The benefit of benefits

On Sunday, April 25th, a "committee" of five held a benefit fundraiser for Elizabeth Biddle.  Elizabeth was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer last year and has had surgery, chemo, radiation, etc. so far to no avail.  The goal at the moment is to get on a drug that will inhibit the growth of new cancers and hope for treatment to eliminate all cancer.  Elizabeth is closing her law office in June.  I worked with Elizabeth for 10 years and she donated so much time and talent to help non-profits and others by providing pro bono work and it showed to me that when you give, you get back.  We had people waiting one half hour before the event to get in and people were still standing in line at 6 pm for food and access to the auction room. It was a tremendous outpouring of the community of people who wanted to share the day with Elizabeth and her family.

We had a lasagna dinner with salad, bread and dessert for approximately 250 people.  The volunteers and contributions were huge.  Ten huge pans of lasagna, along with chafing dish, sterno, napkins, etc. was donated by Cappy's Restaurant in Camden.  It was an excellent lasagna.  We also had contributions of about 10 pans of veggie lasagna.  Rock City Coffee and Books donated coffee and focaccia.  Atlantic Bakery gave us all their leftover bread, and there was a lot.  People brought in some fantastic desserts to share.  

We also had a silent auction of over 100 items.  All in all we brought in over $15,000 for this event and chances are by the end of payment of the auction items, it will be around $20,000.  This money will help Elizabeth and her family tremendously and remove a bit of the strain of the cost of medical care and allow them to enjoy their summer.