Take 200 hundred people who love animals and love the music
of the 1960’s and 1970’s, add some amazing out-fits, a smattering of flowers, a
dash of wine, and a selection of wonderful silent auction prizes…..Mix in a
large serving of sumptuous buffet and you will have a fantastic and successful
evening…..
That is exactly what happened when the Bahamas Humane
Society hosted the first ever “Flower Power Party” at the Sheraton Nassau Beach
Resort.
The party was born out of an idle conversation one day not
so long ago, and we thought “Why Not?”, it will be something different”….The
only publicity was by email and on Face book… at first the party was limited to
160 guests, but people just kept calling and asking for more tickets…The
Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort was brilliant and kept adding tables just hours
before the event.
Did you know that The Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort is the
ONLY large hotel in Nassau that welcomes dogs as guests in their hotel? Hats
off to the Sheraton…
The Ballroom looked vey pretty with colourful, flower print
tablecloths and hundreds of balloons of different colours. The Bahamas Humane
Society Club at Tambearly School made tons of multi coloured flowers to put up
on the walls…the object was to have a party that was not too expensive, so that,
even people on a budget, could come out and have fun and support that BHS…The
tickets were $50.00 a ticket, which is pretty good when you think that the buffet
had all you can eat roast beef, amongst other things…the was also a varied
selection of deserts.
The silent auction prizes were a selection of baskets for
humans and also for their pets: the was a giant chew bone, two collar and leash
sets (one for boys and one for girls), a cat basket full of treats and toys, a
cat lovers basket with various novelties for the cat lover. For the dogs there
was baskets for big and small, and puppies, not forgetting the human dog lover
too. The main basket was called “It’s Valentines all over again” and featured a
bottle of Veuve Cliquot Champagne, dinner for two at Miso, Godiva chocolates,
gourmet tea, and other special goodies…”Something’s Fishy” contained a
beautiful Coin of the Realm pendant, dinner for two at Traveler’s Rest, Glass
starfish necklace by Dagney Drudge and a beach motif picture frame…Two wonderful
“pop Art” cat and dog prints beautifully framed were also part of the silent
auction…There were just too many silent auction prizes to list them all.
SLIDE SHOW images
There was also an in house raffle that raised a simply
startling amount of money.
The
raffle prizes included a large and very beautiful Sunset photograph by Patricia
Vazquez, a $200.00 gift certificate from Prime and a dinner for two at Van
Brugels restaurant in the City of Nassau…
Table prizes were pet treats to take home to your pet….
Dancing to the well prepared music by veteran DJ Vince
Ritchie had the dance floor packed most of the night to songs that pulled most
people back down memory lane, at least those in my age group. For the younger
people it was a great chance for them to hear why we say that the music really
was better back then… And it certainly appeared that the young and beautiful
enjoyed the party just as much as the “more mature’”guests !!!
During the evening we also drew the prizes for the Bahamas
Humane Society’s “Travel Bonanza” $100.00 a ticket raffle… With only 1000
tickets on sale the chances were 1 in 200 that you would win a prize, even if
you only bought one ticket… Diane Moore was the lucky winner of the trip for
two to London
(Business class) and five nights in a first class hotel in London…
Congratulations to Diane…
The monies raised during the “Travel Bonanza Raffle” and the
“Flower Power Party” will go towards the essential day to day running expenses
of the Bahamas Humane Society. It costs close to one and a half million dollars
to keep our doors open all year long. We operate several vehicles and have 16
staff…and care for hundreds of dogs and cats every year, not to mention various
other animals in need that are brought to us.
The help and enthusiasm that we all received to help make
the raffle and the Flower Power Party such a success was really encouraging…so
many people out there lent a huge hand. Amazing thanks to:
Fina Johnson who sold masses of raffle and party tickets,
Suzanne France for selling so many raffle tickets,
and previous car winner Janette Johnson who faithfully sells
lots of raffle tickets for us.
Diane Volswinkle pitched in and helped Becky Armbrister and
I get the room decorated, and we had a lot of fun doing it…The very best was
seeing how much fun everybody had that night. The ultimate confirmation is the
amount of people who have called and emailed asking us to please do it again
next year.
IT IS OFFICIAL, we WILL do it again next year….keep an ear
and eye out next March for the “Flower power Party’….
About the
author: Kim Aranha grew up in the Berry Islands with her first dog,
a beloved potcake named “Friendly” (who was anything but!). First educated at
home, and then in boarding school in Switzerland, Kim moved to Rome, Italy in
1974 to pursue a career in the dramatic arts and ended up working as an
interpreter. She moved back to The Bahamas in 1980, and now lives in Nassau
with her husband Paul, and their two grown sons. Kim has 3 dogs, 3 goldfish
fish, a tank of freshwater exotic fish, 11 turtles (2 babies, 6 adolescents. 3
adults), 1 Asian box turtle and 4 Budgerigars. Her idea of relaxing is being
home to take care of all her pets. Kim is President of the Bahamas Humane
Society, and serves on the board of BREEF, and is co-chairman of the Bahamas
Sea Turtle Conservation Group. Kim can be contacted at berryislandgirl@gmail.com
