When you have been touched

Our garage sale was a hit and I mentioned how we could not have been ready without the help of our team volunteers. What I neglected to mention was that we would not have been fiscally successful if it had not been for our donors. When we put those flyers out asking for donations, we were hoping to reach an audience that was willing to not just donate, but to help us succeed our goal, and in turn donate that money to Susan G. Komen to benefit breast cancer awareness, research for a cure, provide medical necessity to those who need it.

We did that. We had an outpouring of donations from our neighbors within our community. For every donation we received, we met a person affected by breast cancer. They told us their reason for giving and usually it was that someone they loved had passed away from cancer, is a survivor, or was still fighting a good fight. They were gracious and touched that we would be trying to reach our own community. In addition to donating, nearly each one of them showed up to the garage sale and bought something in order to help the cause.

The truth is there would not have been a garage sale if it wasn’t for the contributions of our neighbors, our community, who have been touched by cancer in some form or another. So, thank you. Thank you for being supportive, strong and for caring about making a difference, not just in our lives, but the lives of those within our community who may be affected down the road.

Our Garage Sale

Let me begin saying, WOW! We did an amazing job! Of course, we could not have done it without our supportive and hard-working friends and family. This last week was especially hectic getting organized, getting items cleaned, prepping the baked goods, and making last minute pick-ups. All the while, our support team was instrumental in helping Michelle and I, open without a hitch at 0730 on Friday morning. Our photo timeline follows:

This is what the garage looked like the night before.

 

 Ekta and Magda were working wonders with the chocolate dipped pretzels. We wanted to see how they would do when we scheduled our bake sale event. They did a great job! 

Michelle and Jonna were knocking out those delicious cake pops! They had a pretty efficient assembly line going. We are definitely going to be selling those at the bake sale event. We even had an order placed at the garage sale!



Dalila and I made some of the mini pies. Pam knocked out the cupcakes, too. They both turned out great, as well.

This is what our cash out table and food display table looked like.

 We also had our "thanks to our supporters" banner displaying our local business supporters.

Everyone took part in getting ready on opening day. We all met early at 0530. Carol took care of our caffeine needs with Starbucks coffee. Magda made us some fresh breakfast burritos that were excellent. Adam was the manual labor. The rest of us had to get everything out of the garage and organized on the driveway AND keep the 'earlybirds' out of the stuff while we got stuff situated. 

 Even Rosie was getting in on helping out!



Ekta took some shots of what the opening day of our garage sale.

The entire toy area.

Two outside tables of baby and children's clothes (right) and two tables of adult clothes  (left).

Our roped off area until we were ready at 0730.

We were lucky enough to get four garment racks to hold plenty of jackets, dresses, skirts, and shirts for men and women.

The children's area a bit more organized and in a easy to peruse manner.

The second day Paulina and Katie joined the effort and made an incredible difference. Their fervor was contagious and the shoppers (and us) loved their energy! Michelle and Ekta were always rearranging the clothes tables ensuring they were neat and organized by gender and size.  

We were fortunate enough to gain a security team on the second day, as well. At one point, they thought they could armchair supervise, as well.

From left to right: Charles, Yogendra, Adam

Little did they know that Katie was going to keep them in line!

Even some of the customers enjoyed the show.



From left to right: Michelle, Ekta, Paulina, Jonna, Rhowena, Katie.

At the end of the day we remembered to take a group photo; however, Dalila & Pam were not photographed but were major team contributors and we are grateful for all their valuable help. As a matter of fact, because we had such a great day, we decided at the last minute to open on Sunday for a third day to just see if we could sell the last of the donated remnants. Even at the last minute, Ekta, Dalila, and Paulina volunteered to give up another personal day (on the weekend) to spend working the fundraiser. We went from 21 tables on the first day down to eight tables on the last!

In the end, we were one giant step closer to reaching our goal and all due to the hard work of our volunteer team showing up, digging in, and selling, selling, selling! Thank you so much. Michelle and I are grateful and could not have done it without you. We may be closer to our goal, but definitely richer in friendship.



Pies

I finally got a few minutes to test out some of those personal pies that we were thinking about selling as fundraising potential. I watched a video that gave some pointers on using the machine and, thankfully, it helped because the little booklet the machine came with was a bit vague.

