I could mail over a letter and stamped envelope. He wrote back almost immediately and said he would mail 2 passes- no need for a letter or envelope. Now this may not sound like a big deal, but when you're spending most of the day auction item hunting, a nice gesture like that means so much.

I accidentally found a website tonight that lists a number of retailers and other companies with direct links to their donation pages and also includes some notes about what the business funds. I was clicking on some of the links and the info looks accurate. I found it when I was looking up airlines that would donate tickets for the auction. It looks like a great find- I'm feeling inspired to get back to applying for donations! Anything that gets one inspired after already spending hours on the same task is rather impressive!

On that note, I'm off to watch game 1 of the NBA finals, eat some more delicious melon and apply online for auction items. Wish me luck! Until next time friends..