Well the big gala was last Thursday at the DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids and it truly was a "motivating and inspiring" evening.  Attendees paid $150 a seat and were also encouraged to donate more once they were there.  And why wouldn't they donate more?  The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a wonderful organization that does so much good for so many sick children in Michigan.

I had been working with MAW in putting together this event for a few months.  I mostly dealt with calling attendees and donors so I really had no idea about anything else, like the decor.  The gala was under-the-sea themed and it was called Enchantment.  There were tons of sand, (fake) coral reefs and fish, balloons as bubbles, a mannequin dressed as a suba diver hanging from the ceiling, girls dressed as mermaids, a giant clam, real boats "shipwrecked" in the venue, a wooden pirate ship as the stage, and a treasure chest. 

The quality of the photos isn't the best.  You would never guess that I have a pretty good camera, right?  It was super dark in the venue and the flash made everything real washed out looking so I used some fancy "theatre" mode my camera had.

I was honestly blown away by how all of this came together.  I was speechless when I walked in and saw the end result.

We also granted a little girl's wish for a puppy that night.  She wanted an English Bulldog.  So we got her an English Bulldog puppy!  She was so happy.  It was really cute!

The last two are the only pictures I had of me from the night.  One of me in the bathroom (with my matching cell phone) and one of my boss, Cara and I.

I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to be able to do something like this and to be able to work with these people.  I really feel that I've learned so much more from this internship than just work experience.  I had previously wanted to go into music or sports public relations but now I'm almost certain that I will end up in non-profit public relations or philanthropy.

According to the Make-A-Wish website, the gala will be "an evening that is sure to be motivating and inspiring!  The Bring Joy, One Penny at a Time Gala promises to be an evening of magic and joy that celebrates our amazing wish children... Your presence will help bring joy to hundreds of wish kids across Michigan."

The gala is tomorrow night at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I have been working with MAW with this event for a few months now and I honestly had no idea to what scale this gala was going to be.  I walked into the DeVos Place and I was speechless... completely awestruck.  There are REAL boats to be suspended from the ceiling along with mannequins dressed as scuba divers.  There is a giant "sunken" pirate ship as the stage.  There is a giant clam that two girls dressed as mermaids will sit in.  There are fountains.  There are "shipwrecks" throughout the venue.  There are huge (fake) coral reef decorations.  I still can't get over it.  The decorating of the venue just started this morning so I didn't get to see it all put together but I can only imagine who gorgeous it will look tomorrow.

Here are some pictures.  Obviously nothing is in its right place or put together.

The white boat is the one that will be suspended from the ceiling and the wooden one next to it is the sunken pirate ship that will also double as the stage.

The green thing is the giant clam, home to the mermaids, but it is still packaged up.  The orange stuff is pieces of the coral reef display that will surround the entire venue.  There also will be an arch of coral that you enter in under.  It's obviously not put together yet in this picture.

... more of the coral reef

These are what I spent all day monday making.  These are the table center pieces.  They are made out of the same "fake" coral reef and decorated with shells.  In the center there will be a tall glass cylinder filled with water, a bubbler, colored lights, and possibly fish.

This isn't even a third of the entire venue.  That is the scaffolding that will hold up the lights and the blue, ocean like tapestry that will cover 100% of the walls.