A Well Deserved Rest Leaves the Money Behind (Pt. 1 of 2)

Jill was excited that early fall morning but she was having a bad hair day due to the fact that the temperature and humidity was more like summer than fall that autumn. Her emotions reflected the swirling winds that blew leaves prematurely from the trees, as she bustled about her small apartment getting ready for the evening’s events. It would be a long day, indeed!

She arrived later than she had planned at the office, as she blew in the door carrying three armfuls of party favors, name tags, registration materials and other assorted paraphernalia for the auction that night.

This was the biggest night of the year’s heavy schedule of eight special events – the annual “Spend For The Poor” auction. Preparation for this year’s auction had begun within days of the previous year’s auction. It took 75 volunteers in many capacities a total of 538 hours of service to put on this event. It also absorbed a great deal of Jill’s time, since she was putting in 16-hour days for three months previous to the Friday night event. It was the largest such gala in the community and raised $75,000 annual for the Charity Sisters’ work with those who were poor and indigent in the community.

And it was Jill’s shining moment of each year. As the Director of Special Events at Charity Sisters, Jill was in charge of this event and she gave it her all. She had also scheduled her vacation to start the following Monday, just so she could collapse and have a much-needed rest after the heavy strains of preparation.

That Friday, Jill spent much of the day checking on preparations and caring for last-minute details.

The night of the event, Jill went home early to change into her fabulous gown, which was an original design by her sister-in-law’s clothing design firm, and then headed out to the Convention Center for the auction. She looked and felt fabulous! This was her night. This was the night she could be totally in charge (in a backstage sort of way) rubbing shoulders with volunteer TV celebrities, donors who owned the community’s largest businesses and constituted some of the wealthiest families of the state. She was in heaven!

The event went well. Nearly everything went off as planned. Even the high school kid she had enlisted to ply the audience with a story about the need for her scholarship to a well-known and respected local college. That had brought in $7000 just from the tables of people before the auction! The whole event was an enormous success, and she felt that hundreds of people were staying afterward just to tell her what a fantastic job she had done. She took all the praise smiling and enjoying every minute of it, right up to midnight.

And at that point, she turned the key to her apartment and opened the door, kicked off her red pumps and flopped, gown and all on the couch. Breathless with satisfaction and just beginning to feel the release of the weight and tension of preparing for the event, she fell asleep.

At sunrise, Jill was up, showered, dressed, and headed for the office. It would be Saturday, but colleagues would be present and she was ready to do the wind-up to the auction. She noted that not all expenses were in yet but she anticipated that with the revenue from tickets, auction items sold, table contributions, and other income, she would net out about $90,000 this year. She was pleased that it was well above last year’s final tabulation and would set a new record for the auction.

Finishing the wrap-up about noon, Jill headed out for the airport. Her bags had been packed for two weeks and were in the trunk of her car. She was bound for the Bahamas for two weeks’ rest and relaxation. Glad to have the event behind her, the success still swirling in her mind. There was nothing more to worry about; she was a free woman!