Update!

Hi, everyone!

We have great news! I have just been informed that the amazingly talented Blaze and Kelly have agreed to play at the benefit! This is so completely exciting! We hope to see you all there!

(I put a little player widget from their website below so you can hear what you are in store for :) let me know if it doesn't work!)


We are still looking at a couple other bands to play as well, so stay tuned!
 I hope you are getting as excited about this as we are!

Also, I updated the previous post (click here to view) to reflect what volunteers we have gotten so far, so if you are interested in helping out, please click here to email me!

Volunteers Needed! (also, we have a time!)

Hi, Friends! 
Thanks so much to everyone for your awesome ongoing support! You guys are wonderful!

We need some help with planning the event...

First of all, we need help recruiting some musical talent that would be willing to donate their skills for the evening. We were hoping for someone like the incredible Rebecca Scott, or the super rad Blaze and Kelly, but realistically we are open to anything. If you have "ins" with anyone in a cool band, would you maybe be willing to pass this page along to them? Or if you play in a band, would you be willing to donate your time? It is clearly going to a good cause :)

Second, now that we have a time for the event (doors at 6, bidding starts at 7), we need some volunteers to help us run everything! We need about 16 people...here is the list:

1 Emcee - to oversee the auction and announcements, and keep everything running smoothly.  our awesome friend, Kelly has volunteered to emcee for the evening. Thanks, Kelly!

2-3 Runners - to fetch items off the tables once the winning bidders have finished paying for them

3-4 Monitors - to keep an eye on auction items, and make sure everyone is following bidding rules (like "no touchy!" :) )

2 1 Raffle Sales people person - to...well...sell raffle tickets :) with our awesome friend, Lauren C!

3 1 Cashiers - to take bid sheets and collect money from the people who have winning bids on items.  With our friends, Lauren K and Amber!

These people would need to be able to get there at 5 or so to go over the rules and get everything ready before doors open, but we also need about 4 people who are willing to get there early (around 4pm) to help set up.

If you are willing to do anything on this list, let me know (you can email me by clicking here) and I'll get you all signed up.


Thank you!
Love you guys!

Lauren Kistner donation!

For those of you who don't know, 
Angela is a little bit of a crazy cat person
(see the below image...this is her with our very spoiled kitty raisin a year ago)

Which makes this particular donation all the more appropriate!  Our wonderful friend, Lauren Kistner (she also makes great ARTS! click here to see her website!)  Donated this super nifty kitty package to the auction...and a little birdy told me that she is adding more kitty toys to the pile!

Dang, that is one fancy Cat tree! Oh, and in case you were wondering, I believe the bottle is a cat-nip spray :)

Don't worry...she's hanging on to this donation so that Raisin doesn't test it out and make it a "used" scratcher donation :)

Thanks, Lauren!

Edy Raby Donation!

Hello, Everyone! I have another great donation to share with you, this time from our friend Dana's amazingly talented mother, and Idaho Native, Edy Raby. 

Two gorgeous triple wrap bracelets!

Both are leather. The blue one is Czech glass with a Pewter, moose head closure.  The earth toned one is Chinese Rose Jade with a Bronze, Shell shaped closure.  These are gorgeous!

1upyourlife.com donation!

Hi, there!  Hopefully everyone survived their Mondays :)  I have a super exciting donation to share with you today!
 My good buddy, Dustin of 1upyourlife.com (click here to check it out!) has donated a Nintendo 64 in the box with all the wires and whatnot to the auction!  Anyone else having flashbacks to their childhood? :)

Awesome! :) I may have to bid on this one myself...If you have a second, you should absolutely head over to 1up Your Life. (click)  To quote the site: "The Goal of 1Up Your Life, is to create a community where nerds, geeks, or anyone who is looking to enjoy a healthier lifestyle, to come together and express thoughts and ideas on how you can gain more personal XP, Level yourself up, and become a more epic YOU!"  It is a pretty great site!  And, if you should just so happen to come across any posts with the Gamer Grub title...those may have been written by Yours Truely :)

Thanks, Dustin!

I am probably going to throw in a few games to sweeten the pot, so stay tuned!

Emily Ryan Portrait session donation!

Two-hour portrait photo session (worth $200)
* Wedding engagement photos
* Family portraits
* Pet portraits
* Children and baby portraits
* Photos for social networking profiles
* Other (sorry, no weddings)

A two-hour portrait photo session by Emily Ryan, a professional photographer with more than five years of experience working for local magazines and numerous freelance clients in the Treasure Valley. Meet up at one of Boise's many wonderful outdoor portrait locations--Kathryn Albertson Park, the train depot, MK Nature Center, or any other place of your choosing. Two hours of shooting with as many poses as you'd like. Photos are edited and delivered on a disc.

