Episode 237

Shrimply Irresistible: The Rose’s 35th Annual Shrimp Boil

Date
May 30, 2024
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Summary

The Shrimp Boil is a beloved annual fundraiser hosted by The Rose. 

What started as a small gathering has blossomed into a massive party with over eight hundred attendees. It happens at the Pasadena Convention Center on June 22nd from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This is no stuffy gala. 

The Shrimp Boil is a casual and fun affair. Guests can bid on exciting items at the silent auction. They can try their luck at the liquor toss game or the 50-50 raffle. A dessert table offers sweet treats. The relaxed atmosphere encourages mingling and merriment.

The funds raised have an important purpose – supporting the Rose’s Empower Her program. This initiative provides vital healthcare services to uninsured women in the community. 

Get involved by purchasing tickets or tables. Donate auction items or become an event sponsor. With an 80s theme, this year’s Shrimp Boil on June 22nd promises a totally awesome time for a great cause.

Learn more at therose.org/shrimpboil.

Key Questions Answered

1.) How has The Rose’ Shrimp Boil stood the test of time?

2.) What can guests look forward to this year?

3.) How do funds raised from the event support the Rose’s Empower Her program?

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Shrimp Boil and its 35th anniversary

02:11 Overview of the Rose’s signature events

07:46 Highlights of the Shrimp Boil activities, including the silent auction

08:11 Notable auction items and their high bids

25:17 Special offerings for cancer survivors Pat McDavid

Transcript

Dorothy: [00:00:00] This year the Shrimp Boil, one of our best fundraising events ever, is celebrating its 35th anniversary. Can you imagine having an event for 35 years? Here to tell us about that event is Shannon McNair, and she’s going to tell us what goes on that day, she’s going to tell us about what she needs, what she’s still looking for from donors and give you a little idea about just how much fun you can have at our Shrimp Boil happening June 22nd from 4 to 8 o’clock at the Pasadena Convention Center.

When you subscribe to our show, you help us grow. Someone you know may need to hear this story. So please, share with your family and friends. And consider supporting our mission. Your donation can help save the life of an uninsured woman.

Let’s Talk About Your Breast. A different kind of podcast presented to [00:01:00] you by The Rose. A breast center of excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re gonna hear frank discussions about tough topics, and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.

So Shannon, tell me what your job is here. What’s your title? What do you do?

Shannon: We’ll have everything, I think, some days. But, officially, um, Events Fundraising Manager. So, any funds coming in, I work in the Development Department, so obviously that’s what we do, is help the funds come in to fund the mission. Anything that’s event tied to it is under my umbrella, if you will. So that includes our signature events, but also we talked before the community events to things that community does for us. So when events tied to it, I’m usually involved in some way, um, myself and LaTonya, again.

Dorothy: Okay. So tell us about the signature events. What does that mean? Being a signature event?

Shannon: We started calling them signature events and it, it stuck. Our signature events. We currently have three. Uh, we have a Luncheon [00:02:00] in the spring, uh, that’s at River Oaks Country Club. We have, uh, Hats and Henna High Tea, that’s at the Junior League in May and, and around Mother’s Day. And then, of course, we have our Shrimp Boil in June. And all three are different.

Dorothy: Oh, very different.

Shannon: Very different.

Dorothy: How long have you managed the Shrimp Boil?

Shannon: Eight years. This, I believe this will be my ninth one walking in the door.

Dorothy: And why are we talking so much about the Shrimp Boil this year?

Shannon: Well, our Shrimp Boil, it’s our 35th Shrimp Boil, so it’s our longest running signature event before it was called that. Um, The Rose is about 38 now, 39. So, uh, this is certainly one of the first events we ever held as a fundraiser, and it has stuck for this long. So we’re celebrating 35 years of being part of the community, and this event has grown, um, from hardly anyone attending to six to eight hundred people in the doors, and we take over the entire convention center at Pasadena.

Dorothy: Now I’m going to correct you on that. It’s always had more than 600 people.

Shannon: Okay.

Dorothy: Always. From the get go.

Shannon: From the get go.

Dorothy: Now, we had a little different venue.

Shannon: Sure.

Dorothy: Yeah. You know, [00:03:00] and, uh.

Shannon: And you’ve outgrown the venues.

