Sparkle Saturday, Dec 2nd -- afternoon and evening. Nice mild weather for the event. We were strategically near a source of electricity and bathrooms, and thanks to Dale, had many boxes of cookies and cider. We had -- LOTS and LOTS of cider and cookies..... The question was - how fast can we put nice warm cider into cups and give it to the many Sparkle revelers. Not fast enough.
But while we were handing out cookies, it was a wonderful chance to speak with people from our community and talk about Rotary. We were at Sparkle as part of our connection to this community. And - there were lots of questions! Who can join? What activities do you in the community? What is Rotary International? Don't you work on killing the Polio virus? Can I have another cookie? [just kidding].
We had the opportunity to meet with members of other Rotary Clubs and other Service Clubs as well as people that were interested in volunteering to help. People were very generous with their donations to Corning Rotary for our work in the community.
So, in summary, there were a great many attendees at Sparkle. Gaffer District gave us projections, and they were spot on - LOTS. Access was expertly organized by Gaffer and easy for setup and take-down of our tent -- but when I went to my 7-9 shift at the tent, it took nearly 5 min to travel 1/2 block to get to the tent, because of the crowds. So, in summary, it was a success. We were able to meet people, let them know more about Corning Rotary and answer their questions, and spread holiday cheer with cider and LOTS of cookies. At the end, Yumiko heroically tried to find people for all of our cookies. Ultimately, though, I found a home for our additional cookies and cider at Salvation Army.
Thank you to the committee members that came together on the details, and donated their items for the tent [how many ladles? who brought the music?] and here are the people that made it happen:
Gaffer District planning and volunteers, Walmart [donated many of our cookies], Yumiko Akiba, Bill/Sue Boland, Ernie Danforth, Pauline Emery, Laura Matson, Kendra Mourhess, Jenniffer Mullen, Andy Rochester, Stu Sammis, Cory Walker, Wendy Winnett, Dale Wexell Jan Harvey, and more .... Thank you!