This is a good friend of mine, who happens to be pretty much the only person who consistently takes photos of me that I actually like! I am so excited that she is willing to donate this session! 

She also has a pretty cool blog if you wanted to click here and go check it out :)
Here a are some examples of work she has done:

Thanks, Emily! :)

Flicks donation!

Thanks to the flicks, we have a pair of tickets! Awesome!

Newt & Harolds Donation!

Hey everyone! The wonderful folks over at Newt and Harolds Just donated a wicked sweet Etnies tshirt, and a Volcom Jacket to us, so head on over to facebook (Click here) and give them some love!

Skateboard!

Hello again!

Our super rad roommate, Niki just gave us a skateboard rocking the "Crooked Fence Brewery" logo that she won down at Mulligans bar a couple weeks ago.  It is really nice, never ridden, (perhaps stood on a time or two) and has nice shiny wheels with cool designs on them (can you tell that I don't know anything about skateboards?)

Thanks, Niki!  This is really awesome! It even has the coveted "Raisin-cat seal of approval!"

Stonehenge produce donation!

Happy Friday, Everyone!

I am completely thrilled to share this first donation with you!

Stonehenge is a little produce stand just around the corner from our house.  Angela and I go there about 2-3 times per week to get fresh produce.  She was actually interviewed in an article in the Boise Weekly about them last week...check it out here!

They were kind enough to donate both a $30 gift card (and believe me, their prices are AMAZING, so $30 will go far!)

 AND this super awesome, GORGEOUS basket of great stuff!  The basket alone is a $25 value, with another $25 of goodies inside! They put all sorts of great things in there! There is a bag of Juanita's Tortilla Chips (my personal favorite!), a jar of "Hand crafted" Treasure Valley Salsa, a jar of Stonehenge Produce Horseradish Pickles, Black Canyon Tutti Fruitti flavored gourmet popcorn, Stonehenge Produce Zesty Creamy Italian Dressing, a bottle of Frostie Root Beer, a bottle of Jack Black's Blue Cream Soda, a nice big bottle of Rock's Natural Spring Water, some Owyhee Peanut Clusters and Idaho Spuds, 3 packs of Honees Honey filled drops in various flavors, a bag of Gilliam old fashioned Watermellon drops, 5 flavors of Honey Straws, a variety of individually wrapped candies, and a brick of Willow Tree Candles Lavender scented soy wax!

 WOW! Thanks, guys!  Click Here to Check out their facebook page if you haven't already, and give them a "Like!"  They are a perfect example of the kind of local neighborhood store we need more of!

Auction flyer!

Hey everyone!

So I just threw together this flyer to help draw up some people for the auction.  We don't have a date yet, so I figure I will update it when we do.

Please feel free to click the link to download the pdf of the flyer if you wanted to help put them up around town!

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6-Ihm6SLzBqdUt6Wl9fMHhaUHc

There is also a link at the top of the page to download, and one to download the donation letter as well, if you should want to help gather up donations for the auction.

Thanks, everyone!

Date!

thanks to Dana's persistence and general awesome, the silent auction is officially booked for July 31st at Liquid.  Mark your calendars!  We should have a time next week. Thanks, Dana!

Progress!

Good morning, everyone! I hope you are all doing well today. :) 

Hopefully you have noticed our shiny new Paypal button, and donation ticker over there to the right.  It should be working completely by the end of the day.  If anyone finds it in their hearts to donate funds to help Angela out, I know she would be incredibly grateful.  We will be updating the ticker as necessary to show how much we manage to raise with this effort.

 Thank you to everyone who suggested Idaho Central Credit Union. We went in there yesterday and got an account all set up for her medical bills.  They were incredibly helpful, and are even going to help with refinancing her car loan so that her monthly payments are much lower. That will help her out a lot, so big thank you to ICCU! They are a great institution, and I highly recommend them!

Image from warnerdrive.com

Also, as of this morning, Dana is working with the Liquid downtown on figuring out a date for the benefit so stay tuned! Big thanks to them as well.

Angela has had such an improvement in her (already cheerful) spirits since this effort began a week ago.  Knowing how many people care about her is just blowing her mind.  You are all so wonderful!  All this progress is so exciting, but we still have a lot of work to do.

If you are interested in donating something to the auction, or helping gather up donations from local businesses, please email me at benefit.for.angela@gmail.com

Thanks again for your continued support!

Update 2

Happy Monday!

