May has been and gone, and it is fair to say that thanks to some hard work, inventive thinking, and much generosity of spirit, our ‘One Day in May’ campaign was a success!
As well as fundraising, ‘One Day in May’ was launched in an effort to gain a wider audience for Lotus Lives, and to hopefully forge more links with people around the world.
Proceedings got underway on the 1st, with the opening of our online ‘arts and crafts’ auction on Facebook – the brainchild of Jess Beeley, aka Bettyoctopus (www.bettyoctopus.com), of Limerick, Ireland. Jess set up the auction and invited people from the arts and crafts world to take part. A colourful collection of items were donated and much ‘bidding’ took place. A big thank you to all who bid on the items, and to the following for their kind donations; Nice Day Designs, Sparkle and Glitter with Rachel, Simone Frick of Greeneyedspirit Photography, Ann Byrne of Bad Dream Dolls, Eve Beeley, Charlie Hopgood of Hopgood Home Crafts, Sunshine and Snowdrops, Ger O’Dowd of Ger-Knits, Aisling Davis, Linda Allen, Photography for Little People Glasgow, and Cliona Quigley of PrintIsDead. And of course a big thanks to Jess for organising it all!
A little way across the pond in England, Michael and Bernadette Barrett spent a day at the famous, Banks car boot sale in Southport. They managed to sell most of their old junk… I mean, ahem, quality items… and made a small profit, as well as avoiding the rain. No mean feat that in the North West. In Vienna, Austria, their elder sister, Bridget, spent her first day of May fasting. She took the money she would’ve spent on food that day, and donated it to Lotus Lives, along with the accumulation of all her loose change from the entire month.
On the other side of the world, in Melbourne, Australia, Beth Goodwin and Marie Robineau put their book-trade experience and artistic talents to good use. They handmade a variety of special Lotus Lives bookmarks, and then sold these throughout the month to friends, colleagues, and to anyone else they could persuade. Such was the quality of these bookmarks I heard, that little persuasion was needed! A novel idea indeed (sorry).
Back in Europe, in the village of La Houssaye en Brie, just outside of Paris, Julia Poirier set up a stall at the local market. She spent hours baking up a veritable feast of sweet treats, and making jars of homemade jams to tempt the customers. Helped on the day by her mother Nicole Poirier, and her friend Lindsey Gibson from London, they managed to sell everything! Lucky Lotus Lives, and lucky customers!
In the south of France, in the wonderful city of Toulouse, Elaine O’Dea and Martin Charpy took up the challenge. Elaine asked her boss Trevor Brennan of the De Danú pub, if they could do something, and he kindly agreed. They put up posters advertising ‘One Day’ and then raffled off two rugby balls that Trevor had collected - signed and donated by the Toulouse Rugby team! They also had a collection point (in the shape of a Cambodian elephant, made by Martin) on the bar for Elaine and Martin’s ‘Carrot Challenge’. This is a little complicated to explain right now, but let’s just say that I hope for their sakes they didn’t collect too much money in the elephant! As if that wasn’t enough, Martin also made a special lunch for his work colleagues one day, which they all paid for instead of their usual lunches, with the money going to Lotus Lives. No carrots were present in the lunches.
And so, that is it for our first ever ‘One Day in May’ campaign. We hope you have enjoyed being involved as much as we have enjoyed your input. A lot of work has been put in by everyone, and it is greatly appreciated. A massive thank you to everybody mentioned here, and to all those that have supported the events! Also, thank you to those that have supported ‘One Day in May’ by making private donations through our website! Please stay in touch with us for news of future events, and remember we are always open to any fundraising suggestions, help, or ideas throughout the year.
Thank you all very much!
Lotus Lives
One Day in May is now an event on Facebook so you can pass the information on to your family and friends: 
