Because I believe in helping my fellow man, by default I have be come the charity campaign co-ordinator for our office's annual charity campaign activity. It's months of planning and work and organizing and each year I seem to take on more and more. Last year was an exceptional year, we raised nearly $4000 for a local women's shelter. When I started working at this office, the annual take was about $1500 which is still nothing to sneeze at. The fact that each time I have volunteered to help with charity campaigns (as I have done in almost every office I've worked in) they typically double in collection, has always made me feel good and kept me going. Last year was also exceptional in that I finally felt like it was time for me to step down from the roll as it was consuming me and no one else really seemed to care or put forth any effort. On the day of the event, when everything came together and we handed the cheque to a very grateful organization, I had a change of heart. I agreed to do it again this year and added even more fundraising efforts to it, in hopes of breaking that $4000 mark.
If only I'd stuck to my original plan to resign last year... This year's event is turning into a three ring circus with me at the centre of the big top. While I did have some help last year, the two people I could rely on the most have both had health issues and are no longer working. Of course I understand that and their respective situations are far more important then this charity campaign. Unfortunately that has left me with a handful of people to help, people who have not offered much throughout the planning of this event, until the very last minute. The event we hold is a BBQ which also features a raffle of donations and a mix of games people pay to play. The thing about organizing a bbq is that it's key to have food. Last year we dodged a near bullet when I arrived at the dreaded Zehr's to pick up our order and the store manager (who was a different manager on duty then the lax character I had spoken to the day before to confirm our order) had no idea what I was talking about. Luckily they pulled the food order together and gave us a significant discount. It was my greatest fear to not have food for the event. This year, one of the charity team members told me he had an in with No Frills. Up until a week and a half ago I had no idea if he had spoken to them or not because he had been away from the office. Last Friday he told me that No Frills charity manager would get back to him about our order.
Now I'd like to be perfectly clear here. We were not looking for a donation of any kind for the food, we were paying for it, an order which on average runs $800. Most businesses are thrilled to get that order. No Frills, apparently, does not like making money. This morning, I still had no answer as to if they were going to let us buy the food from them, the grocery store. Finally this afternoon my co-worker got an answer, and the answer was this: They did not wish to put our order together. Again, to be clear, the grocery store, where one typically goes to buy food, did not wish to sell us food. The BBQ is in two days. I am not panicking by any means because I know this will work out, but it's laughable. So I hopped in my truck, grocery list in hand and headed to my old stand by... you guessed it, Sobey's. I was on my way across the parking lot when I heard a horn beeping frantically. When I looked up I saw it was my co-worker careening into the parking lot. Apparently No Frills, remembering their main function as a business was to sell the food, agreed to put the items together, but were unable to supply us with a couple things because they didn't carry them. Fine I say, it would have been simple enough to tell us that last week, but whatever. In retrospect, I wish I'd had already agreed to deal with Sobey's so we could call No Frill's back and say "I'm sorry, we no long her need the food you were going to refuse to sell us." Next, my co-worker informs me that they don't want us to pick the food up to early. The BBQ starts at 11:30am. So even though they've agreed to supply us with food, there are still restrictions. Who knows what will happen at this point. All I can say is tay tuned and please pray to the grocery store Gods for me.
Cheers,
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