Hi All,
Thanks very much for the nice words about the now-historical SoCal
Orchid Dinner! Without a great deal of help from many generous
people, we would never have been able to pull it off, so a big thank
you goes out to Janice Metz, Nancy & Terry Smith, David Barzilay,
Adrienne Sepmeyer, Sarah Fuerstenau, Teresa Masters, Norma Paley,
Allison Vezeau, Karin Worden, any other helpers whose names I’ve left
out (please forgive me!), all of the wonderful Silent Auction donors,
Pat Kulla & Sam Patania, Karen Christians and, of course, Hanuman.
All in all, 76 Orchidians, MASSC members and CCM folk attended the
dinner, although there were 85 paid admissions. Unfortunately, a few
of our number were unable to attend for various reasons, including
the devastating California wildfires. We wish all of our friends and
their families who were affected by this disaster a quick recovery!
On a happier note, we had participants from as far away as Hawaii,
San Diego, Tucson, Santa Rosa, Stockton, San Francisco and New York.
It was great to meet so many of the faces behind the names and to
have a chance to catch up with old friends as well.
The Silent Auction was great fun and VERY competitive. There were
bidding wars for a number of items with the most highly contested
prize being the CCM New Designer Award donated by Roy Helms &
Associates. If you’re interested in who went home with what, check
the auction site ( http://www.gembiz.com/auction ) in another day or
two; the winning bidders’ names will be posted soon. Between the
Silent Auction, cash donations, and surplus from the dinner, we
raised upwards of $2600 for Orchid. Thanks to all!
We had a terrific time and hope everyone else did too. To the
person who said, “Let’s do this twice a year” … great idea and let
us know if you need any tips when you’re organizing the next one 
… but I suspect you can count on us for the 2nd Annual SoCal Orchid
Dinner next fall!
Cheers,
Beth Rosengard & Brad Smith