Debbie
McDonald Auction Package To Highlight Celebrate With The Champions
WELLINGTON,
FL April 9, 2004 Invitations for Celebrate
With The Champions will go out mid-May announcing the premier
fundraising party at the Dressage Olympic Selection Trials in
San Juan Capistrano, California. Orchestrated by Chairs Jane Thomas,
Dick and Jane Brown, Linda Edwards, and Honorary Chairperson Akiko
Yamazaki, the June 19 event will not only bring together 300 members
of the dressage community for an evening of festive wining
and dining California-style, but will also feature one of
the most original and generous fundraising efforts conceived by
one of the riders Debbie McDonald has offered up for auction
a one-month training package at Peggy and Parry Thomass
River Grove Farm including five lessons per week with her, board
for the riders horse, and accommodations at a condo in the
resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho.
Were
simply going to be the marvelous venue at which this auction is
going to be consummated, said Jane Brown of Carlsbad, California,
who has been leading the California contingent of pre-Olympic
fundraising efforts since March when she and Dick organized Glory
In Greece, a party at the California Club in Los Angeles
that raised $91,000 for the USET Foundation. Brown already had
the June 19 party lined up when the opportunity arose to include
McDonalds offer. We are very, very close friends.
Debbie has been stabling her horses at the same barn where we
stable ours in fact Ive been teasing and calling
it River Grove South, said Brown. Brentina is a hometown
horse for California as far as were all concerned. Debbie
may come from Idaho but most of her national level of showing
has been in California.
Brown
has scheduled McDonalds live auction to take place at the
height of Celebrate With The Champions, which will
be held from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm Pacific Standard Time on Saturday
night, June 19, at the Oaks Blenheim show grounds the location
of the Selection Trials. Brown will add an element of fun to the
exciting live auction by including up to six spotters to work
the room of bidders she has already enlisted Guenter Seidel
as her lead man. Bids will also be accepted via telephone during
the auction, giving dressage supporters across the country the
opportunity to bid on McDonalds package.
While
the Browns were in Dusseldorf with their horse Nikolaus 7 and
Guenter Seidel competing in the 2004 World Cup Final, Janes
letter to sponsors for Celebrate With The Champions
was delivered to a select group of dressage supporters. It is
Browns hope that the party will be entirely underwritten
by sponsors so that proceeds from the dinner and McDonalds
auction will be pure profit for the USET Foundation and the US
Dressage Team going to the Athens Olympic Games. The next mailing
will be the actual invitation which may prove to be something
of a collectors item. Im listing the co-chairs
plus as many sponsors as get back to me in time to have their
names actually printed on the invitations, said Brown. Its
a fun invitation bright yellow in a bright yellow 6-1/2
inch square envelope. On top of that is a layer of black and white
check with little funky Spanish-y looking roses in yellow, red,
and blue, and on top of that is a sheet of vellum on which the
invitation is actually printed. Holes are drilled through and
then well put a little ribbon on top, she explained
and added cheerfully, The worst part is going to be tying
the bows that hold this whole thing together. We actually have
to thread through the ribbon and put a little sailor not in it.
Were talking about 500 or 600 invitations!
The
June 19 Celebrate With The Champions fiesta-style
party includes entertainment by six strolling mariachis and dancers
costumed in traditional ruffled dresses. Because of the extensive
silent auction planned, Brown will have food stations and bars
strategically located around the serpentines of auction tables
so that attendees will have the opportunity to keep bidding as
they enjoy the festive fare and special frozen Margaritas leading
up to the highlight of the evening, the presentation of The Debbie
McDonald Training Package Auction.
Brown
is excited about the opportunity to feature this unique auction
package. If you know Sun Valley at all plus the months
board for ones horse, plus of course Debbies training
its a marvelous, marvelous offer. I dont ride
but I wouldnt mind going to Sun Valley for a month!
she enthused. Brown has worked to line up a festive event and
let everyone know about it through her letter and invitations,
and says, The rest is going to be in the lap of Lady Luck.
Auction
And Celebrate With The Champions Ticket Information
To
attend the live auction of the Debbie McDonald Training Package
and Celebrate With The Champions, tickets are $100
each. Drink tickets will be available at $5 each at the party.
For reservations, contact Jane Brown at usadressage@adelphia.net
or fax to 760-438-3873.
To
participate in the Debbie McDonald Training Package auction via
telephone on June 19, bidders must register first by contacting
Mason Phelps, Jr. at Phelps Media Group, Inc. via email at mpjr@phelpsmediagroup.com.
.