One of them is traveling. I *have* to go visit my clients a couple of times per year for various reasons and my main client is located in Orlando, FL.
We were asked to sponsor an event that is near and dear to our main client's heart. It's Stars and Pars and it's a golf fundraising event, auction and gala. All to raise money for Give the Kids the World, which is a non-profit for critically ill children and their family to spend an all expenses paid, 7 day vacation on their property. Where their sickness doesn't matter. Where they are just like everyone else.
We got to enjoy a tour, learn about the property, the facilities. The over 1,800 volunteers who are there each and every week to ensure these families enjoy themselves.
Ice cream is normal at 10pm.
Ordering pizza any time of day or night is totally fine.
Siblings are treated just as special.
It was both beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time.
While we were touring, there were several families walking around.
Seeing them and knowing why they were there was so sad. But then again, happy because these kids were so damn happy. It was a week where they could forget about the hospitals, treatments and the constant reminders that their days are numbered.
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| The Waldorf Astoria, where we stayed and where the Gala was held |
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| It was a beautiful hotel |
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| Give the Kids the World Village |
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| Each area is named after a child who was a guest there |
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| Cute themed desserts |
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| Cake pops were in there |
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| Always with lights |
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| Each of those stars are named for a child who has their name on it. |
This is to ensure the kids can enjoy the holidays during the week that they are there.
After the sponsor reception and tour, my team headed back to the hotel for a late dinner.
The golf event and gala was the next day, Friday.
Being a sponsor to this event meant that we got a table for 10 at the Gala and we also got to man a hole on the golf course during the day's 18 holes.
I got to man hole #3 and it just so happened to be the "Hole in One" hole with a prize of $25,000 if you could actually get a hole in one.
We had to make our way to the course by 7am.
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| This was my view, pretty much. We had a tent, table and some small goodies to giveaway to the folks playing. |
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| See the crane? |
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| It was a gorgeous day. Not too hot. Not too sunny. |
We finished up around 1pm and I headed back to the hotel to grab a late lunch and catch up with some colleagues, who had meetings elsewhere that morning.
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| Got myself a Froze (like rose) and enjoyed that next to the pool. |
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| I got this dress for my BFF's baby sister's wedding (blog to come) and I'm glad I got to get another use out of it! It was $13 on Shein. Two wears for $13 and I'll consider that a win. |
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| Literally around the corner from the hotel lobby |
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| My boss, Alyssa and other colleague, Ashley (we worked together years ago!) |
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| More team members and fun with characters. That felt a little weird to me, to be honest. Like we were around a bunch of "furries" lol. |
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| Check out that balloon octopus! The guy at the podium is my main client. |
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| Every table had a theme |
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| Steph Curry's jersey went for $2,600 |
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| My people! |
During dinner is when they did the live auction and that was so much fun to experience. Obviously all proceeds went to the GTKTW Village and operations so it felt good to know these people were bidding huge $$ for a good cause.
We were sitting next to a table with Indian folks and they were CLEANING UP. Like bidding 10's of 1,000's of dollars for things like a 5 day trip to golf on Michael Jordan's private golf course.
At the very end of the night, they were just basically taking donations and started the "bids" at $20,000. I bid/donated $111 which was to commemorate the 11th year this has been going on.
We planned to make an Irish exit right after dinner, but ended up staying until close to midnight!
We wanted to head up early because we wanted to get to Disney right around 7:30am. Luckily we were able to easily get on elevators and head to our rooms once we were ready.
It was a beautiful night and I'm so grateful to have been a part of it. I hope we get asked to sponsor again next year!
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