Jodi's Benefit

For the past month or more, I have been working on a benefit for Jodi.  Who knew how much work went into it!  It was like another full time job...but I loved every second (almost) of it.  A few months ago Jodi's friend Clay said he wanted to have a benefit for her at Howard's on Main, he has a band and offered to sing and he also arranged his cousin's band to play.  They did this a few years ago for another guy, Eric Petrus, that is battling cancer for about 10 years now!  They raised about $5,000 that night for him.  So when I started planning, my ultimate goal was $5,000 but realistically I was shooting for $3,500.  I know Jodi is very loved but EVERYONE in Greenwood knows Eric's story because he has been battling in for so long and such a great guy.  The whole time I was planning, I was trying not to compare it to Eric's night, but I couldn't help it.  It is not like it was a competition or anything, I just wanted to raise money for Jodi :)

So Clay, Howard and I started planning.  They told me that Eric had a small silent auction and raffled a grill.  So after we met, I started contacted lots of people.  I was AMAZED at all the things that were donated.  I even had someone that knew a live auctioneer....it was awesome.  Here is a list of just a few of the items that were donated:
2- 10 pallets of sod and delivery
outdoor lighting
photography sessions
a large canvas painting
hair cuts/eye brow waxes
facials
massages
plants
gift baskets
tons of gift certificates
And the lists goes on and on.  Times like this, I just LOVE living in a small town.  I have a lot of contacts with local landscaping businesses because of my parents and they started competing against each other.  When one company saw that two others donated the sod and large gift baskets....he said he had to do something.  He donated two items.  It was great :)

Anyways, the time for the benefit came...I was so excited.  We set up tables, had someone taking pictures, taking the door money, selling t-shirts and other items and the auctioneer was getting ready while the band played.  The atmosphere was perfect BUT the crowd wasn't there.  I mean we had about 45 or so people there, but I was hoping for 100 or more.  We were getting a little nervous about the auction...would we make money with this small group??  Well let me tell you, the people who came spend some money!  Do you want to hear my grand total?? I raised, with lots and lots of help, $5,260.00 for my sister!! I was so excited.  Howard is going to donate a portion of all his sales to Jodi also...so it will be even more money!  I couldn't wait to get on the phone to call Jodi!! :)


I was hoping to have some more pictures of the event before I did this post, but I haven't gotten them yet.  Here are a couple....

One of the gift baskets...a Hummingbird set!

The painting...I loved this!

Jodi's great friends Anna and Hope.  Anna helped me with the tables and Hope took the donations at the door

Clay who sang and arranged for the other band to play too...he was great!

Like I said, I will have more pictures later.  After the bar closed and we counted the money we were all so excited and hung out for a while.  Wes said he helped by buying lots of drinks at the bar!! So needless to say he was feeling pretty good and invited some friends over for a while afterwards.  Wes and I both realized Sunday morning that staying up until 5am is for 21 year olds...not us! I didn't have a drink on Saturday and I was still struggling :)

The guy in the middle was our auctioneer and the other two helped him out.  Mike, on the right, works with my Dad and arranged the auctioneer to come and got donations for me too!!

Mike and my hubby!

We decided to make breakfast at 2 am...yummy :)

I just thought this was funny!

  So, that was the benefit!  It was a lot of work and lots of fun!  I am just happy to be able to help my sister in any way that I can!  Please say a few prayers and send her lots of happy thoughts this week.  She was admitted to the hospital yesterday and will start chemo today.  This chemo is a lot stronger than her last three because they are cleaning everything out so that she can have her transplant next Monday.  Thanks!!!