When Deb McNally (our store owner) told me that she wanted to donate a Candy Buffet for the culminating event I was so excited and so ready to check out what the foundation does. What I found absolutely amazed me! The foundation sends 100% of the money raised to fund Breast Cancer research, one of which being right here in the Hoosier state. The IU Cancer Center has identified a protein which exists only in cancerous cells! This means that someday there may be simple testing that can be done to see if someone has this protein in their body and doctors can do something about it much earlier than is possible today! This is exciting news for everyone!
Vera Bradley has a new print every year that benefits the foundation as well. 10% of the price goes directly to the foundation and then on to cancer research. What is really great about this is how beautiful the print is. They are so creative and design fun and uplifting prints that women love to carry! (I've got my eye on the new print that just came out!) Using this fabric a beatiful lap or hanging quilt was lovingly created. Raffle tickets were sold with the money going to the foundation. A matching quilt garden was planted in Elkhart and a mural was painted and hung in Middlebury. The quilt raffle winner was drawn at the Two for Tea event, where the quilter was given the challenge to create another with the new fabric. We are all so excited to see what she creates!
All in all this was just an amazing event to play a small part in. For us, this was a learning experience in the candy buffet business as well. We also really loved the opportunity to get to meet and talk with the ladies and got a good bit of interests in candy buffets for other events. Yay! The best part was when the giant check was presented to the Vera Bradley Foundation. Nearly $8000! Everyone was so shocked and excited and this far exceeded their expectations. I think it is just amazing what this community has done in terms of raising money despite the tough economic times that have hit us so hard. It really shows how generous and loving this area is.