So, here are some photos that show how it went:

these are the fillings we used (apple, no-sugar cherry, blueberry, peaches, and strawberry)

first batch: as soon as I placed the pastry on the bottom it got stuck to the molding cup and began cooking as soon as it touched the machine. I barely had enough time to put filling inside the cups. As a matter of fact, I only managed to put filling in two of four, but covered them anyway because the booklet said to make sure there were four pies at a time.

Also, I put the wrong size pastry on the bottom and top, so it turned out looking a little funky, as you can see below when the 'lid' cooked but the bottom was so chewed up looking from getting stuck to the molding cup.

Second batch: I made sure the bottom was on the bottom and didn't plug in the machine until they were all down. I also floured the molding cup, which really helped alleviate the sticking problem.

Then I plugged it in and put the filling in and covered them quickly.

The tops of the pies obviously fit better and would reach the outside brim of the cup mold.

After 10 minutes...maybe a couple more minutes.

After 12 minutes. They look like they are not cooked through, but they are. Adam tried them and loved them. The no-sugar cherry was his least favorite, of course, because it lacked sugar.

One box makes 10 pies. These are the last two, which turned out weird shaped, though cooked better.

You can see the shape a bit better below. Adam said those last two tasted better because the pastry was a bit thicker.

Third batch: Moved along much better now that I know what I'm doing. The last two of the third batch were the best. So, it would appear the key is filling it to the top of the pie brim and then it actually touches the inner top side of the molding cup. (The booklet said not to fill it.) I also added regular cherry filling to the group of fillings available.

This is what the pies looked like from the side. These will be for the girls to taste tomorrow when they come over. Though Pia was ready to jump on the blueberry pie, but said she would wait, as I will for the peach pie.

Prepping for our first fundraiser and the next

I can't believe it's been almost three weeks since our last post. We have been so busy we haven't even had a moment to let you know all we've gotten done. So, we finally got our exchanged pants back, have already ordered our new shirts (they should be ready to be picked up this weekend), and have received our cool vintage caps. Do you think we should get a team photo before our event? Just a thought...

We have put our garage sales flyers out on several blocks and locations around town, while also getting some miles on our feet. All three of us have already made several pick-ups and had drop-offs and the garage is filling up! We are so lucky to have our friends come over to help out last Thursday...everyone was busy unpacking and organizing the donations, decorating the cupcake containers, and getting our tri-fold poster board decorated. Thank you, ladies...Jonna, Magda, Ekta, Carol, Dalila, and Pam! Lucy and Gary, thanks for stopping by for moral support and wonderful company!

Michelle has been test-baking those cake pops and has it down to a science already! She got her first two orders for a dozen each and second order for two dozen! Way to go, Michelle! Let me tell you, they are tasty, so if you'd like to try them out she will have them ready to go at our garage sale next weekend or you can take my word for it and pre-order! The pies will be test-baked between now and this weekend...I'll let you know how that works out. We will also be selling cupcakes at the garage sale.

We also made our rounds around town soliciting donations in the form of gift certificates for door prizes for our next fundraiser...Zumba Party! We've been selling raffle tickets, as well, and it's looking good. Paulina was the first person to sell twenty tickets overnight! Thanks so much, Paulina! Two local businesses, Boot Barn (in town) and Happy Paws (foothills), have graciously agreed to sell tickets for our Zumba event. Feel free to stop by and purchase your tickets from them during their business hours. Thank you, Desiree and Betty! Tomorrow we will be getting those flyers out in order to start selling those tickets.



Tosha Butz, of the 928 Crew, has coordinated efforts with us and they will be performing and getting everyone sweaty for our Zumba event. They are awesome dancers and really get the crowd going, we are lucky to have them support us!

Tomorrow night, we are getting together again to do some (more) unpacking, cleaning, and organizing the newest donations, finish up our poster board and garage sale signs, and just maybe taste test those pies. :) I almost forgot to mention...if anyone else has any fold-up tables or garment racks that you'd like to lend us until after the garage sale, we would surely appreciate it. A big thank you to Alicia and Paul for volunteering to lend us tables for our event! You are lifesavers!

Planning & Replanning?

So, the girls and I met up this past Sunday and we brainstormed lots of ideas for fundraising and our approach. We are a new team, so we had to start with the basics: advertising. We have to let everyone know who we are and where we come from (hmmm, that sounds like a familiar cadence) and, of course, why we are on this mission.

