Dear Friends,
I hope you are all well! We held our first-ever USA fundraising cultural event in Arlington, VA last Saturday and I am thrilled to announce that it was a success! It took many weeks of hard work preparing and coordinating, but in the end we pulled it off, everything was ready, and we had a good turnout despite some competition from another Peruvian event in the area that same night. We want to send out a huge thank you to all of the marvelous people who braved the cold (and nation's worst traffic) to come out and spend their whole evening sharing with us our work and our passion. We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and the dancing and the food as much as we did!
We really want to thank all the people who contributed their work and performances to help make this event a success. We couldn't have done it without each and every one of you. GRACIAS!
Thanks first of all to our dear friend Lauren, who has been the engine pushing all our DC event fundraising forward, giving up her own bedroom for nearly a week as we prepared for the event, sacrificing sleep and sanity helping us with all the details, and generously donating any item we could not get from other donors or that we had overlooked. We love you Lauren! Thanks also to Lauren's housemates for putting up with our Peruvian invasion!
A big thanks goes to Jacquie Antonson and George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis & Resolution for donating the use of the room and audio-visual equipment, which worked out perfectly!
Big thank you to Mamauca for opening the event with some awesome and authentic festejo dancing. We especially want to thank Griselle and her husband Victor Ruiz for sharing their time and their talent with us, despite a busy schedule! ¡Mil Gracias!
Another special thank you goes out to Cecilia Villalobos and Axel from Salsa Fuego School, for being so generous with their time and heating up the second half of the event with some hot salsa dancing. You guys are the best!
A very special thanks to my beautiful sister Rayen, who has been helping us non-stop doing everything from creating beautiful brochures, flyers, and invitations to cooking and setting up plates! THANK YOU RAY!!!!! Big thank you to Amalia and Costa Verde Restaurant for donating rice and potatoes and to El Chalan Restaurant for donating a Dinner for two....Gracias!
And another special thank-you to Jazmin, my lovely niece, who has also been helping us out with coordination, preparation, ticket sales, and a lot more. Thanks Jazmin, you rock!!
Overall the event was a success, and we are proud to have pulled everything together despite the short lead time and despite this being a new area for us. While we did not meet our original fundraising goal, we were able to make some great connections while still raising a significant amount of money that will be a real boost to our work in Peru. We are glad to have one event's experience under out belts as we head to New Jersey and to San Francisco for our events there, for which we are getting ready and excited. We hope you are excited too! Here are some more pictures from the event, enjoy!
Milagros, a radio host and reporter for El Tiempo Latino interviewing me for a newspaper article that will be out this week!
Boiling purple corn and pinapple to make Chicha Morada, which was a big hit!
Jazmin cutting beef for the Lomo Saltado, which came out delicious.
Rayen peeling onions for the Lomo Saltado.
Andy working on videos and multimedia presentations about our work in Chincha to show at the event. Thanks to Andy's dad for donating the laptop!
Lauren's friend Ashley toasting Peruvian corn to make the Canchita. Great job, Ashley! Thanks for your help.
Jazmin making the tasty sauce for Papa a la Huancaina. Also a big hit with our guests!
Authentic, hand-made Peruvian items all set up for the auction.
Jazmin and Mayten at the door receiving our attendees and selling tickets.
We were happy that Andy's Uncle Reed, Aunt Ann, and cousin Michael came out to support us. Thanks for being there guys, and congrats for acquiring some gorgeous stuff at the auction!
Some of our guests enjoying the food.
Cecilia and Axel from Salsa Fuego showing us how salsa is done
Lauren and Ashley trying out some new salsa steps with Cecilia and Axel. Way to go ladies!
We had just the right number of guests for the space
Lauren giving people a closer look at some of the items during the auction
Getting into the bidding at the auction! Thanks to all the people who purchased items during the auction...we really appreciated your generosity and enthusiasm!
Getting ready to raffle off a beautiful Tawantinsuyo shawl!
An honest hand chose the person who most deserved this gorgeous shawl... congrats Ashley!
Rayen putting the finishing touches on the event program
Andy helping prepare the item descriptions for the auction...
Friends in NEW JERSEY, our next event will be in your area on Saturday, February 5th...come and help us make our NJ event an even bigger success....we can do it!
