Saturday April 13, 2013

Saturday April 13, 2013  update #421

I honestly didn't think I would get a Blog done today but here we are.

Today’s the big day for the Hearts Of Gold Foundation “Pay It Forward” Silent Auction and Sale.   I was at California Kitchen by 8:45 to be ready for the arrival of the 13 tables from the rental company.  Once they arrived we had to set them up and put on the tablecloths.    Outside the room we had to set up a Cash Desk and a sale desk for our partner organization to flog some great purses.

At 10:30 the Auction and Sale items arrived and everybody got to work.  The items had to be set up in such an order that we could squeeze in all 108 Auction items around the outside (I was notified of another Gift Certificate at 11pm, nothing like last minute aggravations, but it is for a good cause so we bite our lip a lot).   God must have been watching over us because it worked out with about 2 inches to spare, I kid you not!    What an enormous load off my shoulders!  

We were done the set-up by 11:30, much sooner than I expected and the place looks fabulous!   There is even more walking room than I had envisioned, which is good, because we expect it to be wall-to-wall people tonight.  We have lots of volunteers assigned specific duties so hopefully we can all be unobtrusive and helpful at the same time.   I have some “before and after” photos so you can see the amazing transformation.

I headed home for lunch and a much-needed few minutes of shuteye on the terrace.

Then we got cleaned up again and took a bus back to El Centro.  Bella wanted to check if grand-daughter Kiki’s letter had arrived but the Post Office was closed.

We continued on to California Kitchen and went over many duties with the different volunteers and the MC’s.  People were there at 4pm waiting to get in to be the first to get a crack at our Buy-It-Now  option on the Auction items at 80% of the retail value.   By 5pm the place was packed and when we opened the doors it was like a feeding frenzy.   Organized chaos is the best way to describe the rest of the evening.   Very few people left but the bidding slowed to a crawl so we speeded everything up by ½ hour.   All in all, it was a good decision to let the people go.   I didn’t see who won the $310 in the 50-50 draw, or the gold or silver coins.   Congratulations to all the winners.   I would say that I knew 80% of the crowd, having met most of them at Joe’s Secret Garden.   There were many disappointing absences but I am sure they had good reasons.

The main MC managed to show up from his sick bed and did a masterful job.  None of the Ecuadorian musicians showed up although Rich the magician did show up and entertained the kids.   Bella bought one of the purses on sale.

It appears that we had a couple of items disappear on us without payment but they were very minor in the big scheme of things.   All in all it was very successful and I am hoping Hearts Of Gold realized their goal of about $3,000 tonight.   California Kitchen was very happy, saying we could bring in this business for them every weekend!

All mine and Jay’s items sold, although I have to reimburse some good friends who bought my photo package just so I wouldn’t feel bad.   I am grateful to them for that.

People were most gracious despite the many misunderstandings of procedures and paid us all the kindest of compliments.  It was a great event that they all seemed to have enjoyed, a room full of folks with big hearts.  THANK YOU to everyone who participated.

Sorry but I was so busy dodging bullets all night that I hardly took any pictures.  

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/