Party 8th Aug

Firstly a great big thank you to Tracy, without whom I never could have done this!
For those who don't know, Saturday night 8th Aug was the first 'event' I have organised for the B4AK.

I had organised 'The Bodyshop @ Home' to come and do a demonstration and decided to turn the evening into something special for the B4AK by sharing information and just generally getting a feel for how the project was being viewed in the community.

But first to the really important things - Yes, there was a chocolate fountain!!!! I now have a 'chocolate headache' but man, it was worth it! There were plates set up around the fountain with lots of yummy things to dip - 5 different coloured marshmallows, tiny pavolva stars, fresh cut strawberries and of course, Dad's home made Turkish Delight....

I'm seriously thinking of having a chocolate fountain installed in the garden as a 'water feature'.

Anyway, back to the evening. I got my make up done by Kylie - from the body shop, and everyone that came got their name in the draw to win the hostess gifts. Congratulations to Rhonda who won $120 of product and 2 half price items. I was only going to buy the mineral make up, but ended up getting moisturiser etc....

During the evening people were able to purchase a 'square' to go into the Partylite Candle gift set. All the squares were sold that night so we were able to draw the winner. Allison Eilers won it, which is great because she has a serious candle addiction!

I also had brochures for Overall Beings Scrabble Tile Pendants. We are working on a fundraiser together. Click here for more info and keep an eye on this blog over the next week for more.

After the Body Shop demo had finished I got up and talked for a bit about the B4AK and what had been achieved so far, how it started (stay tuned in a future post for that), and what we wanted to do next. There was lots of interest from the crowd about what goes into the backpacks and how they could help.

One of the ladies there is currently a foster carer and was able to let people know a few of her experiences. She told us the little girl she has at the moment came to her at 18mths of age at about 9pm one night, with absolutely nothing. The carer was told the girl would be staying only 24 hours, and she still has her 2 years later. There was no start up placement money given to the carer at the time, so she and her partner had to foot the bill for all of this little girls personal items, nappies, bottle, formula, wipes, clothing and so on.

A very moving story indeed. This kind lady also said that she would have welcomed a nappy bag the night she was given the little girl. Having to go shopping just after accepting a traumatised child into her home was very difficult.

We also discussed the possibility of the project becoming a proper incorporated non profit group, I have a few reservations about this, but there are enough interested people to hold our first official meeting as an unincorporated group.

After everyone left and Tracy and I had cleaned up (well, Tracy did most of it while I chatted to people I hadn't had the chance to get to earlier), we sat down and did the till for the evening and made sure the books balanced. We talked about a few other ideas for getting the message out there and we'll look into these over the coming weeks.

And you know? I forgot to take any photo's at all!!! I can't believe it! I do have a few pictures of the scrabble tile pendants so take a look...
Arent' they just delicious!
If you want one with these particular designs just email me and I'll organise it. The necklace on the left is $30 with a gold or silver chain and the keychain on the right is $15.
despinaparakas@yahoo.com.au