Fundraiser Fever Phenomenon

Hi, Again:
If you have been reading emails and opening evite thank yous from Jason and I then you know by now that we had an incredible evening on Sunday, May 6th. We planned, organized and threw, as it turns out, a night to remember. Kevin St. James donated the space on the 2nd floor of their beautiful Irish pub and restaurant. We decorated with balloons donated from Janieca's Incredible Balloons, purple and green table clothes, TNT posters, candles and information brochures for the Society, TNT and other sponsors of the night's events. The auction table was set with: 8 Yankees and Mets Tickets, donated by Steve Kantor, a 16 year old bottle of Tomintoul Scotch, donated by Kessler's Wines, a $100 Gift certificate from Soon Beauty Lab, thanks to the owner Melissa, a one month unlimited pass to Levitate Yoga from owner Connie, a Saeco coffee maker from Jason's district at Starbucks, autographed posters from Julianne Moore, Bill Nighy, Bebe Neuwirth and more, one free Gyrotonics lesson donated by instructor Leslie Davenport, dinner for two at Bella Napoli from owner Tony, and so much more. Five close girlfriends helped with set up and such all night. Alex Berger and Angie Creighton organized the entertainment and we were off!

The party began at 7PM. Despite the New York rule to arrive fashionably late, there were early arrivals! The moment you walked up the stairs, Lil and Tara greeted you and collected the $20 donation, sold prize tickets and directed folks to the bar with a cup of my very own homemade olive oil popcorn. Lynette invited those who wished to do so, to write the name of a loved one or someone they knew who fought their battle with cancer on a heart, which we strung up along the stair well as a symbol of our unspoken solidarity to the cause. Many participated and it was a beautiful and heart wrenching site. Mindy personed the auction table and encouraged folks to bid for their coveted items. Rosoin and Gemma sold more prize tickets and handed out festive Mardi Gras beads in keeping with TNT colors and fun. By 8:20pm the entertainment portion began.

Jason and I took the mic. I updated everyone on why we had come together and what Jason and I were doing with TNT. I shared a little of my story with cancer and quickly turned over the mic to Angie who started the music off with "There Will Come A Day" by Faith Hill. Between each song, we gave away ticket prizes, calling out numbers and waiting to see who won a gym membership, comedy tickets and Gap gift certificate, donated by Camille. The other singers included: Kelli Maybank (AADA alum), Liz McKendry( The Producers), Amber Rubarth (check her out on ITUNES), Elizabeth Early, Robert Fuller(The Producers) and Alex Berger (the magic man himself, accompanist extraordinaire-who sang "Ordinary People" and I confessed that I may be in love with another man, what an incredible VOICE!)

At one point toward the end of the music, we had tallied the amount collected with the amount to be collected on the auction items and found we were only $95 shy of having raised a total of $10,000 in all of our fundraising. I went to the mic to encourage people to bid on the auction items. Instead, Alder Ludvigsen, Jason's former District Manager at Starbucks, basically pulled out his wallet and handed me the money! Done, we had raised our goal. But wait!

Once the entertainment portion concluded, we announced our highest bidders for the auction items and then came the SURPRISE! I started to explain how we made this goal for ourselves $2,000 higher than our obligatory TNT goal. I continued to explain that I had pledged to do something a little crazy if in fact we hit our goal.

When I was diagnosed with cancer and began chemo, my hair started to fall out rapidly. I cut my hair, then eventually I shaved it. I looked for wigs. But with strawberry blonde hair, it's awfully hard to find a wig that won't make you look so obviously strange. Besides that ,they aren't that comfortable, especially if your skin is sensitive like mine was during chemo. So my Mom took me to The Bay (Canadian Dept Store) and we bought some cotton berets that I could wear.

Ok, so here it is. I pledged to cut off my pony tail to donate to Locks of Love. They are an organization based out of Florida, that creates and places wigs with children under the age of 18 who are suffering from baldness due to chemotherapy or disease. The best part about this moment during the fundraiser was that Lil, my best friend, who cut off my pony tail back in 1995, was there to cut it off again. WOW! The cut was so clean it looked like a professional hair cut. So we presented the pony tail, said our thank yous and called it a night. But we were the ones in for the surprise! We were swarmed by our friends with loving hugs and picture taking and the further emptying of wallets. No exaggeration. One very good friend gave me a big hug, and took my hand, placed a wad of cash in it and said to me, "I had no idea that you went through all of that. This all of the money I have in my wallet and want you to take it, please take it. Thank you for tonight. It's such an amazing thing you are doing."

That moment sums it all up! We raised over $2,000 that night with a grand total of $11,550 raised for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your support, your encouragement and your faith in us. Jason and I are preparing now, in the last two and a half weeks we have left. Pray for us. We need all the prayer and help from God now to do the challenging part. Keep checking in here. I will continue to offer slices of life up to and after the race.

With love and hope for a good marathon,
Shannon