Our recent dinner and auction fundraiser went well.  We raised nearly $5,000 and that will help us towards our overall annual budget goals of about 100,000.  About 110 of the anticipated 160 people showed up to support our cause.  We are new to hosting dinners and auctions and we learned a lot with this one.  

The auction team we developed was important and it was a good thing we divided up reaponsibilities and had leaders over each. We were quite pleased at how smoothly our entertainment went from pianist Tom Tran and Kingsbury High Schools orchestra ensemble led by Sheryl Lane.  This was a real treat for our guests.  We were so thankful for all of the donors who gave auction items which represented several local businesses and displayed a lot of individual talent. A few small groups from Highpoint Church pulled together and provided our delicious Commissary grilled chicken and barbecue dinner. We had a large group of ladies who came together to bake a variety of desserts for us to offer.  Our Asha’s Next Generation teens came together to speak, serve and help out throughout the night.  Volunteers for the auction consisted of several church’s and community supporters coming together to serve.  It was so good to have so many people willing to help us set up and breakdown tables and chairs then clean up afterwards.  Seeing things come together and people work together for the good of many as they did was precious to me.  
517Designs’ Keith Stubblefield worked hard on completing our video.  The video was a highlight of our evening.  It was truly wonderful to finally have this media to be able to better share our story and what we are about.  Thank you Keith for having a heart that falls inline with ours and giving of your time to help us put this video together. 

We are also so thankful and blessed that some of our refugee friends came to serve at the auction, speak and support the organization.  Asha was there!  She came in from Nashville just to show her support and love.  We truly were happy to have her with us that night and it was sweet to see her enthusiasm over how far the organization has come.

After the auction our auction team got together to talk about the evening and how we felt it went.  Overall we felt the evening went really well and are happy with the success of it.  We did learn a few things for our future auction:     

     -We needed to find ways to make more time for our leadership to mingle and chat with you more.

    -We probably need an energetic MC for keeping the auction part of the event excitement going.

     -We want to be sure the future vision of Asha’s Refuge is fully shared.

     -We want you to know about our successes.  

     -Checkout could go smoother.  We apologize for the lines to check out and leave towards the end of the auction.  We will work on a better way to close it up next year.  

Overall, the evening was a sweet success.  We very much appreciated your attendance, your patience and love for us and have loved your feedback. 

Yes, fundraisers are a lot of work but we love that it gives us a chance to raise awareness about serving refugees locally and allows others to be involved.  Did you know that Asha’s Refuge does not apply for or take government funding?  We believe it is the responsibility of Gods people to step up and help the least of the least of these in our city.  We do not wish to have our hands tide nor be slowed down by the beauracracy and circling paperwork that often comes with government funds.  We also do not want to play into the stereotypes that refugees use all of our tax dollars to survive when we know first hand that our clients desire to learn and to work to support themselves without the use of government aide which often oppresses them. Committed monthly support to organizations like Asha’s Refuge and other nonprofits is what actually moves the nonprofit forward.   

Thank you once more  for your volunteer time, your  auction item donations and your financial contributions.  His love wins!