Dorothy: But we outgrew. We kept continuing to outgrow them. Yeah.

Shannon: Yeah. More and more coming. It’s a testament to this event. I mean, I think all of our events, this happens. Where. Say I bring a table and I bring in some friends and they’re like, well, this is fun and then they buy a table and this is the epitome of that. It’s also one of our, um, easiest events to go to. It’s super casual. You worry about getting a new outfit.

You don’t have to, you know, worry about, uh, what you’re wearing. It’s summertime. It’s, it’s very casual. Um, the tables start at 400. So it’s easy for a family, um, or a small business to, participate in this event and get in the door. So it’s not a, an event that requires a huge investment of money to attend. Um, and also just super casual.

Dorothy: Right.

Shannon: A lot of fun.

Dorothy: And when we say in the door, we want to make sure people understand, yes, it’s in June. Yes, it’s Houston, Texas, but this Shrimp Boil happens inside.

Shannon: We happen where everything is inside the building. Absolutely. So, um, I would move it otherwise. That would have been the first thing I did when I got here, but no [00:04:00] need to worry about that. Yes. So we have it in the summertime. So, you know, shorts. Casual event, but we are inside that air conditioned building for sure.

Dorothy: And where is that?

Shannon: Pasadena Convention Center. We take over the entire building inside there. We have music. We have a great DJ that comes out every year. And we have a cash bar. Of course, Wonderful Shrimp, which we’ll talk about. And then lots of activities going on in that building that you can participate in and kind of pick and choose what you want to do for the day.

Dorothy: Starts at—

Shannon: four o’clock.

Dorothy: And we’re going to repeat all this.

Shannon: Sure. Yeah.

Dorothy: Usually over by eight ish.

Shannon: Yeah, four to eight’s the official schedule. We’ve had people hanging around, you know. Um, and if you are hanging around, we might ask you to pick up and help, help, help pick up or load in something. But yeah, four to eight. Um, and then I think there’s some of our longtime supporters have some after parties too. So.

Dorothy: Absolutely. Yeah. They’re celebrating.

Shannon: Yes.

Dorothy: So the, uh. You’ve taken us through a little bit of the activities of the day, but say I’ve never been there. Say I have no [00:05:00] clue. I’m coming with a friend. Am I going to have just as much fun?

Shannon: I would think you would have just as much fun. Um, bring a friend, bring several, bring one, but we, uh, we’ll make room for you. There’s plenty of room in the building, but there’s lots to do. So again, Not just eating the shrimp, which is great. We also have hot dogs for those who don’t like shrimp or, uh, for kids. Uh, but great shrimp meal again, wine and beer available for those who enjoy that. But then we have fun things to do. So we have a silent auction that is huge, you know, 120 items. It’s also online, so you’ll see everything there in person, but it’s something you do on your phone. Um, so you can wander around. You don’t have to stay there and guard your bid. You can guard your bid from your table, or from the bar, um, or from, um, the liquor toss, which is a fun game we added several years ago.

Dorothy: Wait, wait, we’re tossing liquor? What are you talking about?

Shannon: Yeah, we never waste liquor. But we, uh, it’s a ring toss game. Okay. And you have a chance to ring a bottle of liquor, wine, uh, mixers, so you might, uh, some really [00:06:00] expensive stuff is on that table, and some not so expensive stuff is on that table. A friend of mine came to me at the event, uh, the first year we did it, and she goes, Well, this is great.

I think it’s the bottle of wine I donated to you to use at this Shrimp Boil, and I put it in the liquor toss, and she won it back. So, uh, you know, the, but we have some very expensive bottles of liquor on that toss, and people have a good, you can hear the cheers. When someone finally rings that one, they’ve been trying to get a hold of, uh, around the building.

So there’s fun things like that. We have a 50/50 raffle, which the, um, roller derby team is there. And so they’re skating around, um, taking those tickets for our 50/ 50 raffle. We also have just another raffle going on as well.

Dorothy: Go back to 50/ 50. What does that mean? Just in case we have people who don’t know.

Shannon: A lot of people don’t know if you haven’t been doing it. But 50 50s where say I put, uh, 10, buy 10 worth of tickets, put them in the pot and usually grows, let’s say around 600. We draw a name, and if you win, you get half the pot, and the half, the rest of it comes back to the—

Dorothy: I think last year we had one that was like 800.

