WOW! EVENT A HUGE SUCCESS!

Last night was our 5th annual Día de Muertos dinner and auction. It was a jam-packed day for the 6 members of our board and hard working volunteers. The dinner was a HUGE success! We served 156 dinners...tortilla soup, jicama salad, seasoned beans, tortillas and Mexican wedding cookies to rave reviews!! Judith and Linda presented the program and Eric Rust, Judith's son, was the auctioneer for the live auction. He was a hit! People dug deep in their pockets!

Too many exclamation points? Not if you were there! It really was a rousing evening. The silent auction had over 75 items and the bidding was fast and furious. The beaded ornaments, bracelets and Mujeres cards sold like hotcakes.

Our Day of the Dead altar was dedicated to Vicki Coons, a Mujeres supporter who passed away in July. She was a lovely spirit and will be missed. Thank you, Joan,for providing us with a photo of Vicki.

Molly, Board Member and chief chef, heard nothing but praise for the meal. Guitarist and singer Ron Munro added to the festivity with a set of Mexican songs. Gracias, Ron. Thanks to volunteers: Kathy Strozyk, David Fox, Rhonda Karls, Neilu Naini, Gail Mabbutt, Eric Rust, Rose Bridge, Bob Pasco, Katie Norris, Beth Fetrow, John Boetsch, Ruth Behnke, Dave LeRoux, Mary Ann Deuth,Steve Gilchrist, Mary Kuntz,and Grant Simpson.

Many thanks to Nash's organic vegetables...every year a generous donation of vegies is sooooo appreciated! Thanks to Raven's Brew Coffee for their donation of Dead Man's Reach coffee for the event and also for their coffee and teeshirt auction item. Thanks to the Alpaca Ranch of Sequim for their auction donation item. And to Pat Lang for numerous items from Chiapas,Gail Mabbutt for her quilted wall hanging,Colleen Blazier for the two beautiful molas, Donna Leavitt for her beautiful drawing, Melissa Penic for her creative glass tapas set, Catherine Mix for her painting, Dr.Melissa Smith for her donation of an office visit and dog treats,Sarah Fitzpatrick for her original oil painting,Karon's Frame Shop for mounting Chiapas' posters, Robert Converse for the ink painting,and Magda Bassett for the tamale making workshop.

Kathy Purcell and Kathryn Haapanen of Soroptimist International of Sequim presented Mujeres with a check for $500 and a bag with 100 toothbrushes. Soroptimist has been a faithful supporter of Mujeres since our inception and we can't tell you how much we appreciate the wonderful, generous women in that organization.

A huge GRACIAS to Diane Urbani de la Paz of the Peninsula Daily News for all the great publicity! Thanks to Karen Hanan of KONP "Art Beat" for having Judith as a guest the week before the event.

And to our wonderful attendees...thank you for coming! Without YOU, Mujeres would not be what it is today. You are caring, generous, loving people and we cannot thank you enough.

Hugs and gratitude to all,

Judith (Linda, Patsy, Mary, Martha and Molly)