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Monday, October 30, 2006

Weekend Wrap-Up

So, in my last post I mentioned that I was going to Sacramento this weekend to attend a silent auction benefit for breast cancer... My little brother submitted 6 prints to the auction, with "metamorphosis" as the theme. (The theme was chosen by the coordinator of the event.) Tony worked really hard on this and produced some pretty awesome photos.

I wish that the "coordinator" had been a more effective planner. Hardly anyone showed up. Mostly family and friends of the coordinator and artists. (And actually, it was mostly my family and Tony's friends. I don't know that anyone from the other artist's circle came.) I think part of the problem may have been the location. It was in a back room of a church, though you couldn't tell from the address given that it was being held in a church. Once you got there, there were no signs to direct you to the correct room. (If Tony and his friends hadn't been standing outside when I got there, I wouldn't have had a clue where to go.)

So...we gather inside, and the coordinator (who had to be in her very early 20s), launched a presentation on breast cancer. It was like sitting through a health class presentation in college (or high school, as Kerri was thinking). I'll just say it involved an outdated video and posterboards with magazine cutouts propped up against the back wall (and not even used as a visual aid during the presentation). It just didn't seem very professional at all. The 2 speakers (breast cancer survivors) were fine. In fact, that was probably all that was really needed in the way of presentations. During the question & answer period, my mother, the RN and lactation consultant, was in her element, and was able to provide much better information on the issues. (I was thinking she could have run the thing herself with no problems!)

When she introduced the 2 artists, she went into this spiel about how she couldn't get a hold of the one photographer until a few weeks ago, so he had to throw his work together at the last minute and work really hard. I was kind of annoyed by that statement, as I thought it inadvertently belittled my brother's contribution, which he did put a lot of time into. Of course...and there's only a wee bit of bias here, you could really tell that Tony put a lot of himself into his work. In my opinion, he had a much better grasp of the theme (metamorphosis) and tied it into his work. He also did a much better presentation of his work as it related to the theme and breast cancer, when he introduced his work.

Unfortunately, there was only one bid on any of the artwork, and that was my mother's opening bid on one of Tony's photos. At the end of the "auction," the coordinator said she was going to put the pieces on Ebay to see if they'd bring in any money for the cause. I haven't heard anything else about that yet though, or I'd post a link. (She seemed rather flaky to me...)

Anyway, I feel kind of bad for Tony, since the auction didn't go better. Hopefully, one of these days he'll get a break!

(On a different note - Happy Halloween!)

10 comments:

Kai said...

Dumb woman! Who on EARTH put HER in charge? You're RIGHT, Tami! It seems a very slipshod way to raise money for such an important cause. I say three HUGE cheers for your brother! AND for your mom for being an informed and informative speaker! Regardless, Tony can be proud of both his contribution AND his art! Oh! And I wanted to know if you'd like some crochet patterns I have that seem very TAMI! LOL! Have a BOOOOOtiful Halloween!

David Tellez said...

Yeah, I agree with Kai. She is a dumb woman. You cant just put together an entire presentation about breast cancer, all last minute. It's disrespectful to the survivors and to the public in general. If I were you, I'd lodge a complaint to the society that recommended her and maybe volunteer your services next year. After all, you have to use your creative and artistic side somewhere, right?

Fluffycat said...

Yeah, I agree, that woman sounds like an idiot. It's good your mom was there to explain stuff better. It would be good to post the links to eBay so we can see what his works look like.

Anonymous said...

Ok, the temptation to be a devil's advocate is just too strong for me to resist.....

Alright, it is obvious that her performance sucked and that the event was thoroughly ineffective which left a bad taste in everyone's mouths.....

However, she did get up and offer to put in her time and effort to something worthwhile. She put her money where her mouth was. I sure can't say I've done that, can you? My big contribution to the breast cancer cause has been writing a check. Somehow that isn't the same.

And while her efforts were not successful, she did try. Maybe not her best, but maybe it was. God knows I've had things I've done blow up in my face, and been publicly humilitated before. I just hesitate to pass judgement on someone who I don't know, someone whose circumstances I don't know....

I'm proud of your brother, and I feel badly for him and for your family that this didn't go better. I am also sorry for the cause that this wasn't a roaring success. BUT, I am also sorry for the gal who was in charge. She was obviously in over her head, and I think a public failure is punishment enough especially when her heart was probably in the right place.

I hope ya'll don't hate me now, but I have a soft spot for failures and screw ups....

The Dummy said...

Aw, that's too bad. Do you want a voodoo doll or something to stick her with?

Tami said...

Kai - She's just a private citizen who wanted to do something for the cause. Patterns up my alley? Do tell!

Joie - Yeah, yeah...I'm maybe being a little hard on her...it was a bit painful for some to sit through though...And I guess you are just nicer than me! :)

DT - No one put her in charge. She planned the event to raise money for the breast cancer research foundation. She just didn't really know what she was doing.

Fluffycat - I will definitely post a link to the ebay listing if/when it goes up. I would link to my brother's photography site, but he might hurt me! (He wants some changes made to the site, and isn't happy with its current look.)

Dummy - I'll pass on the voodoo doll... I'm feeling like a horrible person for complaining about it already!

I guess I just wanted it to go better for my brother's sake. And of course, for the charity too. I'm afraid that there wasn't much gathered in the way of donations.

Anonymous said...

I'm terribly sorry if I made you feel bad Tami, that was not at all my intention. I am probably going to make enemies here, but actually it was the other comments I was reacting to.

Having to sit through a nightmare like that, I think you had every right to complain. And to be honest, I read what you wrote as a naturally biased, but honest account of what happened. I just found the vitriolic comments of people who weren't there and weren't directly impacted a bit feather-ruffling.
I am probably overly sensitive though, because I my MIL treats me like a total loser no matter what I do. I am sensitive about judgements right now.

I really just kinda put myself in her shoes, and assume she did the best she could with what she had and that she failed. I assume that her heart is in the right place, even if she was inept. I tend to think that trying and failing is better than sitting on the sidelines, and that tearing the hell out of people who do try and fail will discourage others from trying.
I think I'd just hate to have those comments directed at me, epsecially if I went out on a limb to TRY to help, failure or not.

Tami said...

I just think she's young and inexperienced, but her heart was in the right place. You only humbled me a bit Joie! That's what friends are for right? I'm sure if my brother hadn't been involved, I might have been a little more sensitive to her position...especially since I am SO NOT a public speaker myself. Anyway, I am hoping that the art on EBay will raise some good funds, or that she receives donations from those who couldn't attend.

I'll just step down off this high horse now...

Dagny said...

Nothing worse than a badly organized event.

Anonymous said...

Trust me, it was horrible. :P