By Rachel Crowther (Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance) ‘I’m not sure how many people will come,' Amy said. We’d had a busy morning setting up a room and a clothes-rail full of new and lightly used donated goods for our Gracias fundraiser. With a series of mishaps on the way: · Car lights left on (me) · Inability to park in a huge space (me) · A broken glass before even starting to set up (me) · Leaky rubbish bags (not me) But then the night before, two TV’s and a coffee-maker sold. And before 10 am on the day of the event last Thursday, we had our first visitor. Then loads of our fantastic friends, colleagues and friends of friends poured in, laughing, chatting, eating cake (recipes below), drinking coffee, and, of course, giving new homes to unwanted items and making a money donation in return.
We are excited to have raised over 1800 USD for our partner projects, (100% of which will be used in the field to benefit these projects) and to have helped get books, clothes, electricals and household goods reused. And I made tons of cups of coffee and tea, had cake for all my meals and bought four photo frames (all the way from Texas USA), and some shoes. Amy, you are so often right in the decisions you make on a daily basis on behalf of the Gracias Foundation. But I’m happy to say that this time I was right! Loads of people did come! (To which Amy might very well reply ‘cool story’…) Recipe Links Carrot cake Amy's tips: I don't put in any coconut, nuts, or raisins. And I replace the 2 tsp cinnamon with 2-3 tsp of pumpkin pie spice - which is just a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Cream cheese frosting: 2 tubs of cream cheese, 100g of butter (about 1/2 cup), 2 tsp vanilla extract, and 250g (about 2 cups) of powdered sugar. Chocolate and banana cake with peanut butter frosting Rachel's tips: I usually halve the quantity of frosting. You can replace flake chocolate bars with grated chocolate. - See more at: http://www.graciasfoundation.org/gracias-blog/previous/2#sthash.eXmjSv4r.dpuf |