DECEMBER 5, 2000

I have been so excited for the past week or two. I have been getting checks and raffle tickets in the mail almost every day and the money has been mounting. I had set a personal goal of $1500.00 as the amount that I wanted us to reach in raffling off the quilt. (I had been offered that amount for a quilt I had made for my oldest son in 1984.) Well, ladies and gentlemen, you have stunned me. We have raised $2,054.00 (this is assuming that all of the checks that are "in the mail" do arrive.) I will post a final and complete count by Friday and the checks will go out to Komen at the same time.

The drawing was done by Mrs. Ann Cooksey, the wife of our Congressman, Dr. John Cooksey this morning at the Post Mastectomy Boutique called Just Like You in West Monroe, Louisiana. I took all of my cameras with me and will post them just as soon as I can.

I know that you want to know who won the quilt. (Drum Roll please!!!) The winner is Mrs. Margie Chase if from Waterproof, Louisiana. She is a retired school teacher. She came for the raffle and was a bit shocked that she had won and told us to draw a second time. However, the draw was fair and it would not have been fair to her to redraw. (Does this sound like elections and recounts???) Since we would not redraw, she gave me the quilt. She said that since I had put it together, I deserved to have it. SO guess what??? The club has the quilt back....I am donating it to the club again. We will discuss later what to do with it....i.e. Should be try to auction it off? Should we use it for the club display quilt since it was already displayed once? Should we.....? Do think about it and we can decide later. In the meantime, I will keep it here (Mrs. Chase wants me to keep it and let her get it during the holidays so she can show it off to her family and then she will return it to me.....I surely can't tell her no to that, can I? )

The ticket for this winner was sold by The lady who owns the shop where the drawing was held.

I would like to thank everyone who has been so active in this project and yes, those who cheered us on even if they did not make a square or sell any tickets. They also serve who only stand and wait. (That is a loose quotation of a famous line but you get my meaning.) I know that some of you were unable to participate but you certainly were on the cheering squad and that meant a lot to all of us. A special congratulation goes out to Shirley aka pugowned, she was top seller of tickets which were sent to me. Over $400.00!!!!!! Wow, Shirley, how many cookbooks do you think you can sell?

We still have other quilts that are being put together. We should have them ready to go after the beginning of the year 2001. We had decided that we would try to auction these other quilts on e-bay so anyone who has any knowledge of e-bay, please let us know. I am totally clueless as to how to go about that type of project. Yes, I admit that I do have my shortcomings, my motto is "I can if I think I can." You can have the same motto.

For those of you who have wanted to do something, now is your chance to begin. We have the cookbook project which Liz is doing and she still needs your help. Don't be shy. Send her your favorite recipes. She had set a deadline of December 15, 2000 for submitting the recipes to her but I bet she will take any that are sent in after that date. However, the sooner the recipes are in her hands, the sooner the cookbooks can be ready to sell. Mrs. Cooksey said she would send me a recipe for our cookbook which gave me an idea....can the rest of you contact your congressmen (women), local officials, etc and ask them for recipes. I have already sent Liz a recipe that was from former Louisiana congressman Russell Long so we have at least two politicians represented. (or their wives in the case of Mrs. Cooksey)

I want to thank all of you for the confidence you have shown in my abilities this past year. The notes I have gotten from some of you are precious to me. I have found that this quilt project has given me new energy and happiness. The quilt committee has accomplished a portion of our goal and we have done something worthwhile to fight the dragon. Please give yourselves a big round of applause. I did. My husband said he wonders what I will do next…LOL He never ceases to be amazed the little projects I involve myself in each year, month and week.

Remember the trip for the year 2001 is still being planned. The committee members are taking a short break for the holidays but after the first of the year, we will be working again. Please do try to join us for this next trip.

This poem was written by the daughter of Mrs. Ann Ward, the lady who owns Just Like You. She dedicated it to breast cancer survivors and gave me permission to post it to all of you. They give a copy of it out to their customers. her name is Beth Davis.