Paint the Garden Fundraiser Extravaganza

The title pretty much sums it up. Any time you use the word 'extravaganza', you are just leaving it open to whatever happens. That's exactly how we do things. It gives people some hope of something exciting, but if we fail, no one is too disheartened.

We began our fundraiser with our own significant donation to Tyler's fresh-emptied piggy bank.

It's what the founders would have wanted.

The event began around 9 pm.

To be honest, everything came together just hours before we started.

We recruited Kaden Shepherd as our (semi) professional skateboarder.

A ramp was found with a couple hours to spare (thanks Jill for your efforts).

After that, the rest was history.

Here are some pictures.

The event was full of interesting things:

The couches (motorized) made an appearance, and faked everyone out by pretending to attempt the jump.

Santa Clause showed up and bestowed everyone with presence (spelling intentional).

The jump was great. Kaden cleared it fine, and didn't even catch on fire.

The raffle was also successful. Not only did we raise enough to paint the garden liner, but we raised enough to donate to the local food bank.

And did I mention we had great raffle prizes...

She just won a leaf of fresh-cut spinach. If I remember right, her first words were "I'm going to Disneyland!" Say hi to Pluto for me.

He won a leaf of lettuce. I wonder what he'll do with it all.

Most importantly, we'd like to thank everyone that came out. Our goal was to make it a relatively painless experience, and we mostly succeeded.

Thanks to Ashley, Karin, Jill, Kaden, Clyde & Jana, and the city police for not shutting us down too early.

Believe in your dreams (a tear just fell from my eye).