On Thursday night I did not see the new 'Sex and the City' movie but I did sell a lot of raffle tickets.
The Bestie was involved with a charity showing of the new, hotly anticipated movie last Thursday night, complete with champagne, canapes, goodie bags and shoes, shoes, shoes! Being a fundraiser there was of course the ubiquitous 'raffle' and the BA and I volunteered ourselves to sell tickets before the movie.
I raced over to the theatre after a staff meeting and met the BA and The Bestie who were frantically putting 350 goodie bags out onto seats. I helped pour a few dozen glasses of champagne for the early arrivals and as 5.30pm ticked over we awaited the influx of keen moviegoers. Every seat had been pre-sold!
There were about 7 of us selling raffle tickets altogether and the prizes were lush. A pearl and diamond necklace, expensive shoes and spray tans...all very cosmoplitan and girly. The other sellers were young physios, trainees in the care of people with cystic fibrosis, and lovely young girls they all were. They had obviously however, never sold a raffle ticket in their lives! They proceeded to sell very few that night as well.
The thing with charity raffles is that you go in expecting people to have come with cash. It sounds callous but it's the fact of the matter. You don't ask them if they would like to buy a raffle ticket (surefire answer will be no) you inform them of the fabulous prizes in tonight's raffle and then ask whether they have their tickets?!! My lovely assistant, The BA, and I sold our first 100 tickets in under an hour and started on a new book before the other girls had got a third of the way into theirs. The thing was we had 90 minutes to get to 350 people before the movie started. We finished the evening off by walking up and down the rows inside the theatre calling out 'Any more raffle tickets? Last chance for raffle tickets.'Tickets were $10.00 each and all up that night we made about $2700 on the raffle. (is that right Bestie?) I was well chuffed.
Of course , if the other girls had been more efficient I guess we still would have sold the same amount but this did not detract from my sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. At the other cinema (there were three cinemas sold out for this event!!!) the more timid ticket sellers only managed $1300 of sales and there were twice as many people!
All in all it was a great night. The patrons, dressed to the nines, enjoyed the movie a drink and a chance to pose for the society papers. The charity provided a top class event and made a healthy amount for a very good cause.
At the end of the evening I was chatting to one of the other helpers as we split up the contents of the single left over 'goodie bag'. This young and very attractive girl was not one of the timid physios but obviously a regular supporter of the charity and quite feisty and forthright. We looked at the various free gifts and decided who should have what.
"Here's some super wrinkle cream," I observed,"Well, it's too late for me, you had better have that."
"No,' she replied, matter of factly, "I'm not going to live long enough to get wrinkles."
We all laughed politely. I mean, youth! Huh. Getting older isn't that bad. Why must they all subscribe to the rock n' roll philosophy of 'live fast, die young'. Huh. They'll learn.
Somehow, through the voucher distribution we came to talk about food and weight.
"Well," she announced," I'm under weight, The doctor wants me to start eating meat and three veg. Good grief, it'll kill me!" she announced. Huh, I thought, these rigid vegetarians are so high maintenance.
Later that night as I drove the exhausted BA and I home through the quiet, wet streets of Adelaide, a lightbulb flash went off in my brain. I got home and texted the Bestie.
**I have only just realised. G has cystic fibrosis doesn't she?**
It takes me a while but I get there in the end.
And all my good feelings about the amount of raffle tickets I'd sold, my puffed up ego brought on by my superior selling powers and the good I was doing through my actions deflated like an old balloon at the thought of G and her beautiful face, her feisty persona and her life sentence.
If you'd like to know more about cystic fibrosis or donate to the care of children with the disease, click here.
7 comments:
Oh dear - what a somber way to end the festivities fo the evening. While I am sure it saddened you - you should still be glad of your efforts because the money will benefit someone just like her....through increased quality of life, maybe even a longer life, and hopefully sometime soon a cure!
Thank you for your hard work to help others!
Elisa
WOW - busy you have been. That's great that you were there to help out.
The firt boy I ever kissed, whom I dated for a short while and then became wonderful friends with passed away from cystic fibrosis 7 years ago. His loss is still very painful to me and my heart goes out to all those who are living with the disease and who have lost someone because of it. Thankfully research is growing every day and each year the life expectancy grows.
Your honesty amazes me. For G to sound so matter of fact also pains me. You did a GREAT thing though...and you should be proud.
It sounds like such a fun event.... somewhat bitter-sweet, eh?
Oooooooooof.
oof oof oof oof.
It was still good, what you did, though. Don't let your well-earned puffiness poof out.
So sad.
It was a great effort from Arizaphale and BA - but they are just a little mistaken with the numbers. We had 580 screaming women at the event, with a further 550 at the other venue. BA now has an object lesson in how many 1,000 is when she had to lug more than that number of gift bags into and out of a van! All for a good cause ...
What a sad thing. I went to elementary school with a girl who had CF. She was not a very nice girl, but now that I'm older I can see that maybe it was part of how she coped. Anyway, the point is, she is my age (30 this year) and believe it or not, is still quite healthy and has at least one kid. I'm so glad to hear the event was such a success!
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