Shannon: Oh yeah, we’ve had, we’ve had them go 1800, we’ve had [00:07:00] real high pots, um, we usually do two, sometimes we’ll fit in three, uh, depending on how many folks we have going on in the room, um, and how quick they’re selling those tickets, uh, but that’s always fun too, and of course a lot of people donate that back, or they may go use that and say, well now I’m gonna buy some more raffle tickets, or I’m gonna Bit on some more items in the silent auction because I’ve won some money.

So, um, people have fun with that raffle. Uh, and again, the roller derby girls are just having a good time. They are, uh, showing that off. And then we also have mystery bags, which again was something we added a few years ago, where every bag, the value inside is a minimum $35. You’ll pay $35, but you could get a bag worth $80.

You could get, you know, we have chi hair dryers. We might have a, um, Kendra Scott necklace that’s been donated. So a lot of gift cards and that sort of thing. And people have fun opening those bags up. So they’ll go to the table and, you know, open that up. So they never know what they’re going to get in those bags and they sell out within the first hour.

Dorothy: And what happens during the live auction.

Shannon: Live auction, we have, of course, Bear, our auctioneer. We sell about 15 [00:08:00] items in live auction, and I’m always excited. I think my first one I was so amazed, uh, it’s nothing like seeing a quilt go for $10,000. I mean, that’s just, you know, where people are bidding. So, and you never know what’s going to take off.

You never know what’s going to be where there’s two people who just really want it or they’re friends and they want to fight about it a little bit. We had a cake sell for $2,500.

Dorothy: Wow.

Shannon: A cake. It literally, Bear looked at me and said, What kind of cake is this? You know, we thought it was a few hundred dollars. Two people really wanted that cake. And that’s all it took was two people really wanted that cake plate. It was a custom made cake plate. And actually a friend of mine had made and donated. And another friend made the cake. And we thought, oh, we’ll get a few hundred dollars, we’ll take it to their table and serve it, and the bidding just kept going where we were all like, what is happening? And, you know, so that’s always a lot of fun.

Dorothy: So you’ve mentioned this about ten times. Donated, donated, donated. Donated, yes. All of our items, all of the food, all of the uh, wine, beer all donated.

Shannon: We have [00:09:00] great supporters. We have Silver Eagle Distributors. We have Saint Arnold Brewing who come in every year and like, yep. Whatever you need, we’ve got it. We have great supporters who work on that committee. There’s you know, our committee has just people in charge of sections of the Shrimp Boil and the folks in charge of that bar, Jennifer Pareya. You know all her team. She just puts the word out and they donate money for her to go shop and buy and make sure that we have all the wine and beer we need for everybody.

Dorothy: And who’s our cook?

Shannon: Mark Meeker. Always.

Dorothy: Been our cook for 23

Shannon: years. Yeah, yeah, longer than, well longer than me. Uh, and we love Mark. Mark’s great. Mark has moved to California. He still flies in and handles the cooking team. And they do a great job, I’ll tell you. When I first went, you know, I’ve, my friends, you know, fancy themselves. They like to eat. We like to eat out. Um, or they’re really good cooks at home. So they’re kind of picky too. Like I can make better. Every single person told me how good the shrimp was. Every single person was like, this is really [00:10:00] good shrimp. Um, so he does a great job. We buy really quality shrimp. First of all, we always make sure we have some, um, a good Gulf shrimp there, but, uh, he, his team does a great job every year of making that food.

Dorothy: They’re doing it outside. They have their own routine.

Shannon: They’re in the heat.

Dorothy: Yes, they are.

Shannon: They’re in the heat. You know, they’re with the cookers. Uh, uh, so they’re out there in the heat for everyone else to enjoy, but, uh, the food’s all inside. So yeah. The food is amazing. Um, and then we also, all the auction items are donated.

So the community comes in, they might give a basket or just give us gift cards and we can put those things together. Our live auction’s all donated. And, um, I can’t say enough about our staff. That’s one of the things about this event that’s fun too is that, The whole Rose family is part of this event.

It’s been going on for a long time. And our staff has friendly competition with, you know, which baskets make the most money. And so they have a good time putting the baskets together, both for live and silent auction. Uh, so we have, all of that’s donated. There’s very little. We, the mystery bags, that’s all donated stuff.

