It is once again time for the annual Cancer Survivor Celebration. This dance, hosted by Darlene Wilson (ten year survivor) and Lin Stover Hackney (who lost her husband to cancer) is probably the most looked forward to dance or party of the year.
A better look at their T’s
Let the decorating begin!
While tables were being decorated inside….
Pink balloons being attached to everything,…
Cake was sliced, ready for serving…..
And Dan showed us his sword swallowing skills….
In the Breezeway, the Helping Hand Ladies, Shirley Witcher and Margaret Geary were busy setting up a display of all the things that Helping Hands does for the community.
The women in our park gather every Wednesday to sew and make things like chemo caps in different styles…
Little Teddy Bears for kids in the hospital who don’t have one.
Bags that are filled with lotion, soap or things like that for women who left home with nothing when they went to the shelter for safety.
This is the first year for covers for the seat belts that give protection for those who have ports.
These are just a few of things that these wonderful, caring women in this park make for those in need and those who are in the battle for their life. I’ll talk more about Helping Hands later.
While all this is going on inside there is tons of activity in the pool area.
For the last several weeks Carl and Sandy Ahlstrom (you may know them as our line dance leaders) have been leading the Luminary Fundraiser. They have been selling white bags for $5.00 and in return each of buyers has decorated them in honor of a survivor or someone they lost and tonight they will be displayed around the pool.
Carl and Dan, Lin’s husband, set up a game plan.
Karen, Dan’s sister (yes, its a family affair!) opens the bags up to get them ready for Carl and Dan to put sand in the bottom of the bag.
In turn, Sandy puts a candle in the bottom of each bag nestled in the sand. (Yep, that’s our Sandy, you may not recognize her with her new “do”)
Some of the bags were so nicely decorated and some were in celebration of life for some friends of ours!
My good friend Kathy, a survivor, holding her bag.
The job of setting all these bags out now begins.
Our sunset this night.
Time to light the luminaries.
Our evening sky was just magnificent!
All lit, just waiting for night to fall for the full effect.
It was like having two light shows.
By now the party inside has started.
A lot of people “dressed” for the occasion…..
Once again Carol Powers was our DJ and once again she did a fantastic job! If anyone can get people dancing, its Carol.
About halfway through the dance Bob & me and Arlee & LaDonna Waring took a collection from everyone in the hall. There is no charge to attend the dance but it is announced that a collection will be taken.
Counting the most generous donations.
Now this is where our ladies in the park, known as Helping Hands, come in. Every year the money collected from the winter residents is presented to the Helping Hands leaders, Shirley and Margaret. In turn they use those funds to buy material, thread, sometimes new sewing machines or whatever they deem necessary to carry on this work they do. That has always been the norm.
This year things changed up a little bit. Darlene and Lin are well aware of a huge need in Arizona City where our park is located. Namely, food. Arizona City has a food bank and sometimes the shelves get pretty bare. We have a collection of non-perishables in the park going on all the time so we are always working towards to keeping the shelves stocked. Unfortunately, the need is great.
So this year the collection was split. Half went to Helping Hands and the other half was presented to Carol Novasky, our in-park Pastor’s wife. You’ll read more about this donation in another post.
How much was collected? How generous were the winter residents? I’ll be glad to tell you! In fifteen minutes time the two cowboy hats used to collect paper money and a few checks held a total of :::drum roll please::: ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED AND FIVE DOLLARS! That does NOT include the nearly five hundred dollars the luminaries brought in. $1,305.00!
The recipients of these donations will put these funds to very good use!
I went back outside to the now nearly dark pool area to snap some shots of the lit luminaries. There were quite a few party-goers walking around the pool taking it all in.
Some more shots of the bags made by our park residents.
Inside the party was still going strong!
Eighty eight year old Jerry loves to do the twist!
Everybody likes to dance with Jerry!
….and Jerry likes to give all the girls a smooch when the music ends.
Once again Quail Run residents stepped up to the plate to fill a need. Their generosity, well it speaks for itself.
Bob and I are so glad we are a part of THIS PARK!
1 comment:
What an awesome group. Who says you can't have fun and do something meaningful at the same time! Kudos to all of you.
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