Charity begins at home?

A Fundraising Ball. For 500 people. 500. People. Ball. Katie G, are you crazy?

I am having multiple anxieties about this particular challenge. Not least of all, I hate balls. I was dragged kicking and screaming to my own debutante. Therefore I know very little about them. Also, 500 people is a seriously huge number. I know somebody who is involved in the operation of one of these for a charity. It’s a masquerade ball that has been running annually for 3 years now. She is part of a huge team inclusive of the 3 major organisers, plus a finance team, plus a bunch of sponsors.... and the most they’ve ever had in attendance is about 400 people. After advertising for a whole year... Yeeeah.

Perhaps this is somehow more viable in smaller towns, such as where both Katie and I grew up. If half the population of the town rallies together for a cause, there’s your 500 immediately. Maybe that’s the trick.

Consensus is, this is by far the most difficult and involving of the challenges, and perhaps the only way of making it happen is to join an already existing committee for such an event. Picking my cause was the easy part: Spina Bifida research. But strangely, googling it didn’t yield a large national organisation for it (not one with a working website, anyway), only state ones. And my state’s site doesn’t look like it has been updated much since 2008. That’s a bit depressing, considering it’s the second most common physical disability in Australia, after Cerebral Palsy. I even established that Spina Bifida Awareness Week is the first week in September, which is soon... but why have I never been aware of this awareness week before? Hmm. I contacted the group to see if there were any events I could get in on.

My third and less pressing anxiety is that I’ve been set three separate fundraising-based challenges, and that is kind of a drain on my well-meaning friends and colleagues. I did speak to Tracey the other week who said something like “mine was only supposed to be a small one!” (bless her) but nevertheless... people can only be so charitable.

The instructions do distinctly call for a ‘Ball’. I’m starting to wonder if a gig counts as a ball. According to Wikipedia, it just needs to be ‘formal dance’ with attendees wearing ‘evening attire’. Perhaps I can get around it that way – by shaking up the original idea of a stuffy old ball. I could hire an indie venue (if there are still any left open) and put on a gig.

Someone (I have forgotten who, so forgive me) also suggested getting around the whole thing on semantics. Like getting a huge beach ball, writing “Fundraising” on it, and throwing it around at a festival. Points for effort, but somehow I’m not sure that idea will fly.

I’m workshopping it.

PS. In other news... just found out they are making 'The Amazing Race - Australia'. Amazing is an understatement. Ben is silently relieved to know that his Britishness makes him ineligible, but Jaimi has stepped up to the plate to be my partner. Seeing as our short-lived imaginary cooking show (called 'The 3-Second Rule') never made it to broadcast anywhere outside our kitchen, this may just be our shot at the so-called Big Time.