Saturday, December 24, 2011

"Fun"draising!


Last year was by far the best Christmas ever as I truly experienced the joy of giving! I will be forever changed by my experiences in South Africa and giving Christmas to the beautiful children at Aurora Primary School was by far my favorite expeirence! We could not have done it without the generosity of our friends and family and Miss Bailee's fashion show fundraiser!

I had been wanting to do something for the kids at Aurora again this year but I wasn't sure what to do and doing anything alone seemed like a daunting task. So when Hannah, Bailee's mother, called in November and offered to do the fashion show again, I was thrilled that I could help raise money for a cause near and dear to my heart while Hannah and her family did all the planning! It really takes Hannah's laid back personality, giant support system, talent and creativity to successfully complete a task of this magnitude. I literally just had to show up (oh and bake a little) and everything was planned and ready to go! Thirty-eight girls from Hannah's family and neighborhood participated in the fashion show. Thanks to an abundance of hair dressers in Hannah's family, each girls hair and makeup was done for them (thanks mom for stepping in to help glitter-fy the girls). Hannah laid out a plethora of accessories (including what I referred to do as Hannah's homemade fascinators) and clothes for the girls to choose from. And many of the girls came dressed and ready to strut their stuff.  The beauty of having so many girls in the fashion show is the audience was made up of their families which made for a good sized crowd of people to donate! Bailee MC'd the show again and her quick wit and darling personality provided plenty of entertainment (although, calling me up to speak without warning may have caused her to lose this job for next year :) Before the girls came out to work the cat walk, Hannah's husband played the video of pictures from Aurora's Christmas party last year! Although, I have seen the video a million times I tear up every time (Oh how I love those beautiful faces)! After the video finished the fashion show started and the girls were absolutely darling! I'm not sure how Hannah managed to find that many gorgeous little girls but they were absolutely perfect! They had such a good time and I truly can't think of a more fun way to raise money! Most of the donations came from people buying the baked goods, pizza, and hot chocolate but everyone was overly generous with their payment!  I know for a fact some people put in the big bucks and did not buy 100 cinnamon rolls!  The proceeds raised from the fashion show totaled almost $1000.00!!! It was a very successful evening and as usual I am blown away by everyone's generosity.

Anna Banana is ready to go!






Being a model is exhausting!

















Mayzie & Bailee
Before I left Hannah's house that night she was already brainstorming ideas to make next years fashion show even better. I will no longer be in school, so I will have much more time to help and I promise to do a better job of advertising to my support system! This night would not have been possible without Hannah and her family! She has a very helpful and patient husband (the only guy I know who could handle 38 little girls running around his home), darling children who advertised and planned and recruited models, amazing parents who baked and decorated and donated, and incredible siblings that provided all their time and talents! Hannah has one of those families that make everything fun and it is because of them that everything ran so efficiently and was so well done! All in all it was an amazing event and I am so excited that we are able to share our resources with the incredible children at Aurora.
 
Aurora Christmas Party 2010


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