So, I'm excited to announce that are "uniform" arrived today! Woo-hoo! The shirts only require screenprinting our team logo, but it would appear that our pants must be exchanged. Minor setback, but we have time, so no worries. We have nearly completed our blog after a couple of widget hiccups, but a few more widgets and we're done. We are also on Twitter as YumaRackAttackSquad. We are @ YumaRacks . (FYI we are new at Twitter, too, so be patient! :))  If you would like to follow us, please use the blue 'Follow' by the blue bird and Twitter button to the right of this blog. Lastly, our business cards are arriving this evening; fingers crossed!

So, our second order of business was the first fundraiser. The garage sale fundraiser I held for my last walk was an amazing success, so we decided to start with that. We've got flyers for the garage sale ready to go and have already been passing them out and have received positive results (and donated items)! We'll be getting them out to our neighborhoods next week so they have just enough time to go through their stuff, but not enough time to forget about us (or the garage sale).

We are now looking at getting permission from local stores for bake sales, but found out we have to get food handler cards and registered with the state. Trivial obstacle, but nothing we can't handle. We also found out that fundraising for a golf tournament is much more work than anticipated. Since we are a team and have to raise significantly more money ($6,900 @ $2,300/each), we were thinking large scale fundraising. Well, large scale fundraising requires large scale planning, preparation and a finer focus. We are not intimidated, but we are having to make some adjustments. TBD, of course, and keeping you duly informed.

We have also completed our "Why we are walking" statement to present to our potential donors. If you would like to have a copy, please leave a comment with your email and I will gladly email it to you.

I should mention that we were initially only ordering team shirts for the three of us and our husbands and we thought that we might want to order some for our friends and family that have volunteered to help out at our events or prep nights. We went from ordering 12 shirts to 55! We must be very lucky to have such loyal friends, because there were so many that said they wanted to have one when they were with us. They are just as much a part of our team as the three of us who are merely registered. Thank you. Thank you making this team already successful by just being a part of it.

Welcome to our team blog!

So, can you believe it? I'm doing it again, only this time I'm not alone. Not only did Michelle join me in creating a team, but Vicky volunteered to join us, as well. We are excited and can't wait to get started with our first fundraising event.

Let me start by introducing you to our awesome team: Rhowena, Michelle, and Vicky. For those of you that don't know, this year I'm (Rhowena) a twelve year survivor and fighter of breast cancer. My immediate support team is none other than my husband, Adam, and daughter, Paige. She is chomping at the bit to get those cupcakes decorated!

Michelle is my awesome friend that finally decided to take the plunge and join the greatest cause on Earth, Susan G. Komen 3-Day. Next to Adam and Paige, she was my biggest supporter when I walked last in the San Diego 3 Day for the Cure 2010. This year she will be supported by her husband, Charles, who was a wonderful supporter and also went to the SD 3 Day '10. Michelle and Charles have both been affected by the devasting grip of breast cancer when Charles' sister was diagnosed a few years back.

Vicky found out that Michelle was walking and jumped on the opportunity to contribute to what? You guessed it, the greatest cause on Earth...the 2012 San Diego SGK 3-Day! Her and Michelle have been friends for years and she joins us with a positive approach that will definitely benefit all of us and the team in the upcoming months. Isaac, her husband, her daughter, Stephanie, and son, David will be rooting for her and all of us.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the support we have already received when we announced that we were getting a team togther. Katie and Terrilynn were the first ones to donate items for our upcoming fundraiser in the last couple weeks and we just finalized the flyer today! Jonna, Magda, Ekta, Katie, Dalila, Stephanie, and David have already volunteered their time in our fundraising events, too. We are lucky to have them and will definitely be able to use their help. If you are willing to help us at any of our events, we will gladly appreciate it and definitely put you to work. :) Leave a comment below or send us an email via our email link.

So, let us know what you think of our blog. Join or 'follow' us by selecting the "Follow" widget on the right. We will be updating it regularly with our walking progress, because those miles aren't going to just slip on by all by themselves, and let you know what is happening along the way with our fundraising. Each one of us is responsible for raising $2,300 for a team total of $6,900. Every dollar makes a difference, so feel free to use any of the three links to the right to make a donation at any time. Remember, all of your donations and our efforts will one day pay off in great dividends and save the life of someone you love, too.