So we, everything in that, the liquor toss, every single thing. A photo booth. If you see, if we don’t have a [00:11:00] photo booth, it’s because it wasn’t donated that year. Uh, and we don’t, we try not to spend that money on that. We would rather our funds go, um, to what we need. I think shrimp’s really the only thing we pay for because we want it.

Dorothy: And then it’s—

Shannon: We want to make sure, we want to make sure it’s a good quality and we might have someone underwrite it. But that’s where we want to make sure that quality is there because you’re coming in to eat that food and it’s delicious. But everything else comes in that door, um, that we’re going to sell or, or auction off is, came from the community, which is great.

Dorothy: And now, I understand you have this great Uh, MC that covers that event.

Shannon: Have you heard of him?

Dorothy: Yeah, yeah, once or twice.

Shannon: A little bit, little known guy, little Freddy Cruz comes out. He’s been coming out for, I don’t even know how many years now. So we love having Freddy out. Always gets the crowd going. Always have a good time. He and Bear have a great time talking to each other as well. So we’re really lucky there too.

Dorothy: Oh, absolutely. But now you can’t forget the dessert table.

Shannon: Oh, no. Yeah, known for that dessert table, uh, homemade goods. There are [00:12:00] people who walk in that door and that’s, that’s where they’re beeline. They’re not going to their table. They’re not going to get a drink. They are going straight to their table and saying, I want this. I want this put on my tab, hold it. Um, kind of our regulars, our dessert committee. Subcommittee knows the regulars and they’re kind of holding stuff so, pineapple upside down cake is particularly popular and there’s there’s a lot and there’s people who are dedicated and they make 10 of those and you know and make sure that those are there for everybody um, our long time supporter Helen is known for her banana nut breads that she brings in.

Which I know sometimes your husband gets early bids on.

Dorothy: Yes.

Shannon: It, uh, it pays us back. We keep a tally of how many make it to Shrimp Boil and, um, and that’s one of the things I put my name on immediately. So we have wonderful things from cupcakes, cookies, you know, little things, but also great cake, whole cakes and sliced cakes, things that, and they handle, you know, slicing up those brownies or selling a whole pan of brownies that people can take to their table and share. And it’s really good.

Dorothy: Yeah. And they’re, they’re reasonable.

Shannon: Reasonable. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I would say there’s cakes there that cost a lot of money if you were [00:13:00] going to order that cake somewhere and, you know, and sharing prices that reasonably out so people have a good time and, and are able to enjoy them. But it’s a nice sweet treat at your table.

Dorothy: And I think another group that really helps there is Pasadena Classics come out of this chamber.

Shannon: Yeah.

Dorothy: I mean, they are— They want to know when is a Shrimp Boil because they’re baking for it.

Shannon: We have some longtime bakers that come out and we welcome new ones too. And we also have some of the local bakeries, you know, Savannah Bakery, who do really great— great foods. They’ll donate some stuff to us too, or nothing but cakes locally. So we have some, not so homemade treats, but those things as well. And we’ll have people who make sure that there’s something there that’s keto, or—

Dorothy: Oh, that’s right, yeah.

Shannon: You know, nut free, you know, we try to mark that down. So there may be a few things there that might be more gluten free, and that kind of stuff. Most of it’s not. Most of it is, uh, is everything you would want in a dessert and more. But there are some things there that’ll be marked for folks who have allergies.

Dorothy: You know, I remember thinking one time I was watching people walk in with cakes and then I watched them go over and buy [00:14:00] pieces of that same cake and I’d go, you know, you just donated that.

Shannon: Yeah, yeah.

Dorothy: But that’s the, that’s the support we have.

Shannon: That’s the support we have.

Dorothy: Who really runs a this— Shrimp Boil?

Shannon: Everybody.

Dorothy: Oh, that’s what I thought. Yeah. Yeah. But you have a committee.

