Like I Said, We've Been Busy.

Over the last few weeks we had several fundraisers and I’d like to briefly tell you how they went. We had two “Cookbook Release Parties,” one in Camp Hill, PA the other in Blue Point, NY. In Camp Hill a great friend from high school opened her house and hosted the party. In New York, a BULA board member offered to have the party at her house. These were both a great time and an excellent opportunity to talk about BULA and increase awareness about our organization and life in Africa.

There was also a golf tournament, sponsored by Black Bird’s Bar and Grill. This was held on the surprisingly beautiful day after Thanksgiving and 88 golfers arrived at the event for a wonderful day of golfing, great food, and fun. The response was fantastic and the support was amazing.

We also had a 5K run, which was the inspiration behind BULA’s new slogan – From Blue Point to BULA - a tribute to the wonderful community that has supported BULA since its initiation. The walk/run was a complete success, more than 150 arrived to support BULA and to participate. With the tremendous generosity from the Blue Point Brewery, a good time was had by all, especially upon completion of the race. We hope to make this run an annual event, so look for us next year, and join us to support our school construction projects in Africa. In addition to this, we have been selling our cookbooks and sweatshirts outside of Bayport/Blue Point school district’s holiday concerts. The school has, once again, shown its amazing support by allowing us to speak briefly and show our video before the concert. We have been able to sell boxes of cookbooks in this manner and are slowly getting closer to meeting our financial needs to construct the second school.

We have also had a wine and cheese get together. A neighbor who has been hugely supportive organized this event. This was a wonderful opportunity to talk to new people in the area who did not know a lot about BULA, but knew they wanted to learn more and support the cause. We showed the video, which I have attached the link to help provide a better understanding of life in Africa; again the support was tremendous.

Finally, a friend of ours from Mission 14 helped organize a happy hour fundraiser in the city. This was a very low key event, but was a lot of fun and carried on well into the evening. At this fundraiser BULA and Mission 14 decided to hold a joint event to support both organizations, and this was the beginning of the Hope for the Holidays Gala discussed in the previous blog.

Thank you to everyone who helped organize an event and to everyone who attended - we couldn’t do this without you.