Hills' Angels - this is where my time has been going!

Well I have mentioned a few times that I have been doing some fundraising amongst other things keeping me very busy. It is now time to share what has been going on.
Earlier this year, March in fact one of the girls in our mothers group had a seizure. After a lot of investigating and time, they diagnosed a brain tumor. When she went in for her initial surgery in June, we were unsure of a diagnosis, after the surgery and some testing the worst possible diagnosis was given, we were told our dear Hilarie had 12 months to live.
Still unable to fathom the diagnosis and what it would mean, we swung into action, as best we knew how. We all got together and had a few meetings about how best we could help. Of course money is always an issue in these situations add to the mix a self employed husband and a four year old little boy who requires looking after. This meant that Hil's husband had to stop work to both support his wife and care for their little boy. This has now become our focus, and with Hilarie's guidance it has been decided that we will be raising funds to secure the future needs and education of her son, something she will not be there to do herself.
Enter HILLS' Angels - Help Involves Love Laughter and Support. We decided that we could make a fundraising group with the short term vision of helping our Hilarie and the long term vision of helping other families in similar situations. We worked very hard to decide on a name and logo that worked with our vision of supporting mums in need.
All Angels have worked tirelessly from that moment on towards our first event, Hats and Heels for Hills, a ladies only breakfast held last Saturday at Stillwaters Restaurant, Davistown.
Some of the ladies enjoying breakfast.
Watching our hard work come to fruition, and to see all of the amazing women who had come to support our Hilarie was really a dream realised for us. We had worked closely with Dominique, the owner of Stillwaters and Hilarie's boss and dear friend, to plan our first event. We were honoured that we could hold it in a place so dear to Hilarie, as they were to be able to have it there. An army of pink angels arrived to set up the tables for our guests. Balloons and floral decorations were provided by L and A Flowerland, Ourimbah.
They have been honoured to be able to help in any way they can. The room looked stunning. And then guests started arriving.
As much as I thought we would be nervous, I don't think we had time, we just set to work doing our jobs. The morning unfolded very quickly for us, pouring champagne, seating people, and tending to their needs. The guest of honour arrived, and the out pouring of love for her filled the room, many guests were friends, some were meeting Hil for the first time, having only shared her story from other Angels before today. The kind words that have been said about our Hil truly reflect the amazing, caring, patient and selfless person she is. She joined her table for a quiet rest and to enjoy the festivities. While the morning passed in a bit of a blur for us Angels, and a lot of tears, here are some of the highlights. This is Hilarie and her mum, Meryl.

Lisa, one of our Angels spoke, giving an overview of why we were there and what the morning would include.

Breakfast was served. The first of the raffles were drawn. The best Hat and best Heels were judged and awarded. Some more raffles were drawn. Our Hilarie and her Mum said some beautiful words.

There was musical interlude where Dani Carr sang. At this point we were offered breakfast, we all sat to eat, really just out of habit, as beautiful as the food was I don't think any of us could focus on that.

Next we announced that any raffle tickets left could be put back into the major prize draws of Michael Hill Jewellery, a Hair Straightener and a hand made quilt. This caused much excitement amongst the women. Those prizes were drawn. During this time some more announcements were made including the fact that the kitchen boys had pooled some money to donate, and that the entire staff had donated their wages for the morning. At this point, while on stage I might add, the tears welled in my eyes, this meant that our entire event was pure profit, as we had learned the day before there would be no charge for the catering. This is a true testament to our Hilarie and how much love there is for her at her place of work. I still have tears as I write this.
To end our morning there was a some money offered for Dani to remove his shirt, after a bit of crowd encouragement it was accepted.

And one of the guests, Narelle sang Hey Big Spender, while Dani proceeded to remove his shirt. This impromptu performance bought our event to a close and us Angels headed to the doors to thank our guests.
So many had such kind words for the effort we had put into the morning, it was very flattering to here from friends and strangers that we had done so well. Our reply was just how could we not, we had to do something and this is it.

Angels from left to right, Lisa, Susie, Shannon, Larissa, Dominique (owner of Stillwaters), Hilarie, Linda, Tracey, Natalie and Bec.
After the event we have continued to receive such lovely praise, some of which you can read here.
So after a long post, where I am sure I have missed out some things, I will end with the fact that the morning was a huge success. You can visit the website I have been setting up here, it is still a work in progress. You can grab a button from above on my right side bar to support us. And I will be back to share more about our next event - and try to scrap about this last one somewhere in between!