Shannon: I have a committee. I, it’s never me. I mean, I think people think it’s me. It’s never just me. It’s too big. You know, one person couldn’t do it. And one of the great things we have, not just, um, for our staff support, but the committee been with the Shrimp Boil a long time. Some in the last few years have come on, but they’ll take over an area. Like, so I said, we have the bar area, the dessert table, they get their volunteers, they know their volunteers, they’re ready to go, they do it every year, they set up their area, they decorate, so that we have groups that they’re ready to go, like they, so it makes it so much easier to execute all the pieces that go in, so I can focus on things that Need focusing on, you know, reg, all the other event stuff that has to happen.

Dorothy: Tell us, how did, how did the Shrimp Boil, you said it’s 35 years?

Shannon: Mm-Hmm.

Dorothy: How did it manage [00:15:00] 35 years during Covid?

Shannon: We got—

Dorothy: I mean, did we even have one there?

Shannon: We actually did. We debated it. We hold this in June and so we know that kind of world shut down in March. So we, I think the first thought was, we can’t, you know, we can’t. And then our next thought was, but we have to do something. This can’t lose momentum because of COVID. We had just celebrated, um, I believe the 30th, right before COVID. So, um, we were on a roll. We were, you know, excited. What can we do? And I kind of just, and I was working from home, you know, as, as we all were.

So, uh, we, I started, came to the building and looked at it. So I think we can do something here. And we did a drive through. So we’re like, we can still get the shrimp, and we talked to the committee, who can do what, and, um, and the ones that felt comfortable they could volunteer, obviously a lot of our committee are survivors, so they have compromised systems, but we had folks, the cooking team said, you’ve got it.

They came out and said, yep, mark this area off, and we’ve got it, and we could be shaded. Um, so we did that, so we looked at doing it again in June. And [00:16:00] then the temperature was getting hotter, it was a particularly hot summer, and we’re like, let’s do this in October. Once, because I think at that point too, we realized this was not simply a three month stoppage with COVID overall, the pandemic itself.

This was going to take a lot longer, so we don’t have to knock this out in June. Let’s, let’s push this back. So we did it in October when it was cooler, but we had, but people, we called it ghost tables. So if you used to buy a $5,000 table, Um, we had those folks who still said, Nope—

Dorothy: We’re going to buy.

Shannon: We’re going to buy it. And they had the option of coming and picking up their meals and taking it home to eat or donate it. So one of the things we did was donate to first responders and a lot of them said, well, I’ll come pick up to donate the rest of first responders. And I want to say more than 80 plus meals we’re loaded up into our old Rose mammography van.

Dorothy: Right.

Shannon: And, um, some of our executives and longtime employees drove those out to the ERs and to some of the, um, Pasadena police folks and gave them shrimp meals. So we arranged all that. So that was one of the ways people felt like they could get back as well. Like, go ahead [00:17:00] and I want to get my table. I’m not going to let this go.

And a lot of people came and picked up their food and we had a car decorating contests. Like, so if you’re driving through picking it up, we had staff there. You know, we knew how many you needed. We put them in the car for you. So we were still doing, obviously no contact, um, but we had the cars decorated and that was fun to see people come in and still be excited to see each other.

We could still be around each other on some level, but we were outside and made that happen. And that was great. And then the next year we had Shrimp Boil in person. We didn’t sell individual tickets, um, so people could kind of be in what we called the bubbles. Everyone had, so your table of eight, and we were able to spread it out since we didn’t sell individual tickets and keep everybody safe.

We are a healthcare organization. We’re very conscious of that, and we offered curbside, so folks didn’t feel safe coming in the building. They could do curbside, and that still remained a popular, um, thing for us these years later. And we, we got lucky we held that event and then I think a month later is when Delta went through and we wouldn’t have been able to have it that year. Obviously we would have had to cancel it if [00:18:00] something like Delta was going, you know, that Delta strain going through again. But we were really lucky. We were able to hold it in person with some caveats. That’s when we started the online auction. And so that the silent auction wasn’t people fighting over the same pen, you know, just things we had to think about.

We never had to think about before. What can we do to keep people safe, but still be able to come and, and have that fellowship with each other.

Dorothy: And enjoy it.

Shannon: And enjoy it. And people enjoyed it. We had a good time.

Dorothy: Do you have any special memory of this event in your last eight, nine years of doing it?

Shannon: Every year there’s something. The first one was special at the end. When you’re like, my God, we did this. You know. I had, you know, myself and my co worker at the time that we both had the same first Shrimp Boil. So did we, we did it like, okay, we did this. And, but that was seeing. That’s when you first feel all the, that is a family event.

