Fair

Life isn't always fair.

But sometimes you get to attend a fair.

How you feel about attending a fair can depend on both the circumstances, and those you meet.

Due to the hours I have spent typing away at this keyboard,  I was asked by a childhood friend if I would like to come work at her church's "Joyful Giving Fair".

"What," you might ask, "is a Joyful Giving Fair?" It turns out that it is like many Holiday Fairs around New England, except with a twist.

Many of the churches in New England have a Christmas Fair to raise money for the church and its good deeds: their food pantry, their fuel assistance, etc. This church holds a fair where each table is covered by volunteers from a charity organization, and every dollar you spend at the table goes directly to that organization.

As we are trying to help raise money for diabetes awareness and research, M and I thought that we could dedicate some time to this kind of work, so we said that we'd do it.

As one of the organizers, my friend seemed disproportionately enthusiastic about our participation. We didn't feel like we were doing her that big a favor! We were glad to help out my friend and JDRF at the same time.

But how would we do it? It somehow seemed inappropriate to sell baked goods to raise money for an organization that lets people know to count their carbs for better disease management. Furthermore, we are not especially crafty. What could we do?

Having absolutely no inspiration about how to raise money for diabetes, I contacted our local "special events coordinator" at JDRF.

Dear _____,

My daughter, M has type 1, and we sponsored a walking team this year. Because I talk about Type 1 so often, an acquaintance invited me and M to participate in her church's "Joyful Giving" fair.

I told them that M and I would participate, but I have no clue what we should do. Are there items that we could sell on behalf of JDRF? Flyers we can hand out? Ideas that you can share with me?

I would like to raise money and awareness of the organization, but I am not sure if there is a protocol that I must follow with JDRF.

Please advise. The fair is in a month.

Thank you,

Me

Unfortunately, the response was a little less than I had hoped for. It boiled down to: "We have bracelets that you can buy from us and then sell. Or we can send those paper sneakers that we sell for a dollar at the supermarkets. Otherwise, good luck!"

I suppose this might be one of the reasons that JDRF is so highly ranked as a charity. There is no overhead for things like mugs, or t-shirts, or anything else that might be sold at a Joyful Giving fair.

So M and I tried to wing it. We had the paper sneakers sent, and converted them to tree ornaments by punching holes in them and tying ribbons to them.

My mother also propagated some plants for us to sell - a big hit at our own church fair.

We set up, and everyone was kind to us. After 5 hours of talking to people, smiling, and explaining what an insulin pump is, we cleared $41. It would have been $21, except that my mother stopped by and gave us a $20 bill to show her support. (Thanks, Mom!)

All was not lost, however.

The highlight of our day arrived around noon in the form of an elderly woman who visited our table. Before I could dive into our spiel about JDRF and its good works, she told us that she had been diagnosed with type 1 66 years ago.

She was ten years old at the time.

She told us that she participated in basketball and cheerleading when she was M's age. She told M that she looked healthy and to keep up the good work. The she shared an oft-repeated slogan: "It's all in the attitude!"

At 76, I have to say, this lady looked pretty good. She said that she still uses Lantus and Humalog with the disposable syringes, and that they work just fine, thank-you-very-much.

She was a delight. And a testament to the effect a positive attitude can have on those with a chronic illness.

When she left our table, M said: "That just made my day. Just saying."

We grinned a lot that afternoon. And why not?

JDRF will have $41 more in its coffers. And we had our inspirational coffers refilled, free of charge.

Very cool.

Cashing in for JDRF.