The Bombo Palliative Care Project (BPCP) waded successfully into new territory with its first major fundraising effort – the Summer Jam! Fundraising efforts to date had been more information sharing with a fundraising message than classic fundraising events.

After our successful and entertaining joint fundraising endeavour with the For the Love of Africa folks, Leanne Drumheller was thoroughly convinced that we could host an event ourselves.  Leanne kicked off the proposal by offering the stunning Sleeping Dog Farm as a venue.  Leanne also had contacts with the owners of Jesse’s Grill, Gulf Islands Brewery, and dangerboy design and all generously offered to support us by providing their services at cost.

That left it up to Leah, Ambrose, Sally and Rose and various friends of BPCP to “just“ arrange musical entertainment, silent auction and raffle, kids entertainment, publicity and ticket sales, and the variety of operational details (dishes, sound system, waste and recycling) that all such events require.  The time frame was short (March to June) and there were some crazy times, as we all struggled to pull it off in amongst our already very full lives!

What a success it was!

Friend Deb (Lefrank Landscape Architecture) made a beautiful site map that guided our guests and thanked our contributors.

Sleeping Dog was in beautiful colour and condition.  Our friends and guests arrived to the sounds of the Mufaro Marimba Ensemble drifting over the farm.  Our son Griffin and his friend Erik ensured the parking for the 100+ guests was orderly and accident free.  We had information tables for Sleeping Dog and its unique vision, and BPCP with new information cards and a digital photo frame showing a wide array of Tanzanian and Bombo images.

None of this would have happened without a large number of friends and supporters.  A myriad of onsite volunteers helped to make everything run smoothly. From setting up the site, the sound equipment, the silent auction, the games, the rental chairs and tables and preparing the food, selling raffle tickets, running the games, parking the cars, helping the musicians,  to putting everything away and taking away the recycling and a small bag of garbage, friends and farm folk did it all.

Special thanks go to all those named already plus:

• Morgan and Gordon from Sleeping Dog Farm,
• Fiona, Cameron, Libby, Claire, Vivienne, Jack, Bruce
• I hope we haven’t missed anyone!

It was a day to relax and be entertained and realize that the money and time spent will support our fundraising goal.  A wide variety of art, products and services were donated to the silent auction. A fantastic buffet of salads and burgers and dessert was served and accompanied by Salt Spring Island ale.

In addition to Mufaro, we enjoyed the music of Allen Dobb and Nancy Grossert ending the evening with Jennifer Louise Taylor as the sun set and the evening came to a close.

Thank goodness the predicted dismal weather never materialized!!

The goal of the Summer Jam was to expand our fundraising efforts beyond our immediate group of friends and supporters.  We were partially successful.  Our close friends supported us as usual, but old friends and new friends of friends joined us in our first real attempt at fundraising.

All feedback is that folks truly enjoyed themselves, so we are pleased with our first effort and the results.  Thanks again for the massive generosity of all who supported the event.  Leah and I know why we make this effort, but it continues to surprise and inspire us to see the generous enthusiasm that our friends have shown towards BPCP.

What should we do next ???

Ambrose

• A Garden Consult with Carolyn Herriot
• Pottery by Muriel Sibley of Winter Creek Pottery
• Jewelry by Stuart Duncan of Wren Silverworks
• A will consult with a lawyer
• Yoga classes, massage therapy treatment, and more.

We have some wonderful musicians:

• Jennifer Louise Taylor
• Mufaro!
• Nancy Grossert

There will be activities for adults and kids and great food in a beautiful setting for a good cause.  Tickets will be available at Munro’s, Tanner’s, and Ten Thousand Villages Broadmead until noon Saturday.

See you there!

Tickets are available from Munro’s Books (downtown Victoria), Tanner’s Books (Sidney)  and Ten Thousand Villages (Broadmead).