No ... Thank YOU

As those of you who follow my blog know, turning Fabulous Shoe Night from an idea into a workable vehicle to help charities has kept me very busy during the past few months. We have long-range goals we've been working toward, bit by bit, every day, and are sometimes able to discern the baby steps of our slow but steady progress. Being so focused on the "big picture" can have it's drawbacks, though … and I have come to realize that my myopia can occasionally cause me to miss the forest while looking through the trees.

We at Fabulous Shoe Night have big plans for our future. Big. Really big. But in my mind's eye, and deep within my heart … I have even bigger plans that I have revealed to precious few. Impossibly big. To quote Steve Jobs, "Make a dent in the universe" kind of big. 

So when I received a note, quite unexpectedly, telling me how one of our FSN events made a positive impact on the life of a young woman battling cancer, far from home, it helped hone and redefine the importance of continuing to help in our own backyard … regardless of whatever huge vision we may have.

Below is the note I received from an oncology nurse at a local hospital. 

"I am contacting you to express gratitude to you on behalf of one of my patients who is a newly diagnosed Breast cancer survivor. She is from South America and speaks little English. You may not even be aware that through a contribution that you gave Debbie Price, from Lovely You, this patient received a beautiful long dark hair wig and some cotton caps. From the money you gifted Debbie, she graciously gave me 10 additional caps. Debbie has been donating to me for the past 3 years, lightly used wigs or wigs that were donated to her from family members that have lost the battle to this disease.  However, this was a 30 year old who had just lost all her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.

And this is only the beginning.  She is receiving chemo before her surgery just to shrink the tumor in hopes that the surgery will be less traumatic. She is here staying with family members but her husband is still in South America. She came to me in tears with her father. Her husband was due here in a week and she wanted to look the best she could for him. When I showed her what I had, nothing caught her eye. She went home with nothing and I simply prayed for a divine intervention! This came to me via Debbie with help from your boutique fundraiser. 

When she came to see me a few days later, I gave her the box with a long, hip, dark brown, straight haired wig. Both she and her father were so happy.

The fact is, at my hospital, many patients are under insured or not insured at all. Many of them don’t even ask for things like this that many take for granted. But it is angels like you and Debbie that appear when life has handed another human being this devastating cross to bear. 

Again thanks for your act of Kindness!!"

FSN is new. We are making things up as we go along, to the best of our ability. While we have had some unbelievably successful events, not every event is a blockbuster … sometimes things like weather, time of year, etc., keep people home. And sometimes, the results have been a bit less than what we had hoped for. This is particularly devastating when we are working to raise money for people who have been dealt especially cruel blows from life … like a cancer diagnosis, or an accident that forever changes the life of a child.

But … we keep going. With our focus on that long-term vision we  share, we just keep going.

And the letters of thanks we receive …? They aren't necessary, or even something we ever imagined we'd receive ...

They're just unexpected, glittering jewels we occasionally find strewn across our path, making it easier to keep moving forward ... more determined than ever.

And we are thankful for them.

Momentum

I never would have guessed that my (thankfully!) brief interaction with the "mean girls" at an upscale area boutique would be so abundant in lessons (as well as blog material!), but I've come to realize that when a lesson is truly learned, the Universe responds by sending rich rewards. 

My main concern in canceling a Fabulous Shoe Night event at that boutique was that it would inadvertently halt the seemingly self-propelled forward momentum FSN has seen to date. Response to the concept has been so overwhelmingly positive that sometimes I have to pinch myself … so, after canceling, I was nervous at having virtually no future events scheduled. 

But again, my intuition began nudging me  … and this time, I listened. As I've watched Fabulous Shoe Night grow, it has become clear that this growth has all been organic … meaning that nothing was ever forced. Serendipity has played a huge role in our progress, and my gut was telling me to just to let things progress on their own. So, I did something that, well … does not come naturally me. I was patient.

Not patient as passive … I still worked, every day, to get FSN heading in the direction of my long-range vision … I just didn't push things too hard, trusting instead that things did, and would continue to, happen in their own time … when that timing was right.

Remarkably, I didn't have long to wait.

Within a week of canceling with the "mean girls," I was contacted by two boutiques and two restaurants about doing Fabulous Shoe Nights. As if that wasn't exciting enough, it was so refreshing to see that the people involved truly "got" the FSN concept. They were excited about raising money for charities near and dear to their hearts, and their eyes and faces virtually lit up when discussing who their Fabulous Shoe Night event would benefit. There's nothing more gratifying than working together with enthusiastic, compassionate people to benefit a deserving cause, and then actually making a difference. It's like a drug, really … and the addiction seems to be contagious. 

Fabulous Shoe Night now has several events scheduled in the coming weeks, and we have more irons in the fire stretching out into the New year. Looking back, I feel almost silly now that I was so worried about canceling an event with that little, snooty, inconsequential boutique … particularly given the location, instant name recognition and prestige of where our second Fabulous Shoe Night charitable event was held just last week. 

Oh, wait …. you mean I didn't tell you??

Bloomingdale's!

I can't wait to see where our heels take us next … !

A Most Important Cause

While Fabulous Shoe Night continues to grow and flourish, we have had to modify some things to accommodate our changing needs. That sounds better than, say … we're making things up as we go along, but, actually … we are. 

I had first intended that our FSN monthly Girl's Nights Out  would benefit a different local charity each month, figuring it was a way to help many in our own backyard. But, this is a new concept, and we're learning as we go along. Since the restaurant where we hold our GNO's can only donate from the food portion of our bill, and are donating 10% at this point, I felt it wasn't making a big enough impact. As most of the members of Fabulous Shoe Night feel with the height of our heels, our thinking is "go big or go home," and that includes money donated to charity. So I made an executive decision and decided that, for our first year, FSN Girl's Nights Out would benefit the same local charity in order to be able to donate more money, thereby making a bigger impact. The charity we chose fell in my lap, thanks to the suggestion of my wonderful friend Robin.

Lately you can't turn on the TV or radio, browse the Internet, or pick up a newspaper without hearing about the heartbreaking story that has come out of Penn State, and now Syracuse University. So when Robin told me about the Family Support Line, in Media, I was eager to get Fabulous Shoe Night involved. 

Family Support Line is a non-profit organization offering "specialized services that prevents child sexual abuse and cares for children and families who have experienced this trauma." They were established in 1984, when a mother seeking support for her daughter called attention to the need for the support of families with a child who has been sexually abused. Surely, with the secrecy and shame associated with childhood sexual abuse, such support for the entire family is vital. 

Yes, the cause is timely, with all the horrific details emerging daily on the news, but … I honestly can't think of a better organization to donate regularly to during our first year than one that protects the very innocence of children. 

So while our social Girl's Night Out concept has piqued the interest of many for it's pure fun-factor, we get the most satisfaction in that by simply gathering together with friends each month, in our fab shoes, (something we would absolutely do anyway) … it's actually making a difference. That is what I'm most proud of. I love that. Love it.

But … the best part is … we're just getting started. Can you just imagine the possibilities??