Everyone can’t wait to see you and Dixie and give you a hug. You know, this, they might see you guys once a year, you know, so our, and knowing that there’s patients in the room that we really helped and their family are here to give back in a way that they [00:19:00] can give back either the volunteers or they, you know, might donate auction items or they buy tickets and tables and actually come back.

So the real family feel of that from those first, that first year was great. Curbside is a great memory because we, Again, my God, we did it. We were able to make something happen and still support the mission because, you know, it was crucial. Those funds were particularly crucial that year, you know, because everything was changing, um, and had to shift around.

So for us to be able to still continue doing that and bring some funds in to, to help us keep going and get through that, that hard time was, was great. But, um, yeah, I think the cake going for $2,500 was a pretty—

Dorothy: Yeah, that was pretty big.

Shannon: Pretty big, pretty, just pretty different.

Dorothy: Ella’s quilt for $10,000.

Shannon: Ella’s quilt’s always going on. Um, they’re so special to us. Um, so yeah, the Ella, again, because I was like, quilts? Okay. Yeah. And then I saw the quilt and they’re stunning and just, they’re so popular that that’s, those are always special.

Dorothy: Of course. And, and we always recognize our survivors.

Shannon: Yes.

Dorothy: And we [00:20:00] have to reiterate these funds that are raised go to our program.

Shannon: That’s right.

Dorothy: Our Empower her program.

Shannon: Yeah. We’re having fun. But the money is crucial. ’cause again, this is money that’s not restricted. This is not going to equipment. This, you know, our capital things that we’re raising funds for. This is for money that we need to make sure that a woman comes to us who’s uninsured. We’re not saying, oh, we ran out. You know, we’re, we’re done for this fiscal year. We have those funds for those women where those gaps are. Don’t need to tell you more, more uninsured women are coming. We’re, you know, we’re back to numbers higher than we were before COVID. So there’s more of a need than ever. And these funds are for, that’s what it’s going towards.

Dorothy: It’s going, yeah. So, how do they find their tickets, tables? I understand tables are a little better.

Shannon: I, I would never go. My friends, like I said, they, they now buy their own tables once they came those first few years. Um, because it’s a, it’s a reserve seat.

Dorothy: Right.

Shannon: So, it’s, you know. You can get up and walk around.

Dorothy: It’s not general admission.

Shannon: It’s not general [00:21:00] admission. You’re not trying to find four seats together. Um, it is you have a seat at that’s yours and your name’s on it, which is great too for small businesses, you know? Your names are on there, your name’s on it. So it’s not an expensive investment, but to be able to have some recognition too that you’re there supporting the mission. Uh, so the easiest way is from, uh, therose.org/shrimpboil and you’ll also see photos. So if you’ve never been you’ll see some photos running around there too about what’s it like? What are we— you know? What can I wear? Uh that sort of thing, but you can buy the tickets there and and and or table now to get in the door, You don’t have to have a ticket. So there’s not like a big check in process. Once you have a table, we will hand you your tickets and you’re at your table. Um, you just need the ticket to eat.

So, you know, we want to make it, it’s, so it’s super easy to attend. Like you could, it’s not hard. Uh, we want you to come in and have a good time. So, they, uh, but the table is the best way to go, I think.

Dorothy: One of our great underwriters for the last three years, once again coming in this year.

Shannon: Yeah. [00:22:00] Is The Bill and Helen Crowder Foundation, which we thought they were ending their, their, uh, they had a three year package with us to be a presenting sponsor, and then they came back this year, and I said, nope, not done yet.

So, we are going to have them back.

Dorothy: Who else?

Shannon: Well, we have, uh, well, HEB.

Dorothy: HEB, yeah.

Shannon: HEB is a big sponsor. Um, MD Anderson, Houston Methodist, and this year, Celanese is a new sponsor. Alright. So, we’re always welcoming our new sponsors in.

Dorothy: And I understand this year is going to be a little different. We’re not wearing our, our Hawaiian themed clothes.

Shannon: No.

Dorothy: What are we doing?

Shannon: This year we’re going 80s. We’re going back to the 80s. Don’t act like that. You love a costume.

Dorothy: I do, I do.

