Usually this thermometer resides on the right hand side of the blog, right under the photo of Sergei an Max but today it is getting special attention - front and center - because (drumroll, please) we have already raised $37,176, approximately $13,000 of that came from the auction!! That is a crazy amount of money!! That could buy 50 new iPads, one new (nice) car, 7 trips to Europe, 5,285 meals at Cafe Rio - and we know that many of you have given up these very things up to help us get here.
The auction was amazing, people we coming out of the woodwork to donate things, and people were jumping to buy things. One friend stayed up all night bidding to help us earn the most we possibly could. One complete stranger kept buying all the jewelry. We thought, "this lady really likes diamonds" but when the auction ended and she claimed she "forgot" to bid on the four unsold items and she wanted those too we figured out she was more concerned about our auction total than she was about how her hands sparkled. We love and appreciate your enthusiasm and support and we hope you all got something you love. Next fall there will be FREE pear jam for all of you!
We started this fundraising with $16,500 from Becky and Kevin, which they came up with by getting a loan on their car and pulling out their savings. We had to raise $33,500 - it seemed daunting. We decided early on that we were going to do as much as we could in the month of October and then give everyone a break. Now, I believe we are going to reach our goal by the end of this month! You are all amazing. People have donated, and spread the word - we have people in the UK (thanks Stacy!), South America (thanks Gabriela), Russia, and all over the United States following this blog and it feels amazing to have that kind of support.
Next Tuesday is our final fundraising event. It is a really fun, FAMILY event at Classic Skate in Sandy from 6-9. Everyone can come, bring your scooters or skates (also available for rent there) and skate FOR FREE! Instead of paying to skate, any donation you make will go to the Ukraine to Utah fund. There will be some raffles and tons of fun. We can't wait to see you all there!
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