Gathering Momentum for Saturday's Fundraiser

Today I paid a social visit to my fellow antique dealer, Lisa. We did a lot of catching up since we haven't seen each since Christmas - she's been working in a shop, and I, well, haven't.

I told her of my initiative to raise funds for the Red Cross for the Japanese victims of the earthquake and tsunami. She donated an item for the sales table - thank you!!

Then the owner of the shop next door came in for our opinion on a great piece of retro bar-ware she'd come across. (Super piece.) Lisa told her of what I'm doing this weekend, and Rebecca immediately went to her shelves and started handing me Japanese-made items to put on the table to raise funds as well.

So many heart-felt gifts; and some from a perfect stranger. It was difficult for me to hold back the tears of gratitude. (OK, so I didn't hold back...) For all the bad we see in the world, there is so much good as well. I hope that we raise a bunch of awareness AND monetary donations to send to the people of Japan. I still have a couple of days left to gather some items together.