Donald Teuma-Castelletti
SHAWVILLE March 24, 2018
Fundraising for the Villa James Shaw (VJS) kicked off for 2018 on Saturday, when the group’s Easter Tea returned to a local church.
Moving ahead a week this year, the gathering saw a packed hall at the Shawville United Church, where the kitchen was bustling in an attempt to keep tea cups filled.
Hosting their second year of the tea, it was decided to move the event up a week so that it wouldn’t clash with family events during the Easter weekend. While organizers had prepared for an improved turnout with this slight change, the result was better than they expected.
“Last year we did it on the Easter weekend, which took away [some guests]” said Vice-President of the VJS board of directors Bill McCleary. “Today we set up for 144 and it looks to be pretty full.”
Just a half hour into the tea, tables were near full as folks continued to stream in. While trays of sandwiches and cookies flowed out of the kitchen, volunteers raced about to keep up with their crowd.
Though McCleary had started the event with 200 cups of tea ready to go, there was quickly a need to get back to brewing.
New for this year was the inclusion of raffle prizes, which quickly saw an Easter basket overflowing with entries, and a booth run by Mary McDowell-Wood, selling her poetry book, Paper Trail, in support of VJS’s efforts.
The event originally started last year when McCleary’s wife, Sue, took the initiative to fundraise for the group. As she enjoyed attending similar events, she knew there was a crowd who’d be interested in attending.
“Sue decided last year it’d be a good idea,” said Bill. “She loves going to teas, so she decided to host one.”
Bill said that the tea was the beginning of a lot of fundraising this year, as VJS looks to meet their share of the mortgage costs.
Next up for the committee will be auctions on Facebook, as well as a dance and auction on the August long weekend. The August auction is set to feature some rather big ticket items, and will be run by the local Rotary Club.
