Tatum's Groovin' for Movin' Fundraiser
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
This post is LONG overdue! The past two months have been crazy busy, overwhelming and chaotic for a number of reasons. As a result, I have not had the chance to write about our amazing event. I hope I can remember all of the highlights because it was honestly one of the best nights of our lives (for Chris and I!).
We ended up selling about 225 tickets to a collection of wonderful people from our community, Chris's work, our family, longtime friends and friends of friends. The Holy Eucharist church basement was filled with people mingling, 'stalking' their silent auction desirables, shopping at the regift table, dancing to DJ Tyrone's awesome tunes, listening to our wonderful MC - Liz West and consuming the plentiful food and drinks! It was an action packed, fun filled event that oozed with community spirit, love, generosity and the desire to get out and have a good time.
The day leading up to the event was pretty busy for the group of us responsible for putting the party together. We started at around 10am with beer and wine delivery, decorating and the silent auction/re-gift table set up. We were all done our set up duties around 6pm... it was a full day.
Our guests started slowly filtering in around 8/8:30. I had a bit of a pit in my stomach, wondering if everyone would actually show until about 9:15... phew, they all came! Not only did everyone come, but they came and gave and gave and gave AND had a great time.
Our silent auction was an incredible success - huge thanks to our coordinator Gen Z. Our amazing group of planners hit the streets and ended up collecting close to 120 items! We had beautiful pottery, artwork, gift certificates from tons of local business, cottage getaways, Justin Beiber tickets, Raptors and Leaf tickets plus some awesome Leaf's tickets in Boston. We had hotel certificates and amazing golf getaways! I could go on and on! We are still in shock, awe and amazement of the generosity of everyone who donated items to help Tatum.
Midway through the evening, Chris and I said a few words about Tatum and thanked everyone for everything they have done to help us along in our family's new journey. We then showed a short slide show put together by Kate Parson, a graduate student from Centenial College who volunteered her time to help us. Thanks again Kate! It was perfect.
Once the silent auction wrapped up, the lights went down, the strobe light went on, the music was turned up and we danced and let our hair down... it was awesome!
When we first started planning the fundraiser, Chris and I had three main goals:
- To cover the cost of our last visit to the Institutes
- To raise awareness about what Tatum is working on and to let people know about The Institutes' program
- To make sure everyone has an incredible time
Check, check, check!!! Holy cow! We raised enough funds to cover our costs from our last visit to the Institutes plus pay for Tatum's new 'Respiratory Patterning' machine ($4k) plus cover our next two visits to Philly. Never in a million years did we expect to see so much success. Chris and I are so grateful. Knowing that we don't need to worry about whether or not we'll have enough money to get back for our next assessment and program assignment, takes a lot of pressure off of both of us.
One day, somehow, we will show our thanks to everyone who has been part of helping Tatum get well. For now we hope that a simple thank you and an offer to help any of you when you need us will do.
If you'd like to check out the slideshow from the event, click here:
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