This week I attended a charity event for the group A Way Out, which is a group geared toward educating people about the epidemic of child abuse in our communities and providing information on what can be done to change the statistics.

The evening consisted of dinner, drinks, a silent auction and a live auction.

Listening to Karen speak, so inspiring.

The organizer of the event was Karen from Kayla Rae Cellars. Herself a survivor of child abuse, she is determined to help those in abusive situations and educate those people to the signs of abuse and how they can help.  By hosting classes, workshops and presentations, the group A Way Out is hoping to reduce the statistics of childhood abuse in our communities. This charity auction was their first annual fundraising event to help provide funds to educate our community of the signs of child abuse. If you would like to know more about Karen’s story, check out the book A Way Out : A Life Story on Amazon or, better yet, visit Kayla Rae Cellars in Rockford and meet Karen for yourself. She is an amazing and inspiring woman.

My Green Cauldron’s Lovely Lotion gift bag in the silent auction!

On to the charity auction! It was a fabulous evening. My bestie, Dee, and I went together for a night of food, drink and charity. The evening consisted of a silent auction (Squeee, My Green Cauldron donated a gift bag!! and people bid on it!!), a live auction and a dessert auction. It began with food and browsing the items in the auction. Everything from a weekend at a lakeside house to a cooler full of fancy beers, photography sessions, private cooking lesson with a chef, and 8-course dinner for 4 at Amore (Dee and i wanted this one pretty bad! we LOVE this place).

Auction paddles and program.

Although the silent auction was fun and I was excited to see My Green Cauldron there, the best part of the night was the live auction. Dee and I wanted to bid on a couple of items, it really didn’t matter if we won (which we didn’t, but we didn’t care) the excitement it produced was contagious. Raising that paddle in the air was thrilling and people cheering when the item was won (most for over their value!) was exhilarating.

Another fun moment was the dessert auction, where we did win something!! What is a dessert auction you ask? Well, each table had an envelope in which they put in a ‘bid’ for the desserts that were on the dessert table (it was full of so much yummy goodness). Everyone at the table had to decide how much to give, but you kept it secret in the envelope until it was time to read them. The table with the highest bid would be the first to pick a dessert from the dessert table. All the desserts looked delicious, but many were not an option because of allergies and such. There was one dish though, full of chocolate truffles and sea-foam and other yumminess made by Polly’s Passions. That was the one we were hoping to get. The downside was that of the tables of 10, there were only 3 people at ours, Dee, me and Rosemary, a wonderful woman we met that evening. The three of us decided on our bid (15$ total) and hoped for the best. The time came for the desserts and the auction began. The highest bid was 150$, Bam! we thought we had no chance of getting the chocolates, they took the sheet cake. The next bid was nearly as high, there goes the cupcakes, then the salted carmel cashew cake….we could not believe that the chocolates were still there!  Next went the cupcakes and then we hear “Table 3, with 15$”….WHAT!?! We were so excited all three of us jumped up! I went to the table and grabbed the chocolates and brought them back to the table. The three of us sat there in astonishment as we enjoyed the most delicious chocolates, so happy we were able to get them. The platter of chocolates was a big one and we divided them up between the three of us. The truffles are perfect with this morning’s coffee.

It was a fun night for a great cause! If you would like to volunteer time or donate money to help this group please go to their website, There’s a Way Out. While you’re there take a look around, find resources, follow the blog, and learn more ways you can help.

Dee and me post event, we had such a good time!