Okay, I may be repeating myself here, but what the heck.
I sat down with my friend Frank today and did a little brainstorming for the Celebration of TD's Life. We have figured out approximately where and when (a weekday after the Super Bowl at one of our local bars) and what (a Celebration that is also a fundraiser for the local ASPCA as well as offering some education on domestic violence). And we have a few ideas of what we are going to do.
But Frank and I are very similar, and have a lot of similar ideas. I want to hear some other ideas. What are some fun and novel things we could do at the Celebration to celebrate our friend's life and, as well, to raise money?
I await the collective wisdom of CS.com, which is massive. So bring it on, kids, bring it on!
EDITED TO ADD:
I suppose I should tell you some of the ideas that we are playing with so far.
Celebration ideas:
1. A picture slide show of various pictures of TD, possibly set to music.
2. Her favorite local band, if we can get them to donate their time. In this case, they may....they are really cool guys.
3. Possibly a trivia contest about TD. Not sure about this, because obviously this would be biased to her good friends, and we want everyone to have a good time.
4. Obviously, her friends speaking. This needs no explanation, I hope.
5. JUST THOUGHT OF THIS! Perhaps a "wall" where people express their thoughts about TD. Once it is all done, we can.....hmmm.....dunno.....send it to her parents in Chicago? Place it somewhere in town? Not sure about this one, to be honest.....but it is a way for people to express themselves, especially those who may not want to speak publicly.
Money raising ideas:
1. A 50/50 raffle. For those of you that don't know, people purchase raffle tickets, and at some point, you draw a winning ticket. The winner gets 50% of the total pot, the other 50% goes to the cause you are trying to raise money for.
2. A silent auction. I am going to go around to various businesses and establishments and attempt to get them to donate products, services, gift certificates, etc. These items will then be auctioned off in a silent auction, which is where people put down their bids in writing. Whenever you look at the paper for the particular item, you can see the highest bid. It is a way to auction off stuff all at the same time, and without as much tension or aggression as in a regular auction. In most cases, the winner gets the item for less than they would pay normally, and the cause makes money, and the donating business gets good PR. Sometimes, the item goes for MORE than its value, as some people are more than willing to buy it at more than face value when they know all the money is going to a good cause.
3. A Coors light chugging contest. This sounds odd, but this was TD's beer of choice, so it makes sense. And remember, A. this is Key West, just about everything is an excuse to drink and, B. this is supposed to be FUN!
4. A food buffet. My head chef at The Bar has already said he would donate some food. What we would do with that is have it semi-free.....basically, you buy a ticket for the buffet at $5 per person, which is still a killer deal. All money, of course, goes to the cause.
5. Beyond all this and other things we may come up with, OBVIOUSLY we will accept straight donations to the cause, for those who just want to do that. No fundraiser/charity event would refuse straight donations, actually.
So....what else?
I sat down with my friend Frank today and did a little brainstorming for the Celebration of TD's Life. We have figured out approximately where and when (a weekday after the Super Bowl at one of our local bars) and what (a Celebration that is also a fundraiser for the local ASPCA as well as offering some education on domestic violence). And we have a few ideas of what we are going to do.
But Frank and I are very similar, and have a lot of similar ideas. I want to hear some other ideas. What are some fun and novel things we could do at the Celebration to celebrate our friend's life and, as well, to raise money?
I await the collective wisdom of CS.com, which is massive. So bring it on, kids, bring it on!

EDITED TO ADD:
I suppose I should tell you some of the ideas that we are playing with so far.
Celebration ideas:
1. A picture slide show of various pictures of TD, possibly set to music.
2. Her favorite local band, if we can get them to donate their time. In this case, they may....they are really cool guys.
3. Possibly a trivia contest about TD. Not sure about this, because obviously this would be biased to her good friends, and we want everyone to have a good time.
4. Obviously, her friends speaking. This needs no explanation, I hope.
5. JUST THOUGHT OF THIS! Perhaps a "wall" where people express their thoughts about TD. Once it is all done, we can.....hmmm.....dunno.....send it to her parents in Chicago? Place it somewhere in town? Not sure about this one, to be honest.....but it is a way for people to express themselves, especially those who may not want to speak publicly.
Money raising ideas:
1. A 50/50 raffle. For those of you that don't know, people purchase raffle tickets, and at some point, you draw a winning ticket. The winner gets 50% of the total pot, the other 50% goes to the cause you are trying to raise money for.
2. A silent auction. I am going to go around to various businesses and establishments and attempt to get them to donate products, services, gift certificates, etc. These items will then be auctioned off in a silent auction, which is where people put down their bids in writing. Whenever you look at the paper for the particular item, you can see the highest bid. It is a way to auction off stuff all at the same time, and without as much tension or aggression as in a regular auction. In most cases, the winner gets the item for less than they would pay normally, and the cause makes money, and the donating business gets good PR. Sometimes, the item goes for MORE than its value, as some people are more than willing to buy it at more than face value when they know all the money is going to a good cause.
3. A Coors light chugging contest. This sounds odd, but this was TD's beer of choice, so it makes sense. And remember, A. this is Key West, just about everything is an excuse to drink and, B. this is supposed to be FUN!
4. A food buffet. My head chef at The Bar has already said he would donate some food. What we would do with that is have it semi-free.....basically, you buy a ticket for the buffet at $5 per person, which is still a killer deal. All money, of course, goes to the cause.
5. Beyond all this and other things we may come up with, OBVIOUSLY we will accept straight donations to the cause, for those who just want to do that. No fundraiser/charity event would refuse straight donations, actually.
So....what else?
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