9.17 Benefit

Good Morning!

I'm writing this morning in Holyoke...yesterday, the community here put on a benefit to help us by raising money that will go to help us catch up on our bills, etc. The event was incredible, and I know that there are some of you who read my ramblings and would like to know exactly what went on.

The day started for us with a drive to Holyoke. Generally speaking, the drive isn't our favorite thing in the world, but yesterday we were actually quite excited because we've become intensely obsessed with a book series called
The Hunger Games. If you haven't read any of these books, you should find a deserted Island and go there with the books (three of them...we are midway through number two) and read. The drive gave us several hours lost in Panem. Once we got to Holyoke, it was time to watch the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Unfortunately, the Rams didn't prevail, but we enjoyed watching the first half anyway.

It was finally cool outside and the clouds followed later by the sun made it so the temperature outside was quite nice. To begin the benefit was a golf tournament that fielded around twenty total teams. We played and it was fun to travel around the golf course and listen to all the fun being had. Each of the holes had a pin prize. Some were for "normal" golf things while others were for things like being closest to a flag in a sand trap. The tournament lasted for nine holes before the event transferred over to the local Vet's club for happy hour, steak dinner and a silent auction.

The Vet's club has a large room that was filled with long banquet tables covered in purple and white balloons. Along
The tables were also pictures of Kurtis doing various things with family and friends. Served for dinner were plate-sized steaks and baked potatoes served in a tin foil wrapper. There was also a salad for all the adult types that like that sort of thing :) everyone seemed to enjoy the drinks and food...as well as checking out and bidding on many of the silent auction items. Around the outside of the room on the east side were tables covered in auction items. People were extremely generous and donated all kinds of things to be auctioned off...food, homemade blankets and pillows, gift baskets, various gift certificates, handmade jewelry, doorstops, clothing, were among the items for sale.

After dinner, the live auction took place using a live auctioneer. There were many things up for grabs...a fire
hydrant, sports tickets, golf, stays at a cabin, and a game-used Todd Helton helmet were only part of the line up. It was a fun auction for everyone - with great items and an even better atmosphere. In addition to all of that, there was also a putter that had been purchased to raffle off. The man who won it turned around and donated it to the auction which was an incredibly generous thing to do.

Following the auction, the large room was cleaned up while auction winners collected their items. A dance took place with people staying for or coming to the festivities. A lot of Kurtis' family was able to not only coke to the benefit, but also stay for the dance and we enjoyed seeing and hanging out with them. Some of our friends were also in town and that made it more fun. After midnight, we headed back to Kurtis' parents' house and crashed out for the night.

There were a lot of great things going on yesterday and I'm confident that I'll never be able to properly express the gratitude that Kurtis and I have sitting in our hearts right now. To write that this was thoughtful, incredible, meaningful, amazing, and exceedingly kind...I would still be only describing about 1% of what yesterday meant to the both of us. To everyone who helped to organize and run yesterday, to those who donated items to be auctioned, to everyone who came to play golf or eat or dance, to those who supported us financially through the purchase of tickets, items, and straight up donations ... THANK YOU. Thank you for helping us. Thank you for caring enough about us to aid us in any way you were able to do so. Thank you from the bottom of our grateful hearts.