For my birthday celebration, my friends, led by Lauren P., Sherry Pauker and Mo DeJong, astounded me with their ingenuity and generosity.Knowing how much the ELMA students mean to me, Lauren came up with the idea to secretly collect donations to help me with the expensive book-shipping costs.
By passing around a gold box decorated with the story of the ELMA students and personally telling guests about my dedication to them, Lauren and Sherry led the charge in connecting with all of my guests and got amazing participation to help the Cambodian students!
Earlier in the evening, Mo asked me what my favorite moment of the night had been so far. In a night filled with amazing moments with friends, one stood out: seeing my 24 dinner guests come together, meet each other for the first time, and watching the effervescent energy start to percolate.
Friends rallied from so many different times in my life. One of my oldest friends, Drew Byrne, even made it up from Los Angeles!
I had been planning my birthday party for two months and, at the moment that all of my dinner guests were together (and we would be doubling our party afterward for drinks), my work was officially done, and I could just relax and let the alchemy of the evening work its magic.
Little did I know that the surprise they were planning would reach far beyond our humble San Francisco hangouts all the way across the Pacific to help hundreds of Cambodian students!
Lovingly decorated by Lauren, the note on top of the magic gold box read,
"As you likely know, our Leah has been collecting English-language children's books for students of the ELMA school in Cambodia (ages 5-15).
Through selfless and unwavering dedication, she has amassed quite a treasure trove of books over the past several months. Since shipping to Cambodia is quite expensive, Leah limits the mailings to a few times a year.
Currently, the book pile in her San Francisco flat has grown considerably (read: it's out of hand!).Please donate what you can toward the cost of her next mailing so that she can clean out her flat and get a little elbow room to breathe, sleep and apply sparkly make-up products.Simply open the gold box and drop in your support.
We'll present our gift to Leah at the end of the evening to top off her birthday with a bit of magic. Thank you!Hop on Pop level donation: $5Superfudge level donation: $10Catcher in the Rye level donation: $20Choose Your Own Adventure level donation: your choice!"
At the end of the night, Lauren rallied the guests and revealed to me what they had been doing. While I was mingling and introducing people to each other, they had raised $500. By morning, it had climbed to $555! (And then $565!)
When the shock passed and the magnitude of my friends' generosity and love registered with me, I started crying tears of joy. How many times in your life does that happen?
When Mo asked again what my favorite moment of the evening was, I replied that not only was it the best moment of the evening, but one of the best moments of my life.
With gratitude and love in my heart for all of my old and new friends who selflessly contributed to help children halfway across the world whom they have never met, I know I am one of the luckiest people alive.
As we prepare the next boxes to ship to the Angkor Hospital for Children, where the nurse Rithy Yam receives them and passes them to Vey Lav, one of the ELMA School's founders, we include the love of my community.
Amazing thanks to: Andrew Chandler, Anna Shurter, Anna Wallace, Anood Taqui, Autumn Engel, Benny Lee, Brian Checkoway, Camille Calichon, Cristina Tejada, Daniel Clemens, Dee Iraca, Dina Mackin, Dominic Lucia, Dora Fang, Drew Byrne, Fran Navarro, Gray Clossman, Ian Locke, Isaac Hill, Izabela Akerman, Jane Kenny, Jen Greene, Jeremy Mulder, Joanna Parks, John Mack, Jon Marr, Jose Portillo, Julie Brown, Justin from New Zealand, Karl Mauks-Koepke, Lara Edge, Lauren Patti, Martin Chai, Mark Berman, Matt Wood, Michael (Anna's guest), Mo DeJong, Michael Michon, Ray Ortigas, Rick Wood, Sadie, Santiago Suarez, Scott Houston, Sean Iraca, Sheridan Pauker, Tim Lang, Tony Brasunas, Torr Melling, Windy Borman, and Yan Liu.
Posts
