Sunday, May 13, 2007

They did it!




Numbers haven't yet been tallied, but from the looks of the Boutique Benefit Saturday at Laguna Presbyterian Church, the hard work of Evonne Kane (second from left, in the dots) and her team of helpers paid off!

Their goal was to raise enough to pay Lisa, the amazing and wonderful caseworker who has been donating her time at the Laguna Resource Center to help families in need and homeless folks who need assistance. The amount and quality of the items donated from the closets and boutiques of Laguna were outstanding, and brought out the bargain-hunters in droves. This Lagunan bought two new tops from Lala, normally $98 each, for $20 apiece, and a cool brown suede coat for the same amount, plus a few other goodies. As promised, there were tons of designer items from some of the upscale shops in town, and a separate roomful of practical lower-priced and children's items. The cheerful helpers deserve a big round of applause, as does Evonne, who dreamed up the idea.

This homegrown fundraiser breathed new life into the Laguna Resource Center, a tiny non-profit that relies on the help of the community it serves. If you want to truly be of service, support organizations such as this one in its work to help people who need it the most. Some people think organizations like this draw homeless people to Laguna. I say they're here anyway -- why you not give them a place to shower, make phone calls, get food and give them the dignity every human deserves? A society is only as strong as its weakest link; if we rely on the Darwinian theory that only the wealthy or well-connected deserve to live here, we can't call ourselves much of a community, can we?