The Fundraiser

I volunteered at a fundraiser today. It was for a family of a woman recently killed in a house fire. She initially escaped the fire, but then went back in because she thought one of her sons was inside. She never re-emerged, her body was found just feet away from the door. Her three sons survived, and the son she had run back into the fire to search for was at the bar looking for his dad to try to prevent him from getting another DUI. The police quickly discovered that her husband (and the boys’ dad) was the one who had set the fire.

There were over 200 people at the fund raiser. I talked to an aunt who had made 32 pounds of sloppy joes. She had taken the boys in. I told her that I had heard their dad was the murderer, and she began to cry, the boys’ dad was her brother. (Oops, foot in mouth as usual.) She said the shame and horror of it had crushed their family.

There was a fundraising baseball game and a dinner for $10. There were raffles, and silent auctions and a 50/50, where money used to buy a chance is split with 50% going to the family and the other 50% going to the holder of the ticket drawn (the pot was $250 and the winner donated it back to the family). My job was to help set up and then to “guard” the valuable raffle prizes. They were great items, with three autographed footballs, four autographed NFL pictures, two autographed baseballs, and an autographed bobblehead –plus a bunch of craft items. Although the crowd was not wealthy by any means, they were very generous. All the funds raised will be matched by a Lutheran financial non-profit organization.

Living in a small town where people do such wonderful things for each other is very much like living in a military community. We take care of one another.