A HUGE Success!

I started this post a few days ago, but this week has been pretty hectic getting ready to go to the D.R.  I'm sitting in the Salt Lake City Airport finishing this post.  So, yes, I'm on my way!!!

Mom has been a Board Member at Safe Harbor for the last 7 or 8 years.  It has been a very rewarding experience for her and by extension, us.  For the last 6 years the Safe Harbor Board has hosted a benefit art auction.  They have grown from a few thousand dollars raised in the display room of a small art gallery to tens of thousands of dollars in a community center bulging with more than 200 people!

Mom has been the event decorator from the start.  And, as the auction grew, so did the decor!  Mom thinks, plans, and purchases decorating items throughout the year.  This year's theme was 'Under the Sea'.  Mom gave a presentation about what Safe Harbor is and does to Allison's Upward Bound group this summer at camp.  The campers then took on the project of making large decorative fish for the event.  Mom's vision for the night went on from there.  

Here is Dana putting up some of the fish made by the Upward Bound group. Allison fashioned the wall out of fabric that Mom dyed and sheets.

Dawn created this aquarium look for the bar area.  By the time of the event, lights were added in the plants and live goldfish were in vases on the bar as well.

Guests were welcomed to the event by two seahorses (two of the many cut out by Dad and painted by Mom).

Mom made an underwater seascape for guests to walk through on their way in.  I put my bubble machine inside the old chair.  This looked really cool for a while since the bubbles were trying to make their way through the net.  However, it became a bit of a slippery issue, so we had to turn it off.  Wah, wah!

The hors d'oeuvres table before it was popular.  I like to get a photo of it when it is pristine.

A couple photos of the whole room.  The tables are missing something...hmmm?  Oh yes, the centerpieces were added just before the guests arrived.

Allison and I came up with the idea of having aquarium like panels as people entered the room.  I am especially proud of the way the whales turned out.  We used a projector and Allison traced the designs.  Then Dawn (yes, she flew up for the weekend) and I painted them.

Allison drew all of the fish for these panels before we had the projector.  He just looked at the print out!  Mom and I painted the fish.

Ahh, the centerpieces.  Mom knew she wanted a live goldfish in a vase on the table for most of the year.  She also had a dream of having light shine up through.  We couldn't figure out how to make it work.  She even purchased some solar activated 'glass rocks' to test.  On a trip to the Dollar Tree in Port Orchard, we found these awesome little bases.  They shine LED lights up!  And, yes, they were ONE DOLLAR!!  You really can't beat that.  With the vase (also from Dollar Tree), rocks (yes, Dollar Tree), a goldfish ($.28) and the batteries, each centerpiece cost less than $3.00.  Awesome finds, Mom.

More of the seahorses.  And, you may have noticed the concrete pieces holding up the stands.  A friend of ours created them for her daughter's wedding.  She put small fresh cut trees in them (there are around 30 of them).  I'm sure that made quite an impact.  She now lets community members use them for their decorating.  We picked them up at a lady's house who had used them in her wedding a few weeks ago.  I thought they ended up looking like piers for our event, which was perfect!

Mom really wanted to include the Piranha that Joao (John, our Brazilian brother) brought us from Brazil.  Kind of an ugly little fish, isn't it?  And you can't even see the face!

Ariel, Ariel, is that you? No, it's our own Little Mermaid, created by Mom.

A Safe Harbor Board Member took this family photo for us. I think she did a good job, especially since it was taken after the event, during the clean-up!  It was the culmination of a lot of hard work for a really deserving cause!

It has been amazing to watch this auction develop.  And, this year, it was incredible to see the generosity even in difficult economic times (between the event sponsorships and the auction, about $39,000).  As long as the silent epidemic of domestic violence continues, there will be a safe harbor for the victims in our area.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Did you know that 1 in 4 women will suffer domestic abuse by the time they are 24-years-old in this country?  There is probably a shelter or group in your area that could use your help or donations, think about it!