As many of you know, I have been hosting fundraisers for various charities since my 50th birthday.
That fundraiser grew out of a pirate-themed birthday party which my then-husband, Dennis Lisenby; a friend, Lynn Roberts; and I threw — for me! We used Jimmy Buffet’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty” as an inspiration. Two weeks before my birthday, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. My friend Joshua Dara had a church in Louisiana which harbored 1,500 refugees from Katrina.
Concerned about those refugees, Dennis, Lynn, and I decided to try to collect money to help pay for food and clothing. We put a skull-and-cross-bones bucket on the dessert table and a sign asking for contributions. With a generous check from Appleby’s courtesy of Patrick’s friend Colin’s mother, Bev Elving, we raised $2,000.00.
That felt damn good, so I kept having fundraisers.
For the last four years (2014 – 2017), my colleagues at Suite 100 and I hosted a fundraiser for Rose Brooks Center and SAFEHOME. My colleagues, staff, friends, participating artists, and community members joined together to raise increasing sums to divide between the two agencies serving domestic violence survivors. Last year, each agency got almost $2,000.00!!!
Since I’m not in Kansas City and don’t have a public art space, I’m hosting a Facebook Fundraiser for Rose Brooks Center. Here’s the LINK for that event, to which you can donate. I set a modest goal of $500.00, which we’ve almost met in the first 24 hours! We can exceed this, so don’t hesitate to donate! (That link again is HERE!!!!!) Facebook does not charge fees. The funds go directly to the agency designated, in this case, Rose Brooks Center.
If you are not on Facebook, or want to just give directly to ROSE BROOKS CENTER (Missouri) or SAFEHOME (Kansas), click on the name of either in this sentence to be directed to their websites. If you have a chance, please mention my birthday and/or “Art @ Suite 100” in your notes, so that the agencies will know that the energy from all of our past work continues.
If you live in a state or community other than the KC Metro area MO/KAN region, and prefer to give to a domestic violence shelter or agency in your own city, please do so. Honor whomever you wish. Credit is not the point; the point is raising funds and awareness for survivors of family violence. Thank you.
It’s the twenty-fourth day of the fifty-sixth month of My Year Without Complaining. Life continues.
THE NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE: – 800-799-7233