Fundraising Season
Last Saturday, Nate and I attended the “Make A Wish Foundation” dinner and auction, courtesy of our friends, Ken & Amanda. The entire gang took up two tables and over the course of the evening things devolved from a classy, black-tie evening to benefit the children…
(Check out these HOTTIES!)
… to wee hours of the morning spent in drunken craziness, which included singing.
But I digress. With every auction that we attend, Nate and I try to set a budget before we set foot in the door. Unfortunately, we turn into total softies with the right mix of alcohol, good friends and teary stories about kids with life-threatening illnesses having their wishes granted. Way before we stumbled into the singing and dancing portion of the evening, we’d spent twice our budget allocation.
You’d think we’d learned our lesson, but within a matter of days, we’re back at it!
Today, I attended the Friends of Youth “Celebration” luncheon. Friends of Youth is a King-county based youth and family services organization that supports young people in challenging circumstances. They help kids through therapeutic foster care, safe houses for homeless, more-permanent residences for youth in transition, counseling, support and youth development and after-school places.I know so much about Friends of Youth because my firm is building their brand and developing their materials. But I’m connected with Friends of Youth, first and foremost, because my father-in-law is on the board.
When given the choice between sitting with my firm and sitting with my in-laws at the luncheon, I sat with my in-laws (partly because Nate didn’t give me the option, but also because I don’t see my in-laws every day). Since Nate developed a fever last night and opted to stay home, we pulled a switcheroo and moved State Representative Roger Goodman away from my firm’s table in favor of sitting next to a board member.
In reality, Rep. Goodman sat next to a board member’s wife, who, upon introduction looked at Rep. Goodman and asked, “Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” After hearing which side of the aisle he represented, my mother-in-law responded with, “Well, I’m not sure I voted for you then.”
To both their credit, common ground was found, and Susie found Rep. Goodman to have a “refreshing” perspective, even if he is a Democrat.
Fundraising season isn’t over, but at least there’s more than a few days before the next event. I’m sure there will be more stories to come, and we’ll see how this season fares on our pocketbook.