Black & White Poker Night!

We held our primary transplant fundraiser on Saturday night and are very pleased with its overall success. Not only did we get to visit with many dear friends and family, but we were able to raise a good amount of money for our upcoming transplant as well.

Our top three poker winners included Josh Long (1st place), Adam Lopez (2nd place) and Andrew Evans (3rd place) – congrats to all. And thank you to everyone that came to play, we had an amazing turnout! There were several other winners Saturday evening as we had some fabulous silent auction prizes and dozens of folks went away with great items!

Andrew (3rd), Nicole, Josh (1st), Adam (2nd) & Anna

Anna and I would like to personally thank the following people for their help with Saturday’s event – it would not have happened without any of these folks and we are truly in debt to each and every one of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

• Jennifer & staff at Bullwinkle’s for donating a truly first class venue


• Gaelynn & Craig Holzgraff for the beer donation


• Renee & Kevin Schlachter for the wine donation


• Greg & Cheryl Long for helping with all the behind the scene details


• Diane, Bob, Kathy & Noel O’Bryant and Catherine & Roble Anderson for food donations


• Doug & Nicky Hagerty & Gabbi for everything Black Jack


• Jason Henderson for the poker felts


• Jamay, Kim & Noel for holding down the registration/donation center


• Barbara Chappell for rugrat duty thus enabling us to attend our own event


• My lovely husband Scott for running/organizing the poker tournament

And a special thank you to all our friends and family that donated items to the silent auction, we had several happy winners thanks to your contributions.

I am truly touched by the warm wishes, cards and heartfelt conversations I had on Saturday night with so many of you. I’m moving so fast these days trying to prepare for the kidney transplant and I realized this weekend that I’m not taking enough time to talk to the people that matter most in my life – all of you. I’m humbled by the kind words and honest gestures that I received on Saturday night. I feel so very supported and loved by everyone and I’m so very glad we had this fundraiser as an opportunity to visit with everyone before the surgery.

And don’t think I won’t take those of you up on your offers to bring me meals, take my kid to dance practice, and mop my kitchen floor among other things after our surgery. I’ve got a list going and I’ll be sure to take you all up on those offers, just no seafood or peanuts please :-)