Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Novalee and her mom Misty when I was asked to help with a fundraiser to help Misty pay for the very expensive medication for her daughter, who suffers from a rare brain malformation called Lissencephaly. The event last year was a tremendous success and helped raise enough money to offset the cost and helped Novalee go from having around 100 seizures a day to less than 30. Recently, Misty has been taking Novalee all the way to San Rafael to participate in a treatment called the Anat Baniel Method. This treatment is helping Novalee tremendously. She has become more alert, is having fewer seizures, and has had increased movement ability, really giving Novalee a second chance at moving ahead in life. But again, these treatments and lessons are not cheap, nor covered by insurance.
Misty contacted me a few months ago asking if I could help her put together, what she would call, a Second Chance Dance. The concept was simple…let’s have a Prom for Novalee and all of her family, friends, and supporters. In she spirit of second chances, everyone was instructed not to go shopping for a fancy dress or wear a tuxedo. Instead, guests were encouraged to wear an old outfit or even go to a thrift store and give a dress or suit a second chance. I leapt at the chance to help out again, and I worked with Misty on coming up with some activities that we could do to make Novalee’s Prom something different and special.
One idea we put into action was a concept I learned about only a few months ago myself. It’s called a “Bottle Auction” and is a fantastic way to make money for charity, while having a whole lot of fun. Guests were asked to donate a bottle of…well, anything! A nice bottle of wine, a plain ol’ bottle of water…it doesn’t matter. The trick was to wrap the bottle up as extravagantly as possible. These “Mystery Bottles” would then be auctioned off to the highest bidder. The guests went crazy over this concept. Bottle after bottle was auctioned off, some as high as $65. After each auction was over, the winner opened their prize in front of everyone. The groans when someone opened a sport water bottle, the laughs when a guest opened a bottle of A1 Steak Sauce, the cheers when a couple opened a giant bottle of Grey Goose Vodka, the irony of the man who won the bottle of fancy perfume! It was all fun, exciting, and best of all, it helped raise more money for a great cause. Between the bottle auction, the raffle, and the admission price, we raised enough money to cover six sessions (or one full weekend) of lessons and treatment.
Please visit the Strength For Novalee Facebook Page for more details and to follow the story of this beautiful little girl: https://www.facebook.com/StrengthforNovalee
For more information on the Anat Baniel Method, check out their website here: http://www.anatbanielmethod.com