Shannon: So yeah, we were trying to think how do we honor the 35th, this being a big year, and we started looking back. Well, it started in 89. I went to an event in the community where they had the DeLorean on site, and I’m like, and I was with one of our other longtime supporters, Corky, and we’re like, Hey, wait a minute. What can we do here? And The Rose was born in the 80s as well. It was in 1986. So, um, [00:23:00] and frankly, I graduated in 85. So I love the, I love the 80s. So, um, little bias there compared to some of our younger people on the committee, we’re having to give them lessons and, and things in the 80s. But yeah, we thought it’d be a fun thing.

Obviously, we already have the music, you know, that’s always going to be there. The decorations are fun. And then maybe we’ll even do a little costume contest. We’ll see how that goes. So yeah, we’re going to have a good time with the 80s theme this year.

Dorothy: All right.

Shannon: Yeah.

Dorothy: And what is the thing? How else can the community support? We want them there, but you have certain needs every year.

Shannon: Absolutely. So we always need auction items. So, you know, if you want to put a basket together or just bring us some gift cards, we can build baskets and we can add those to things. We can add them to the mystery bags. Um, we’re always looking for beer and wine donations as well.

But this year I am looking for live auction items. I have been struggling to find a Stroud, a C. J. Stroud, Texans, autograph something. They are sold out. You know, he had a hot year last year as a rookie quarterback. And, um, so we would love to have something from Stroud [00:24:00] signed or, uh, Jeremy Pena for our, I still love our Astros.

So those couple of things can go really big in the live auction if we can. And we have a small budget. It’s not that we can’t, you know, pay for certain things. But, um, I just can’t find them. Yeah, we just haven’t been able to find those things to get them in the live auction. And we’re always looking for things in the live auction, too. Like if you have a vacation house that you put on Airbnb, you would like to offer us a weekend of. Deep sea fishing trips, that sort of thing. Always love a good experience we can put in the live auction.

Dorothy: Experiences. Unusual items. Sports items.

Shannon: Yeah, sports items are always popular. Tickets, you know, to, uh, sporting events are always popular.

We also love other, the arts, you know, any kind of ticket, if you have season tickets to something and you don’t use all your tickets, we’ll find someone who wants those tickets and is willing to support The Rose, um, to get them. So if, if. It’s almost, if you could imagine anything, we can find a way to sell it and, and find someone who wants it.

Dorothy: And let’s don’t forget Mike Martin’s, uh, little, uh, Retreat?

Shannon: Yeah, [00:25:00] one of our, yeah, that’s right, I reached out to, it’s so funny, I reached out to Mike blindly, as I do, for, for, Uh, to get things to get I wanted his cooler that he created and he said I can do better than getting you the cooler. I’ll get you a sailing trip.

And so every year we had that sailing trip offered to um From Mike Martin and—

Dorothy: And cancer survivors. Yeah. And their family.

Shannon: Yeah any and so that’s up there for live auction So he offers that for cancer survivors. But at the live auction anyone can bid on that and win that and get a great sailing trip and he’ll treat you right and you’ll have a good time. So we Yeah, we, we have that great sailing trip already on hand. Uh, Casa Ole always donates their, uh, uh, fajita party package. We also have the Nuthin Butt Cookers that do a barbecue package, uh, for you to, to cater an event sometimes. So we have some great items already lined up, but we always need more of that. Yeah. We’re trying to get a quilt too. We. As many know, we lost Ella, our famous quilt queen. Um, so we’re trying to hunt down an Ella quilt that maybe isn’t being [00:26:00] used or that someone wouldn’t mind donating back. And we could resell that in her honor.

Dorothy: Okay. 80s theme.

Shannon: 80s theme.

Dorothy: June.

Shannon: June 22nd.

Dorothy: Pasadena Convention Center.

Shannon: From 4 to 8 p. m.

Dorothy: Okay, and tables are?

Shannon: Starting at 400 and the sponsorships go up from there.

Dorothy: Alright.

Shannon: Yeah.

Dorothy: I think you got it covered.

Shannon: We got it covered. It’ll be a good time.

Dorothy: Yes. Thank you so much for being with us today.

Shannon: I want to see what you’re wearing.

Dorothy: Oh yeah, right.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need.

And remember, self care is not selfish, it’s [00:27:00] essential.

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