If you have a moment, I would like to share with you a little about an amazing and world-changing organization that I had the privilege of helping out, as well as the gal behind it all, my friend, Susie.
I met Susie working at my coffee catering job a couple of years ago.
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| Me at coffee catering job. I <3 coffee!! |
She came into work on only a couple hours of sleep but with the warmest smile and the friendliest personality. I admired how she related with customers and took every obstacle with a grain of salt. I instantly wanted to be friends with this gal Susie.
Then I heard about how she not only had kids and this coffee job, she also had her very own company. It turns out she had always had a passion for conservation, working at the Omaha zoo for many years, so she started her own non-profit organization, Conservation Fusion. All I knew was that this required a lot of work and a lot of grant writing..and very little sleep.
That summer she told me she was going BACK to Madagascar. I am not a well traveled person so this seemed crazy to me. Seriously, I haven’t even seen the ocean. I thought this Susie must be an adventurous person to be taking many trips to Madagascar.
It turns out she has a deep passion for helping the kids in Madagascar learn about conserving their beautiful land as well as their animals. She takes trips out there as often as she can.
She has even helped write books to leave for the children about conservation as well as practices for clean drinking water.
Then I find out that on top of all of that, she actually teaches classes here as well! Seriously I have no idea how she does it all, but her passion shines through in her work and it was an honor to help out this year at her fundraiser.
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| Students here made this fun game for the Malagasy kids to play in Madagascar. |
There was a silent auction as well as a raffle to help the cause.
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| Giftcards for sushi, nails, hair, golf, hardware and more were raffled off. |
They were ready in pieces, all I had to do was frost and add the decorations.
The tortoise cupcake had a candy shell already made, so I just had to frost the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, add pecans for the head, candy eyes, and almonds for each of the feet.
The butterflies were put into darling flower-like holders and I frosted the vanilla cupcakes with yellow frosting, put two M&Ms on the cupcake to prop up the candy wings.
Of course I got chocolate frosting on my shirt so I had to run home and change.
I got back and was able to take some lovely pictures of the silent auction items. I felt pretty important when someone called me the “photographer.”
My second task was to be a greeter at the door. Each person got to take a picture that was taken in Madagascar with adorable Malagasy kids or exotic animals and flowers.
On the back of each picture was a bid number to use at the silent auction. Such a creative idea!
The bidding got pretty intense at the end. You could see people circling their coveted items. It was fun to watch.
The BF managed to get a bottle of Malagasy rum, a beautiful scenic photograph, and a small hand carved box for his sister. I, however, won nothing in the raffle. I think I will survive, though. 😉
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| He got the photo on the lower left. |
Again, it is hard to put into words all that Susie does and how much heart is in each project she completes, but trust me, it is a worthy cause if there ever was one.
Thanks for being such an inspiration Susie!
Please check out her website: Conservation Fusion. It is under construction but still has many details on different projects as well as a place to donate if you choose.
You can also “like” the Conservation Fusion Facebook Page.
