Elvis liked steak. Maybe you should be like Elvis.

I know, I know. You can't be bought with promises of yummy food. Or can you?

I figure I should use this posting to plug something important...not that every post isn't important. It is. That's not me being arrogant. I'm not saying I'm important. But what I talk about is. The people I meet are. The people I'm trying to get you to help are. And, because of that, the topic of this post is to.

Before I move into it I should tell you to stop judging my use of a connective conjunction at the beginning of that last sentence. You can thank the Anglo-Saxons for my laziness. I already have. Tell them I said, "hey." And go ahead and ignore the misuse of a comma immediately following. In fact, forget that whole sentence.

Moving on...

We're in the final stages of planning our annual banquet. You may have heard about it. I've been talking about it pretty non-stop for a while now. For reference, please read Mother is the name for God and It's all in the paperwork. Basically it's an annual event where we get all of our donors, friends, family, affiliates, partners, and volunteers in one room and celebrate the positive change we've helped affect in the last year. It's also an opportunity for us to make some money.

I'm not going to lie to you. We need it. Unlike a lot of other charities, we run ENTIRELY off of donations alone. No government assistance here, thank you very much. It's kind of incredible when you start looking at expenses. It costs us a little more than $15 per homeless person, per day to make our shelter run. That doesn't include repairs, staff, insurance, campaigns, and a lengthly list of other things that I NEVER would have thought of if I didn't do this stuff every day. It's one well oiled and EXPENSIVE machine we've got goin' on down here. So I have no problems being shameless when I say that we need donations.

It's a big plus that we have gone out of our way to entertain our guests at the banquet. In fact, we are often asked what kind of differences we have made in the lives of those we serve.

This is the part where I tell you to come to the banquet and see for yourself.

We'll not only have rehabilitated graduates from our LifeChange program, we'll have our current students in attendance as well. If that isn't enough, Kito Cinj will be performing. He's one of those incredible success stories we like to share. He went from the streets to our program to a successful, independent, functional life. He's pretty amazing, actually. Nicest guy around! Outstanding singer!

If I haven't convinced you yet I'll leave you with this last card at the poker table:

Cheesecake.

::steps back, feeling accomplished::

Head on over here for details and to register:

Bread Of Life Mission 2011 Annual Banquet

Go ahead. You know you want to.