As you may or may not know, I am about to host the second annual Monte Carlo Night at my house. Proceeds go toward the building of a new youth center in my home town of Northridge. But you will not likely read this until after the event.
So here is the deal and you will have to excuse the cute, albeit appropriate pun for a poker-themed fundraiser! I have many talents: I can sneeze on cue. I can drive people crazy by sounding like a dripping faucet. I can mimic an elephant in heat, and I do one of the best motorboats this side of the Mississippi. What I can’t do is predict the outcome of the fundraiser. Since I am writing this article before it takes place, you will have to indulge me.
The following piece is merely this author’s concept of what the “ideal scene” could be regarding the fundraiser for the new PALS youth center. Please read it as a “vision” of what we ideally would love to have happen.
Well, the tables and chairs have all been stored and the last remnants of chocolate mousse and margaritas have been swept clean. The fundraiser was a PHENOMENAL success! We couldn’t have staged it any better!
My office had a pool going as to how many people would show up. Last year it was a little over 300. This year I predicted it would be 527. Peter, the president of my company claimed 685. Janelle, a bit more conservative confirmed her number at 610 and Lori stuck to her round number of 600. I announced that I would love to be wrong this one time as the more people who arrive, the more $$ we earn for the kids. Are you ready for this?!!? 1,046 PEOPLE CAME TO THE EVENT!! We earned well over our target of $200,000 when you include the raffle monies, the auction, buy-ins for the poker games and just general donations. Our grand total was $1,273,856!!! CAN YOU DIG IT! One anonymous donor, and I promised not divulge who this is, was so impressed with our grassroots efforts and the whole aesthetics of the evening, that he/she was moved to the degree of writing a check for one million dollars!
It is hard to put into words the gratitude, the appreciation, the heartfelt affinity for all those who helped to make this “party” the hottest ticket in town. The music started at 5:30 and as the evening wore on, it gradiently climaxed to a rockin’-fun-get-on-your-feet-and-dance, man! The food was gourmet-all-the-way…and with 83 staff attending the record-breaking crowd, you couldn’t so much as accidentally drop a napkin without having someone there to quickly snatch it up and hand it back to you, and that was just the staff from the caterer! The entertainment was of 5-star caliber, from an audience participation magic show, to a bizarre-yet-fascinating display of exotic animals, to the improvisational antics of award-winning Jim Meskimen to the hilarious commentary of MC Tom Kenny, a.k.a. SpongeBob. Numerous celebrities joined Tom at the mike, including Dorian Harewood, who sang one of the most moving renditions of “Nature Boy” I’ve ever heard; Brad Garrett, holding his own at the poker table, ended up doing a comedy sketch with Tom and myself that brought the house down; and the whole cast of The Simpsons took a huge bow and graced everyone with their autographs and photographs making the whole night one never to forget.
All in all, it was a hugely successful event. In fact, it was so successful, that now “the buzz” is that people are quite sad and dismayed that they missed the fun. In fact, they are so sad that they are now writing checks to “add to the kitty”, knowing deep down inside that it wasn’t really about the party at all, but rather about a community joining together to contribute to the building of the youth center so these local at-risk kids will have a safe harbor to learn, play and grow without the risk of gang violence.
If YOU happen to be one of those people, it is not too late to write a nice, fat donation to “LAPD Devonshire PALS” and send it to: Lori Litchfield 9420 Reseda Blvd. #527 Northridge, CA 91324.
YOU CAN BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR IT WILL BE MONEY WELL SPENT!
