Fundraising Lunch — Success!

If you've been by the Sangha at all in the last couple of months, you've probably noticed the various color changes that the walls around the courtyard have undergone. Each iteration is getting it closer to the final "Italian Piazza" look that the overall remodeling project is aiming for. (I think the wall behind David in this picture is the final color, but don't quote me on that. Click any of the pictures for a larger version.)

This past Sunday, after service, we had a fundraising lunch to help us move ahead with the next phase of things. The courtyard is going to get repaved, and there's a lot that needs to be done for that before we get our California approximations of winter and rains. Attendance was excellent, filling up the tables in the courtyard and completely cleaning out the Buca di Beppo catered lunch, right down to the tiramisu.

Frank and Dambara treated us to some Italy-themed music of Swami's, complete with mandolin accompaniment. The final song was "Napoli" (a.k.a. "the la la la la la la la la song"), towards the end of which, Dambara called out "I dare you to dance!" Never ones to resist such a challenge, Graham and Cheryl promptly leapt up and did a couple polka circuits of the less-crowded section of the courtyard. Well, somebody had to, right? :-)

Alright. Food: check; music and dancing: check. But how was the fundraising? Well, after some inspiring talks from David and Asha, it turned out that we raised double (yes, that's "double" with a "2") the target amount for this phase of the project! Jai guru and well done gurubhais!