Our Plans for the 6th annual “Mountain High” Mardi Gras Gala are underway!  This festive and colorful dinner/auction community event is our biggest fund-raiser of the season and last year’s Gala set the stage for a successful and fabulous evening.   The 2008 Gala will take place on February 2nd  from 5 to 11 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Non-Profit Center (Parasol Building) in Incline Village.  Invitations are on the way this week! The Money that we raise at this event will be applied to our annual operating budget.  Our fundraising events are extremely important as the tuition collected every year covers only half of our annual expenses.  Therefore, it is our team goal to raise sixty thousand dollars at this event.On that note, we are eagerly asking for help procuring auction items. We are asking every DPSEF family to help with procurement ~~ Use your creativity!  Ask a friend or business owner you know to consider contributing either a live or silent auction item.  Personal donations could include gift baskets, services you can provide, items or certificates you own but have never used, etc.  We are in serious need of items that we can use for our live auction.  These would be items such as trips, adventures, or big-ticket items.  At this point procurement of items for this event is very low.  The Silent and Live Auction is where we make the major portion of our proceeds.  HELP!!! If we all lend a hand this event will be a huge success.  Lets all set a goal to identify at least 5 businesses and/or families that you contact on our team’s behalf.  The solicitation committee will keep a central list so that we can avoid duplicating requests to the same potential donors.  Please inform me with both your contacts and people you would like the committee to follow up with.  You can contact me at jhoffsweet@aol.com or 925-368-5579 with questions or your donor contacts. You can also help in these ways:* Attending our Event (please consider having your family or business host a table)* Donating to our Auction * Contributing as an Angel Donor which helps purchase necessary items for our coaches Finally, and very importantly, we are looking for volunteers who want to do some “fun-raising!”  Talent Squad parents – this is a great way to get to know others on the ski team.  We need help in the following areas to make this event a success:*Solicitation committee (we need this right away!)*Publicity and Advertisement Sales*Food Committee*Decoration committee*Auction Preparation*Set-up, Clean up*Ticket Sales *Auction Helpers*“Thank-you” lettersThis is a great way to earn your volunteer hours, and have fun while you’re at it!  These various tasks are done prior, during, and after the event.  We have had very few parents step up to help with this event……Contact me if you can help in any way ~ we really need it! Thanks in advance for all your help!Julie HoffFundraising Chairjhoffsweet@aol.com 925-368-5579