O
n May 22, 2021, Wesley had its first entirely online fundraising event — the Game on Gala!
Back in January, what started as a simple trivia party-book idea quickly evolved into an even bigger and better night of fun and fundraising than we ever expected. Little did we know that we were putting on a gala, just online style. The big questions were: Are we ready for this? Would people want to come to our silly Zoom trivia event? Would it be better if we sold food? Since we’ll have people together, should we try to sell off some items that were donated for last year’s gala-that-never-was? And lastly, can we use this opportunity to raise money for something the school really needs? We decided the answer to all of that was a resounding “Yes!” and leaned into it, putting together an evening to remember in record time. After a couple of months of strategic planning, we assembled some delicious food and drink vendors (Shappys Pretzels, Low Boy Bar, and Bar Flores), almost 100 silent auction and raffle items, and two amazing live auction items (Thanks to the Fulton Family and the Gershon Family!). All we needed was guests. We ended up with over 200 party people in attendance. Sure, we weren’t all wining, dining, and dancing together in an event hall, but the atmosphere was no less electric. Between rounds of (surprisingly difficult) trivia, people hooted and hollered, caught up with their friends, and even trash talked a little. Some vaccinated families even gathered with their teams in person and had a mini party of their own. It brought the community together in so many more ways than we had dared hope. Not to mention that it raised almost $80,000 for the newly named Wesley Commons!
A huge Thank You to everyone who made this event possible: Lindsey Drasin Dyllan Fernandez Beth Fulton Julie Galles Jenny Hollier Lisa Lange Mariah Leavitt Tammy Rodriguez
32
Marissa Seeman Larry Sullivan and Dave Monahan King Trivia
