Last night’s 2nd Annual Eclectafundraiser is in the can and, in my opinion, it simply could not have gone better. We had well over 100 folks come by, the beer lasted until the very end, and we didn’t run out of Eclectagrog beer glasses to give away.
Oh, yeah. This happened, too:
Yes, history was made when, after being crowned “The Dean of Twitter” and bedecked with a custom-made stoll, the legendary John Dingell read 11 of his most hilarious tweets. He nailed it and made them even more entertaining by providing a little commentary with most of them.
Here are some of Anne’s photos of the event. We hope to have video up tomorrow so that those of you who weren’t able to attend can enjoy John Dingell’s Tweet reading. You won’t want to miss it.
l-r, Brian Greminger (our videographer), Matt Greff (co-owner of the ABC Microbrewery), Roger Kerson of RK Communications, Laura Packard of PowerThru Consulting, EMU College of Education professor and activist Steve Wellinski, ACLU journalist Curt Guyette, Wayne State University professor and activist Thomas Pedroni, David Haener. Seated are Lynn (@wavingcrosser) and Walter Luke and Harvey Somers
Packed house!
Getting ready for the main event
Introducing a legend
Another resume item for self-described “Private Citizen” John Dingell: “Dean of Twitter”
Rene and Matt Greff, our hosts for the evening
Eclectabloggers Amy Lynn Smith and Tony Trupiano along with Bobby McKenzie
Private Citizen John Dingell with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell
Introducing Team Eclectablog
With Eclectablogger Amy Lynn Smith
Some of Team Eclectablog. l to r: LOLGOP, Charles Gaba, moi, Amy Lynn Smith, and Tony Trupiano
Rene Greff, the Dean of Twitter, and Matt Greff
Some of the swag we raffled off – some of Anne’s photos printed on canvas
Another big part of the evening, of course, was the amount of financial support we received from the event. In addition to the donations people gave at the door, many in excess of the suggested donation of $25, we were blessed with many generous sponsors:
BRONZE LEVEL SPONSORS – $250
- Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan
- Zack Pohl
- Doug and Joanna Scott
- Clean Water Action
- DiSano Strategies
- ACLU of Michigan
- Michigan Democratic Party
- AFT Michigan
- RK Communications
- 12th Congressional District Democratic Organization
- Save Michigan Public Schools
SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS – $500
- Michigan Nurses Association
- Michigan AFL-CIO
- Matt and Rene Greff – Arbor Brewing Company
GOLD LEVEL SPONSOR – $1,000
- Progress Michigan
- AFSCME
PLATINUM LEVEL SPONSOR – $2,500
- American Federation of Teachers (national)
Finally, I’d like to personally thank Terry Williams, Barb Fuller, and Susie & Rick Catherman who staffed the check-in desk, sold t-shirts, and handed out Eclectagrog glasses. Thanks, too, to our videographer Brian Greminger who did an incredibly professional job. Finally, a big shout-out to Kelly Tebay who helped Anne make these oh-so-perfect-for-the-event cupcakes:
Once again, a big thanks to everyone who came to the party and/or contributed financially. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, we’ll have our third quarter fundraiser coming up in a couple of weeks and we invite you to help support what we do here, as well.
