You Inspire Me

One of the coolest things happened this week. I walked into school and there were all of these kiddos wearing this shirt:

It was so amazing! In support of my fund-raising efforts, a group of families in the community that I grew up in joined together to create this shirt as well as a dinner event next Sunday.

The shirt is for sale to anyone interested for $12 by emailing inspiredbyryan@comcast.net for order information.

The fund-raiser is going to be May 4th from 5-8pm at the Copper Fox--located on the NE corner of County Line and Holly. Dinner will be a southwestern buffet. There will also be a "balloon silent auction" and it should be a tremendous amount of fun! I am thoroughly looking forward to spending time with my old swimmers and neighbors who have always INSPIRED me!!

If interested, RSVP to Jan Wondra at 303-770-1444.

I am so pleased to announce that the gala was a huge success! It was so beautiful to be in the presence of such wonderful people and such a reminder of all the love in the world. After it was all said and done, the gala raised just around $10,000 for my travels. I cannot begin to thank all of the generous people who, at many times, put their lives on hold just to make sure this event would be amazing.

A special thanks to Yasmin, Patrick, Julia, Lauren, Cara, Amanda, Kanako, and Erin for one of the most memorable, exciting moments of my life!

The Great Gala

This Sunday evening is my gala event. There are plenty more tickets available, so please pass the word along. In fact, the rumor mill called to tell me that there may be some national media there of some sort...shhhh. Nonetheless, the night will be filled to the brim of delicious food, great conversation, amazing performances, and memories in the making.

A brief agenda for the evening:

Doors will open at 6pm for cocktails and the silent auction browsing. At 7pm dinner will commence consisting of a brilliant Persian feast. Close to 8pm there will be a full program of entertainment including some words by Amanda Boxtel, who is a huge motivating factor in this whole thing and I am so grateful to have her! There will also be performances by kids in the community, of which I am absolutely amazed by. Following the program, the silent auction will be called. There are currently 31 items up for auction, including a week-long stay in Mexico! Ole'! The night will wind down with some casual time at the end to chat and dance, probably well beyond my bedtime.

I hope to see you there:)