Last night, Saturday, November 12, 2016, we at BLB held our 6th Annual Fall Gala FUNdraiser! This is actually the night that I look forward to the most each year, as it truly is a chance for everyone at Be Like Brit to come together with our friends, supporters, Britsionarys, and Ambassadors to not only offer a look at the events of the current year, but to discuss and share some of our plans moving forward, too. It's our biggest event of the year, and last night, some 340 (or so) of you came to the event at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA. What a fabulous night!!!
We are always so grateful and overwhelmed at the love and support we receive at Be Like Brit. This year, we were tested in many ways, and the Worcester Community and beyond never let us down. More than 16,000 pounds of Hurricane Relief donations came streaming in to our Operations Center in just two days - and more than $60,000 USD was raised - in the first two days! Donations both in-kind and monetary continue to roll in for our relief efforts, and we are busy planning out the best way to utilize these funds to respond to this most recent tragedy and plan ahead for the next. It's people like you who make it possible.
While Madame Love and I traveled up from Haiti, we were honored that Len brought our newest addition, Deb Kaiser Cross up from Florida, too! As we grow in to an international nonprofit, we are strategically planning for our future, too. Deb will be leading groups in to Haiti from Florida, as she works with Len to share the news of Be Like Brit and we plan to set up an office at some point in 2017 in Delray Beach! We're thrilled to have her on board and it was wonderful to be able to introduce her to our friends last night!
Deb isn't the only one who made the trip to Worcester for our big night! We are so blessed, and have friends who traveled to be with us last night from Long Island, Connecticut, Maine, New York, New Hampshire, and more! Our own Susan Wornick of course came in from FL, and we were honored to have Congressman Jim McGovern and his wife Lisa in attendance, as well! As many of you know, Jim was instrumental in getting Len in to Haiti just after the quake back in 2010, and both he and Lisa have been to Be Like Brit and have been staunch supporters of our cause. What a wonderful night!
Our evening was a huge success, and we can't thank you all enough for the generosity of not only your attendance, but to all of those local businesses and individuals who work so hard to get auction items and donations together for the night. With well over 100 items to bid on, we are so happy that nearly every item we had went home with someone last night! We're so grateful to so many of you that I know if I tried to list them all here, I would miss some! It is this amazing collective effort that makes this night such a success.
With dozens of volunteers helping us with the event last night, we have to acknowledge the great people of St. John's in Shrewsbury, who have from our earliest days of operating Brit's Home in Haiti been such incredible supporters. The fine young men of St. John's filled so many roles for us last night, and under the direction of Mr. Tim Williams, Mr. Mike Nicholson, and Mr. Mike Foley, we are truly blessed to have them on our side.
With more than 100 Britsionarys who have traveled to Haiti, countless sponsors, and more - I could go on and on. Your generosity and dedication to Continuing the Compassion is overwhelming, and I know I can speak on behalf of Len and Cherylann Gengel when I say that we are truly humbled by your selflessness, and are so appreciative that each of you have come in to our BLB lives! While it is a night for fundraising and a night for some business, most of all, it is a night of fun - of celebration - to take the time to appreciate and recognize the fabulous family that we all have with Be Like Brit.
People, indeed, are so very good. Thank you for helping us help the children of Haiti at Be Like Brit.
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