We had a wonderfully productive weekend.  Got some good advice on opening that donations account, and now it looks like we will be heading down to Idaho Central Credit Union to get that set up either today or tomorrow.  Look for a Paypal donate button in the next couple days as well!   More people stepped forward offering donations as well, which is wonderful!

We also met with some friends last night who practice Traditional Chinese Medicine and something else I cannot seem to remember the name of, and are willing to donate their time.  So Angela will be trying out some alternative medicines as well.

Thanks for checking back, and have a wonderful day!

progress update!

Wow. The amount of feedback we have gotten since starting this project TWO DAYS AGO had been staggering!   Angela is in shock. I don't think she realized how loved she is before all this.  We have gotten a lot of pretty exciting donations promised to us for the auction, Dana has found a band to play, and we have a few people talking to lawyers they know about posisbly taking on Ang's case.  This is so fantastic!

Some suggestions that will be implemented when we get a chance:

• We are working on opening a Donations bank account to handle all this, and so people can donate money more easily, should they so desire.  We have only been to one bank, but they needed $100 to open the account.  We are hoping to find some place that doesn't require so much money, since we don't have it. If you can think of someplace (we are trying to keep it local, and not use big banks),  please email us at benefit.for.angela@gmail.com
• As soon as we get the account set up, we are going to be putting a Paypal "donate" button linked to it on the page.  It was pointed out to us that people might respond well to that.
• I am going to be composing a letter to take to businesses to try and collect donations for the auction. If you have places in mind and would like to help us out with this, email me and I will send you a copy of the letter.

That is it for now. Thank you so much everyone for keeping us in your thoughts, and helping spread the word!
We love you all!
Nikki and Angela

Meet Angela

This is Angela. Some of you may be looking at this page because you already know her, but some of you may be here because you were told about her plight. For those of you who haven't been lucky enough to meet Angela, let me tell you a bit about her. She is one of the sweetest, most compassionate people you could ever hope to meet. She is the kind of friend everyone should be lucky enough to have, one of those people that animals and children are drawn to. She loves dancing, spending time with her family, going for walks, and being an active member of our community.

Four years ago, Angela woke up and couldn't feel her arms and legs.Since that day, it has progressed to the point where she spends every second of every day in constant pain. She has compared it to that feeling you get when your leg has been asleep for a long time, and your circulation comes back. She says it is like that painful tingly sensation, only more INTENSE, and all over. She can't sit for long periods of time because of the painful pressure it puts on her nerves, and therefore is on her feet almost constantly. In spite of all this, she is still optimistic, quick to smile and tell a joke, and a joy to be around.

After seeing a top neurologist, much imaging and multiple tests over the last two+ years, Angela is a 'medical mystery'. In the last year, her condition has worsened at an alarming rate. She has gone from getting around on her own, to having to walk with a cane. Angela's history has been woven with dedicated work and high physical activity -swimming, running, power walking, skiing... Recently work became nearly unbearable so she applied for Federal Disability. Accepted in April 2012, she was able to stop working, and start focusing on her health. Unfortunately, this month (June 2012) Angela lost her Medicaid coverage. We have been told there is nothing we can do about it. Her monthly benefits barely cover her Rent + Bills, let alone her medications (upwards of $600/month for the 20 pills per day she is currently taking to reduce pain and control her symptoms), continuing to see a doctor regularly, and trying to find out what is going on with her body.

 There are several procedures she would like to have done (such as the one mentioned in this link) to at least significantly reduce her pain, live her life as fully as possible and maybe even allow her to work again. The procedures and doctors are so expensive and most of the professionals who perform them won't even see a patient if they are uninsured.

Ultimately, we would like to be able to raise both money and awareness for Angela. We would like to be able to send her to a an advanced Neurological or Pain specialist, and perhaps even to the Mayo clinic to provide insight and help her problem. The current neurologist who described Angela as a "Medical Mystery," has been providing treatment similar to ones received by patients with MS, even though her test results are more severe than those typically seen with MS patients. We would also like to be able to raise money to help her get a lawyer and try to get back on Medicaid so that she can afford to continue taking her medications.

The goal of this page is to provide you with a place to check back for progress updates as we work towards putting together a Silent Auction to benefit Angela, and help pay for her to seek out different treatment options. As we receive donations, encounter legal obstacles (we are currently unsure what it will take to put on this event), and figure out more about when and where the event will be held, this page will be updated. I plan on posting images of donated items, and links to the websites of the companies who contribute them so that people can see what the Auction will have to offer ahead of time.

If you, or anyone you know is interested in making a contribution to the Silent Auction, or helping Angela out in other ways, please email Nikki Prindle at benefit.for.angela@gmail.com

Know someone who might be able to help? Please share our page!

 Thank you!

 Nikki Prindle