It occurred to me when I looked around the Holy Family Catholic Church auditorium last Saturday night that the Ruby Slipper Fund board members might just be geniuses at fundraising.
The Fund was created to honour their friend Patsy Rothenbush who succumbed to cancer at age 51. Patsy frequently said how fortunate she was to be able to pay for any treatments not covered by medical plans. She also appreciated being able to have palliative care on her terms. And while she had these needs met, Patsy knew many in our community are not so lucky. So her last wishes were to have a fund created that would allow others to have the same level of care she did.
In life Patsy was a boisterous, fun-loving, incredible woman who appreciated all things feminine. At one of her last celebrations, she posed merrily, bald head glowing, with the Sechelt Fire Department at the annual Cops for Cancer Ladies' Gala. So although her days were numbered, she made the most of every one of them.
When the three Ruby Slipper board members, Brenda Rowe, Sandie Lanskail and Carolyn Spence, brainstormed for a way to raise the money to make Patsy's dream come true, they wanted something that would honour her unique spirit as well as swell the Fund's coffers. Hence the shoe and bag auction began (since expanded to add bling). The idea was to sell new and gently used gear to the highest silent auction bidder.
The sale turned out to draw women like bees to nectar, and word spread like wildfire. The first event held at the Daily Roast quickly sold out, and the women were amazed to discover they'd raised $6,000 - just like that.
And all of the sweetness wasn't in the sales - one of the women's husbands had questioned their sanity, saying that the premise would never work. He had underestimated the power of a bargain and the lure of a lovely shoe to Coast women.
This year was no different. The 200 tickets sold out in a matter of days and unlucky women kept their fingers crossed as they placed their names on waiting lists.
In the meantime, the donations came pouring in. Each woman purchasing a $25 ticket to the event was urged to donate at least one item to the cause. And did it work! Boxes and boxes of shoes and purses ended up in the Holy Family cavern.
In addition to all the attendees' generosity were the donations from the business community. There were tables of raffle prizes donated by Coast merchants ranging from high fashion items to a Kitchen Aid mixer - altogether $23,000 of merchandise was donated and a further $7,000 of shoes and bags came from Nancy Palmer, owner of Lucys and Palmeros.
While it may be easy for some men to chortle behind their hands about women and their affection for accessories, it's hard to imagine any auction geared to men making $25,000 in a single night. Somehow I can't imagine any guy standing guard on his bid to make sure he took home just the right hammer.
It was a great night with lots of laughs and a few tears - just the kind of event Patsy would have loved.
