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Fund-raisers
1999 Archive 2000 Archive
I have a wedding-fundraiser story to share.
Perhaps this practice is a 'regional thing', but I'd never heard of this before. My fiancé
& I were invited to a "stag n' drag" three states away (in his former
hometown - he graduated several years ago and relocated here, but still keeps in contact
w/ his friends 'back home'). My fiancé informed me that a "stag n' drag" is a
bachelor party where girls are invited. After the festivities, the boys take the groom
away for a night of debauchery, and the girls go bar-hopping.
Anyway, after driving for four hours, stopping at his parent's house to change, we find
the hall, are met by the best man, who jokingly demands $20 admission fee. My
fiancé pays,
and we enter. We are the only ones to bring a gift. The potluck food was wonderful, beer
was free, and they'd done a nice job of decorating. Then, the festivities begin. The
groomsmen start wandering around, selling raffle tickets at 1 or 2 dollars a piece. They
ridicule anyone not willing to buy more than 5. There were probably 8 different raffles,
so my fiancé threw about 80 bucks at them. There was also a game called 'tips', which I'd
never heard of, also a dollar to play. We played several of these too. When the raffle
winners were being called, my fiancé and I were excited to learn we had won a gift
certificate to the local booze store. The bride's mother leans over, and informs me
quietly the usual practice is to donate all the winnings to the happy couple. So we do.
Apparently, they came outta there with a nice chunk of change.
Then, we learn that the brides' attendants haven't planned anything for her while her
fiancé goes to the strip clubs. So, my fiancé and I decide that I will throw her a little
bachelorette party. We run all over town, getting a tee-shirt and decorating it, and all
the other fun stuff.
Then, it's time for the bride and groom to go their separate ways. We all go to a bar
together first. The groomsmen keep handing the poor groom shots, whereupon he vomits
copiously all over the bar. The guys get him outta there, while the wife of one of the
groomsmen and I pay for a round for all the patrons (they were ready to kick butt!). They
take him to the strip clubs, and I take the bride and the best man's wife out for a
night on the town. We hit two bars, and the bride is ready to go home. Fine with me, I'm
completely tapped out!
Fast-forward three months to our turn, the groom in the above story balked about
attending my fiancé's bachelor party, claiming no fundage, which hurt my fiancé's
feelings (he did end up coming). The bride didn't attend my shower held in their town,
never heard from her. fundraiser1006-00
I was invited to a grad school classmate's
wedding. I knew her fairly well, but wouldn't necessarily consider her part of my inner
sanctum. Anyways, starting about three or four months before the big day, I started
receiving letters about once a month from the cousin of the bride-to-be, which had
obviously been sent to everyone on the invitation list. They began, "Hey guys, I had
a great idea! Let's throw a candle shower for X and Y (the bride and groom)" and
enclosed in the letter were order forms from this Mary-Kay-ish candle company, and she
also made sure to request that we "remember to put my name on the 'referred by' blank
on the order form!"
Nothing like hitting up complete strangers to turn a family member's wedding into a
personal fundraising opportunity! I elected NOT to purchase a candle.
fundraiser1209-00
The following article
was posted to numerous UseNet newsgroup in Nov. 2000 and deemed not to be a hoax by the
regulars of the Urban Legends and Folklore newsgroups.
Newsgroups alt.comedy.standup,alt.comedy.british, alt.comedy.slapstick.3-stooges,
alt.comics.2000ad, alt.comics.peanuts, alt.community.local-money
Subject Ok, this is a weird message...I know. But please...read it. Thanks much. Oh,
and it is NOT a commercial message!
From you@somehost.somedomain (testing)
Message-ID <5NXQ5.36218$Ze6.7014321@typhoon.tampabay.rr.com>
Date Thu, 16 Nov 2000 205113 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host 24.28.57.73
Dear readers
Hi everyone! My name is Chris O'Connor and I'm 32 years old. I live in Clearwater, FL
and am engaged to a beautiful girl who is 25 years old. Our wedding is scheduled for March
of 2001, so not very long from now. My fiancé and I have been together for almost 8 years
and are very much in love. We most certainly will be together for the rest of our lives.
I was recently fired from my job and I am completely broke. I have started an incentive
business and am slowly doing better and better. Oh, how was I fired you ask? Well, lets
put it this way. One year ago the company had around 220 employees. Today they have 120.
About 100 of us were terminated over the course of the year including the President, SVP
Sales & Marketing, VP National Accounts, VP Human Resources, VP Wholesale Division,
and about 5 Sales Managers. 65 employees were fired on one day.
But that's not the purpose of this message. Here is my situation. I owe $42,000 in
financial aid and $22,000 in credit card debt. My fiancé owes about $55,000 in financial
aid and about $4,000 in credit card debt. She is just finishing her Masters in Comparative
Literature, so her educational expenses dwarf mine. The road to recovery will be a long
one...obviously. We are extremely stressed about our situation.
With the wedding coming quick, I am really in a bind. I am trying to make enough sales
to just pay the power and other bills right now, let alone pay for wedding expenses. My
fiancés parents will be putting about $5,000 into the wedding, which leaves us with
several thousand dollars to pay ourselves. There really is no way out of a large wedding
as her family is huge. Her mother has 16 living brothers and sisters. Her immediate family
is going to be no less than 80 people, and when you add her friends and my family and
friends...we are at about 175 - 190. We estimate 170 will show up.
The purpose of this message is not to share a sob story, as I know we all have a story
to tell. My current life is definitely not a sob story. I am simply hoping that a few
complete strangers will read this and relate. Those of you reading this that have little
money yourselves...I am not asking for you to donate. Take care of yourself and your
family. This post is only for people that have reached a level of financial freedom in
their lives, but might have some memories of when things were not so good.
If I get a few positive responses and it looks like posting this message to the
newsgroups will work, I will create a "Wedding" website. The website will be
created before the wedding and will be up and online long after the wedding. All details
will be posted in the newsgroups AND on the website. Total disclosure of how much money was
donated will be available to anyone who cares.
The purpose of the website will be to tell our story, and a little about each other.
There will be a page thanking every single person who was kind enough to help. Anyone who
gives me permission to put their name will have their name and the amount donated on the
site. The names can be just initials so people don't try to hunt you down to ask for
money.
For those of you teetering on the edge and I hope a few of you are, I am willing to do
a few things to insure you that this is no scam. I am more than willing to talk to you and
let you write a check directly to the DJ, videographer, catering service, Priest,
Limousine rental company, Tuxedo rental company, cake company, etc.
Donations of as little as $1 would be appreciated. I estimate we are short about
$4,000, so every little bit helps. Anyway, if you have labored to read this entirely, well
then I do appreciate the gesture. Please, think about it. I would greatly appreciate any
help from anyone out there that could send a few dollars.
I promise to keep people posted as to the result of this money request, and will follow
through with the website if there are enough donations to warrant it. I will even post
details and pictures of the wedding on the website. This is a genuine plea for help, and
no part of this post is false or exaggerated in anyway.
Donations can be mailed to
Chris O'Connor
PO Box 4624
Clearwater, FL 33758
questions can be directed to my email address coconno1@tampabay.rr.com
If you don't want to donate, but still would like to comment...please feel free to
write.
Thank you all very much!
Chris
gimmer1118-00
Page Last Updated May 14, 2007
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