Peru 2014 - Concert Fundraiser with Fred and Jeremy

This coming March, 2014, a team will once again be travelling to Peru to partner in ministry with Pastor Sergio and his church there. 

Our team raises money through different fundraising events and this blog entry will walk you through our evening coffee house/concert event.  

We began on Saturday, December 14th at 3 pm. 

Time to set things up in the fellowship hall. 

Samantha started to get the desserts ready. 

There were LOTS of GREAT desserts again.  

Thanks to all who contributed. 

Sarah and Lucy setting up tables in the fellowship hall.  

Bea, Annette and Tobie figuring out how to set up the fellowship hall. I had pictures from last year's event... 

proved to be very helpful.  : ) 

The hardest part of this event is the moving of the furniture.  We take all the stuff off of the stage, except for the piano.  Here are Ben and Chris getting the drum set off.  

And here are Ben and Chris moving couches.  

Such strong backs.  : )

Lucy tending to some sort of mess
 someone made on the floor.  

Ben and Chris...STILL moving couches.  

Bernadette and Amy lifting a pretty heavy couch.  

Way to go!  

Tobie and Lucy lifting.....a much lighter chair.  

Way to go. : ) 

The fellowship hall with the tables set up and ready for the coffee makers and goodies.  

So, where does everything go? 

Again, I had a picture to go by. 

Whew! 

The kitchen starting to get active.  

People starting to compete for space.  

Oh...there's Chris and Ben...

STILL moving couches.  Those leather ones are VERY heavy.  

The final set up.  

Presentation is everything in my opinion. 

Nice job to whoever set the cups up this way...

I think Sarah may have done this...the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.  : )   

Setting up the donation envelopes...

a very important task.  : ) 

Lucy and Tobie....

finally finished with the couches. 

We had several coffee makers that poured different flavoured coffee's.  We also had a special machine to make specialty coffee.  Time to set it up. 

I lied....

ONE more couch....but I think that Ben and Chris have given up....

Come on boys!  You can do it! 

Time for a pep talk and instructions
 on how the evening was to progress. 

Nice blue background in the windows.  

Gotta work on that white balance Chris...  : ) 

We put out snacks of all kinds.  

We also labelled anything that contained peanuts.

We even made gluten free goodies. 

There are many more dietary issues
 than there ever used to be. 

We want our guests to be able to eat with confidence.  : ) 

I had some hand made Peru crafts that I was hoping to sell. 

Lucy and Mikayla are the ones responsible for selling them. 

Bea and Annette enjoying a sample of the specialty coffee. 

They look rather relaxed. 

Some of the baked goodies. 

More of the baked goodies. 

Again, presentation is everything. 

Interesting picture Chris.  

Still getting the white balance adjusted I see.  : ) 

Nice fork arrangement.

The tables slowly started to take shape.  

Coffee maker,

coffee flavour card,

snacks, 

coffee carafe's

plates, 

forks...

we are READY to go!

Things turned out pretty good if you ask me. 

The coffee machine...

set to make VERY strong coffee. 

It became a huge hit.  

Can you guess who this piano player is?

No, it's not Fred. 

Ben was just breaking in the piano for Fred. : ) 

The calm before the storm. 

Chatting it up with Cindy before the guests arrive. 

Laura is ready to go. 

Amy and Bernadette are ready to go too. 

Remember to smile and be friendly.  

Oh, I see that a fruit basket was added to the mix. 

We ended up raffling it off.  

A nice idea.  

And nicely decorated table you two. 

Ben and Madii are ready to go too. 

Well, Madii is...

Ben, SMILE!! 

That's an order! 

Front line staff.  

Smiling and ready to receive guests. 

Hmmmm... 

was it something I said? 

Where'd the smiles go? 

Sarah and Laura ready to go. 

Before the evening, Fred and Jeremy got ready as well.  

Nice touch with the candles.  

And the guests began to arrive at 6:45 pm. 

I was a bit concerned as the weather was not cooperating. 

LOTS of snow and wind in the forecast.  

Hey, who got this picture?

That's a much better picture

Hmmmmm, not sure about this picture either...

bahahaha. 

Sorry John...couldn't resist. 

Wilma is eager to receive guests.  

After a 1/2 hour of socializing and filling up on coffee and goodies, it was time to begin and gather in the sanctuary to listen to Fred and Jeremy perform.  

Jeremy was awesome on his Saxophone.
  

Fred was amazing on the piano. 

They did several pieces together as well. 

While the concert was going on, the team worked in the background to make sure we restocked desserts and coffee. 

Well, most of us did...right Bea and Carmen? : ) 

Time to get things moving.  

People used the couches to get up close and personal. 

Eric and Brenda enjoying the evening. 

Sid as well.  

You could hear a pin drop in the audience as both these gifted musicians played.  

A view of the crowd.  

A view from the balcony. 

We decided to save the best desserts for the intermission. 

This one was AMAZING.

Yes I had a piece...

of course I was going to have a piece.  

Nice touch on the tables.  

A nice shot of the cheesecakes set up and ready to go. 

They too were very yummy. 

A different, but no less delicious shot.  

Break time and time to enjoy the desserts.  

A funky picture of Fred and Cindy. 

This machine worked overtime during the evening.  

Time for the second 1/2 of the concert. 

Near the end, Fred and Jeremy played a couple of carols and got into the festive mood.  

And before you knew it, it was time to go. 

So, you ask, "What to do with all the leftover goodies?"

Well, someone came up with the great idea of
 selling them as people leave. 

Soooooo, we strategically set up
 two tables laden with goodies. 

People had to pass by them in order to get out,
 so they more or less had no choice but to 
take a plate home with them. 

It proved to be a very lucrative idea. : ) 

Even with the bad weather, we had a pretty good turnout. 

The food was GREAT.

The coffee, delicious.

The fellowship, sweet.

Listening to Fred and Jeremy, a real treat. 

All in all, a successful event. 

Thanks to the generosity of those who attended,
 we were able to raise just over $2000 for our Peru team. 

Thanks to all who came out. 

Hopefully we'll be able to do this again in the future. 

Thanks also to Fred and Jeremy for willingly
 sharing their talents with us.  We were blessed. 

Thanks to the Peru team for all their work as well. 

They worked hard so that those in attendance would have a joy filled and memorable time. You were all AWESOME!