One Inspiring Evening: Strong show of support at NorCal SCI's Inaugural Fundraising Party
Silent auction enthusiasts were going through and bidding on over 20 packages.
Amazing. High-energy. Lovefest. Incredible. We really don’t know how else to describe the very first major fundraising party NorCal SCI hosted but we’re probably understating the success of this event. The sold-out party was abuzz for over four hours as over 110 guests made up of families, friends and other supporters joined us to not only have a fun evening but to also blow us away with their show of financial support of the foundation.
As co-founders, it was truly a humbling and emotional event because we had a chance to meet with a large group in person and expose them to the work we’re doing while treating them to an amazing time, too.
Our dear friend, and Valley Medical Center Foundation CEO, Chris Wilder, was truly the glue that held the whole event together with a masterful job of emceeing the event, especially the critical parts involving the various auction items that were offered.
There were so many stirring moments, we don’t know where to begin. The speeches given by the members of the SCI community hit home with everyone in attendance and capsulized the realities we all face. We are grateful to Mia Gonzales, Casey Proud, Isabelle Javier and Arash Bayatmakou who spoke from the heart in their appeal to help support NorCal SCI.
Krystina Jackson sings as her sister, Robyn, looks on.
The dynamic sisters, Krystina and Robyn Jackson, brought down the house with their two-song performance. Krystina got things rolling with her rendition of Shirley Bassey’s ‘60s hit song, Big Spender, to try and communicate to the audience what they need to do come auction time. Next, her sister Robyn took over the show with Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk that had everyone clapping and a few dancing. Between the two, the stage was set for Chris Wilder to perform his magic with the bidding, pledges and other donations that the crowd was into. Call us shameless but we even sold the flowers on each table.
All throughout the night, food and alcoholic beverages were quite literally flowing freely, so everyone had a good buzz going. Tons of introductions and conversations were taking place between the guests and members of the SCI community attending the event.
Mia Gonzalez, one of several speakers of the evening
We had to deal with a few first-event challenges but most of the crowd was unaware, so it didn’t affect the great time they had. The words we kept hearing over and over were “we can’t wait ‘til next year.”
We are still accounting for everything and will share the results of the evening with you in the coming weeks as we gladly want to share the financial contribution our supporters provided from the evening. We also hope to share additional pictures and a video of the event as soon as possible.
We’re already thinking about next year and a suitable venue to host an even larger group but for this year, we’re so grateful to every single person who came and made this event an incredible one.