Benefit for Austyn Halter

Today was a great day.

There was a huge community event for an amazing cause. People came out from all over the Golden Triangle region to support a four year old little girl who is fighting a rare form of leukemia. Not all good things are filled with sunshine. Actually, it rained on and all morning, and by late afternoon was going pretty hard so we packed up early and left.

But seriously, it was a great day. Despite the heat and the rain, the community banded together for an amazing cause. Pediatric cancer research only receives 4% of the national cancer research funds, and that has really bothered me for quite some time now. It really kills me inside that we done value our children, the future of the world, more that 4. But that/s a whole other story. Today was a great day, and we don’t need to focus on the sad.

Sarah and I teamed up to bring our DotDotSmile to the benefit event. We decided to raise our price to $35 (including tax), and donate $5 from each dress sale to her treatments. That ended up being just shy of 30% of our proceeds. The crowd was so receptive of the dresses. We passed out dozens of business cards to brand new faces, sold a modest number of dresses, and were even able to provide a few dresses to Austyn herself. I was most pleased with the fact that it didn’t just turn into a selfish vendor event. The streets were filled with #AustynStrong teeshirts and signs. Patrons would walk into the tent and ask us how we were helping. I truly appreciated that the meaning and purpose of the event was never forgotten.