Dinner Fundraiser for My Refuge House

We arrived at Seal Beach without incident and got set up at another great spot.  We did some projects around the house and decorated.  And got ready to go out to dinner.

Nephew Ben and wife Lesley invited us to their church a few weeks ago when we were in Seal Beach.  While there, a lady had an announcement that was short and to the point:  "You have all heard about the devastation in the Philippines.  The Refuge House was only damaged a little, but I feel like we need to do something to help those folks.  We will be sending out more on that later."

The 'More Later' was last night.  She and some other people put together a fundraiser dinner at a local restaurant. It was a big success and quite an evening.

Dinner was at Great Seafood Harbor near Little India in Artesia, CA about 12 miles from our campground.

We arrived shortly before 7:00 PM and for some reason got a table up in the front with Ben,

Lesley, grandson Ezra
and twin brother Reid and wife Amy who flew in from Albuquerque for a few days.

They started off with soup and concluded with 7 other courses!  It was way more than we could eat but we tried our best!

Before the program started,

folks walked up on stage and and took a look at items they wanted to try for with $5 raffle tickets.

In between the courses, items were raffled.  There must have been 30 items including some Androids, iPads, gift baskets and framed photographs.  

Then as the food started coming out the entertainment began.  Early on, we were entertained by a dancer troupe from Biola University.

Then a group who sang a few songs.

Meanwhile the food keep coming.  It was served family style and worked out great.

There was soup, plates of beef, asparagus, fried rice, crab, shrimp, pork and orange slices for dessert.
In between, we had a raffle winner at our table.

Ezra had two bowls a soup and was a goner.  First mom,

then dad's turn.

Isn't he about the cutest little fella you ever saw?

There was more entertainment

Including some audience participation dancing

and more food - including the plate of fish

oh man - it was good!  But it was a lot...
Then more dancers, accompanied by

our favorite singer (Lesley) who did a duet with the MC.

Then some information about the relief efforts in the Philippines.  The person on the right of the stage  just got through sharing about his time there a few weeks ago.

He is an MD and went to help.  He took a lot of pictures of the devastation which is hard to comprehend.  An update this morning on USA Today indicates the total dead has risen to 6,009 people.  Can not relate to this.  I was not in NYC when 9/11 happened.  We went to New Orleans a couple of years ago but the rebuilding is well underway after Katrina hit.  Unless you see first hand something like this, "what looked like a war zone", are words that are hard to get a grasp of.

Next, he the Executive Director (at the microphone on stage) had a few words about My Refuge House.  Simply stated, My Refuge House is a non-profit ministry in the Philippines that provides a safe home to empower and restore survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and abuse.

Part of the funds raised are going to My Refuge House which sustained some damage.  The rest of the funds will go to survivor kits/baskets and  the girls in My Refuge House are providing to people farther north that were more severely affected by the disaster.

It was a great evening and a great cause to support.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...