Oops!!! It's Thursday!

Okay friends...thanks for giving me some grace! I might have a little sinus thing going on and after taking some meds last night, I fell asleep! I had such good intentions!! Derp!

So, I'm back today, and ready to discuss!! First and foremost, thanks to all of you for your kindness regarding Mom. She is doing okay, and after a little bit of extra TLC and medicine updates, we think we have things covered for now. I so appreciate everyone and your kind words. She appreciates all of the thoughtfulness.

Now that I'm back in Louisville, I have become a small part of the big high school football rivalry, St. X vs. Trinity. It's very similar to the Moeller/St. X game in Cincinnati, but I will tell you that the Louisville game fills the University of Louisville stadium and these people are not kidding around. There could be over 20,000 people in the stands cheering their favorite team. Students and Alums and families treat this day and a huge occasion.

Today, the Catholic Education Foundation in Louisville hosted the annual Rivalry Game Luncheon...A Salute to the Game. The Foundation has made a way to make this a fundraiser and they have been successful for sure! 

A few weeks ago, they posted the website for tickets and to purchase a Split-the-Pot ticket. The tickets were $25 for Split-the-Pot so of course, I purchased one.

Now, I know my odds are crazy but you don't win unless you play and it only takes one ticket to win, right? So, my lucky ticket is in the pot!

At 11am this morning, I attended this luncheon for the second time. It was a full house of close to 1,000 people. My co-workers and I were invited as guests. We call ourselves "seat fillers" but I'm not too proud!!

It's a flashy event, held during lunch time that is perfectly timed...doors open at 11am, lunch served, family style and like a tailgate party, with fried chicken, mac & cheese, green beans and slaw and it ends promptly at 1pm. The emcee keeps things on schedule for sure.

Two players, one from each team, were featured today and it was fun to see them. They were featured in a couple of videos taken at their grade schools and then they were on stage, answering questions by the emcee. 

It seems these two guys played baseball together when they were younger. They have remained friends all of this time, despite being at separate high schools. There was a certain shyness with them speaking to the group, but their friendship shown through. 

They each had cute things to say about the other's personality and there was a little ribbing going on, but I found myself smiling, realizing how two teenage boys were showing their feelings to the world.

After that, everyone was reminded that the Split-the-Pot was up to $22,000+ and I just kept thinking of my lone ticket! The drawing is now closed and the total dollar amount is just under $34,000!!! WHAT???  Over 1,300 tickets were sold. The winner will get close to $17,000! That's a lot of cash and who couldn't use that? Now that's my kind of Split-the-Pot!!!

In the office, we talked about whether or not we would feel obligated to donate it back if we won. My response was HELL NO!! It is a game of chance and although I might give them a nice donation, I would not return the money!! I don't think my co-workers would do that either, but it was a discussion.

I remember when we had our raffle at Mt. Notre Dame. Needless to say, I did not buy tickets (well, my family did and I may have put some money towards the purchase!). How would it look if the Director of the Gala won the big money!! I worked hard to let parents know that we did not expect them to donate the money back. Many would have used it for tuition anyway, but if we expected them to give it back, we would not have any sales in the first place.

There was no other fundraising for this event except sponsorship and ticket sales and this organization collected over $600,000! WOWZA!! They have a line that says, "The Answer is Yes!" which follows their goal of getting everyone who asks the opportunity to go to Catholic school. That's a hefty goal! 

Now, as you know, I work for a small non-profit that assists students in an underserved part of Louisville so we do work closely with this organization. Oh how I wish we could say YES to everyone who asks! 

We can't compare to the Catholic Education Foundation, but we do good work and we are a small non-profit, with five staff members who work hard to provide this population with tuition assistance, free tutoring services, and testing services for those students who may need it. I guess you can say we are a small fish in a big pond. 

Tomorrow, at 10:35am, they will have a Facebook live Split-the-Pot drawing and I plan to be tuned in so when my name is called...I hope you hear me squealing all the way to Cincinnati!!!  xoxoxoxoxo