I discovered this great charity over a year ago and I decided to attend their holiday fundraiser last year with my BFF. I had such a great time, I vowed to attend again this year and that is exactly what I did.
This year, not only did they celebrate their holiday fundraiser but also their 15 year anniversary. This event took place on Saturday, December 4, 7pm in downtown Silver Spring, MD. My roommate, 3 friends, and I arrived at 8:30. The attendees appeared to have doubled from last year (approx. 200 this year vs. 100 last year). The minimum suggested donation was $50 but if you donated $100 or more, you received a Sjaak's box of assorted vegan chocolates. These chocolates are very delicious and gourmet tasting! We combined the donations to take advantage of this offer. Since there was 5 of us that attended, we donated $250 and received 2 boxes of these chocolates.
Sjaak's chocloates (gift with $100 donation)
The event included an all you can eat vegan buffet and all you can drink (alcohol and non-alcohol). I have to mention that their vegan buffet selection was half that of last year's. I'm not sure why this was. I was little disappointed in that aspect since the majority of the offerings consisted of meat alternatives and I don't particularly care much for those. There was vegan chicken and meatloaf. There was a variety of veggie sushi rolls but we arrived too late for that. There was also hummous and pita.
'Chicken'
'Meatloaf'
Hummous and Pita
Pasta
The dessert assortment was not disappointing. There was dessert from Bakeshop, Dama Bakery, and another place I'm unsure of, where their large anniversary cake came from. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention the great chocolate fondue bar, which included fruits and cookies to dip in the melted dark chocolate.
One of the volunteers brought about 3 bowl-fuls of these chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate fondue
Damas Bakery's moist chocolate cake
Bakeshop's assortment of cupcakes
Anniversary cake
The speakers and presentations were both entertaining and touching and did not disappoint. Wendy Rieger, an anchorwoman, from NBC4 spoke. She mentioned doing stories of animal cruelty and the public's increasing awareness of it. Stated that with technology, people have been empowered with exposing more of the truth and that this was very important. Document everything with video and upload it to the Internet. Create an uproar and outrage and the media WILL follow!
Another great speaker was Carol Leifer, a vegan comedian, author, and writer for Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She had some funny jokes and mentioned how they have 6 rescue dogs and a couple rescue cats. A funny thing I remember her saying is that she saw someone wearing a t-shirt that said, 'Over the limit, but not a hoarder.' Haha!
The COK staff put together a presentation for their year in review, which included their accomplishments. One major accomplishment included having a restaurant chain, Freshii, commit to offering vegan meat alternatives in their burritos (vegan chicken and steak). It also showed some photos of animals in inhumane conditions, which is always a tearjerker.
A fun thing the staff does is come up with the top 3 best love and hate emails to read to the audience. The love-hate emails were read out loud alternatively. A female staff member read the love emails and a male staff member read the hate emails. A video of one of the 'love' emails being read out loud is below...
Update: Still trying to figure out how to upload this video (it's a very large file).
I wish I would have recorded at least one of the hate emails. The guy who read it got into character so it was very entertaining although the actual emails itself were very infuriating to hear (the sheer ignorance and hate of some people is just disgusting -- the staff says those types of letters simply motivate them to work harder :)). The hate emails included how farmers actually treat their animals so well, even better than family pets. Also, if animals weren't meant to be eaten, then why did they evolve to taste so good and why can't they be smart and strong enough to pry themselves from their cages. And have we ever heard of something called the food chain? Humans didn't get to be so smart just so we could eat tofu. Oh and how they hope we would all just drop dead. WOW! Again, the sheer stupidity of some people is just so frustrating!
One of the best part of the event is the silent auction. I ended up 'winning' a basket of goods last year, which consisted of 'Skinny Bastard' (a spin off of 'Skinny Bitch'). These books are HILARIOUS!! I really wanted my ex-bf to read it and he did end up reading a few pages but eventually gave up (as he did most things...sigh). The basket also consisted of a few vegan candy bars and a vegan powder supplement for men, which I ended up giving away.
UNFORTUNATELY, by the time I made my way to the silent auction, they announced it would be ending in 5 minutes and so I didn't have time to bid on anything. I was in the middle of writing in a bid when the sheet was pulled away from me :( They said my bid wouldn't count. When we arrived, we immediately began eating and during eating, the speakers and presentations began and so I wanted to wait until that ended before I went to the middle of the room to bid, however they ended the auction right after the speakers. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed but I did take note of the stuff I was interested in so I could look it up on the Internet to purchase on my own. There was these beautiful, touching art prints I had my eye on. Amanda Moeckel created these (click on 'galleries,' then 'liberation'). Today, I emailed her asking for a quote on these two prints...
'Dont Forget Me'
'The One Forgotten'
Silent auction items
Very cute centerpieces also included in the silent auction
Something seems a bit wrong with my camera as it makes the room looks more expanded and longer than in reality. Although, this will give you an idea about the number of attendees.
My friends and I :)
