Travels in Eire #69

Days were flying by and Cailin was now busier than she had planned with trying to make arrangements for the upcoming wedding and manage her research work, and now this new venture of women's meetings. The first few were small, but as news about this group spread from each of those attending, the group was now at 15 young women. They came from all walks of life, mostly professional, some para-professional but nonetheless, a nice group of women. There were times when a smaller group would decide to get together for dinner or drinks, feeling strength in numbers at a bar. Other times, the whole group would meet for a day's outing. They decided as a group to call themselves “Girls On The Town” (GOTT) to show their independent strength. One of the girls worked in a fabric shop and did a lot of sewing. At one meeting she brought all the girls pretty red and white printed satin scarves that matched. It would identify them as the group. She had appliqued in the GOTT initials in each scarf.

Darren was busy most evenings now with some fund raisers he was organizing and Cailin had convinced the group to have one of their evenings out at a festival in the park. Not only could Cailin be with Darren when he was working, but she was able to introduce some of the girls to the musicians that were performing that night. The girls loved that and as a group all donated a nice amount to the hospital charity in the group name. They loved it when Darren got up on stage to announce that the group Girls On The Town donated to the charity identifying them as the girls with the red and white scarves. The girls all proudly smiled and giggled with the recognition as they were acknowledged.

At one of their meetings Cailin brought up the idea of choosing a charity to support. They could even choose a different charity each year. Emily, one of the members told about the hospice where she worked and they all agreed that would be the first organization they would help. Each of the girls had an assignment. Cailin stayed in the background as the group organizer and let the girls take the lead. Before she knew it there was an article in the Derry Journal about GOTT and how they were raising fund for this hospice.

The girls had decided to band together and make a quilt for the hospice to hang in their entryway. Funds would be raised by purchasing a square in the quilt with recognition in the square as a donor. Rebecca, who worked in the fabric shop and had made the scarves agreed to sew the majority of the quilt and help teach others how to make some of the squares.

Between their contacts and hard work, their first fund raiser was a success. The hospice used the money to purchase new furniture for the great room that was used when families came to visit. Until then it was all hand me downs. They were also able to afford to paint the room and give it a nice fresh welcoming look with the quilt hanging on the wall of the room instead of the entryway.

After Cailin told Darren what they had done, Darren offered a partnership between the hospital and GOTT. The hospital would provide marketing and publicity and GOTT could help with fund raising efforts for the hospital. Cailin took this idea to the group. Since most all of them had been to the festival, they agreed that this partnership would work out wonderfully. Cailin had made some new friends and was now feeling more a part of the Derry community.