Where the heck did this week go?! Stateside we have completely consumed with getting the invitations for the S.O.S Gala prepped, assembled, stuffed, sorted, and off to the post office. We picked up everything from the printer Monday evening. Dave, John, Lisa, and everyone at Allegra Southend takes such good care of TFFT’s printing needs. They help us look good in print on a shoestring budget and we are so thankful!

This was no exception, and the invitations that Mandi worked so hard to design looked even better than we had imagined! Mandi is an incredibly talented graphic designer who we met earlier this summer when her friend invited her to be on the gala planning committee. WELL…. we cannot quite express our gratitude for the time and talent Mandi so selflessly poured into this project. Mandi treated us just like any other client, except we did not pay her a penny in return. I am constantly in awe of people’s generosity.

Mandi wrote a post on her blog today about her experience volunteering her time for TFFT. Reading her words made us smile, and it is definitely worth the click to go over and see what she has to say. You can do so here.

Then on Tuesday we had 8 volunteers from 10am to 4pm who worked assembly line style to get the invitations ready for the post office: folding, wrapping, stacking, stuffing, labeling, sorting, sealing, etc. Meghann and I could not believe it when 4 o’clock rolled around, and all we were left with were neat stacks of perfectly sealed envelopes organized by zip code. WOW. Efficiency was the name of the game, and we could not have done it without our amazing volunteers.

I then conveniently left town just before it was time to make the trek to the bulk mailing post office… This task is never fun or easy, but it’s worth it to send everything with nonprofit postal rates! Luckily, Meghann is a trooper and she dominated the last (and most dreaded) step of the invite process. I just received a call from her triumphantly declaring that the invites are OFF! Woohooooo! How’s that for a great way to start of the weekend?

To learn more about the event or to buy your tickets, click here. We can’t wait to celebrate with you.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend. I’m in Chicago now to cheer on Marc and my sister Caroline as they run the Chicago Marathon. I can’t believe it was a year ago that Meghann ran as part of TEAM TFFT!