The Charlestown Mothers Association (CMA) has announced they will take their annual November online due to COVID-19 restrictions against gatherings, dubbing it the No-Show Gala 2020.
Instead, organizers Kari Cavanagh and Erica Haydock said they would be holding online fundraising and a live raffle pull event online Nov. 21.
“It’s going to be virtual this year,” said Cavanagh. “As much as we love getting together, the pandemic has changed our ability to do that. We are going to be having an online platform open from Nov. 15 until Nov. 21. On that platform, you can purchase raffle tickets or make donations. Then on Nov. 21, at the end of the day, we’ll draw the winners online.”
Haydock said there would be no sort of Zoom gala, but they believe some of the raffle basket themes are going to be fun and desirable.
“Our grand prize is going to be the new Peloton,” she said. “They just came out with the updated version. Also, there is a kid’s bike that will be part of that so a parent and kids can exercise together.”
There are also Escape the City packages, and a Home Organizing package where a professional organizers comes in to help get things in order – all of those and more baskets are available in the raffle.
“One of our popular fundraising events at the gala is the baskets we have,” said Cavanagh. “This year the raffle is going to have themed baskets we’re putting together. We’re thinking about what people want and can use right now at home and social distancing. We’ve come up with some good themes.”
Haydock said the gala is still very important this year. Even though there are fewer events, they still want to be able to fund scholarships and other activities that continue on.
“We feel the things we came up with this year to fundraise are things people could use at this time,” she said. “This is our one and only fundraiser of the year and all of our events are funded by it. We had a very successful gala last year and we haven’t put on as many events as we have in the past, but we still need funds to do thing we do in the Town like college scholarships and working with the non-profits. And hopefully in the spring we might be able to have an event.”
Some of the things they did through COVID included the scholarships, but also art kits for children, gift cards to the Ronald McDonald House, and food deliveries for first responders.
“There’s a lot we continued to do through COVID-19,” said Cavanagh. “They might not have been as visible as our past event, but they helped bring the community together.”
Look for more details in the coming weeks about the CMA Gala, as those details become available.