The unMasquerade Ball

There's something about the date April 21st, 2018 that will be forever a pivotal moment in my life.


"If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else." ~ Booker T. Washington

I love volunteering and seeing an impact on the community. I for a long time have wanted to give back to the community. So after Jasper passed away and I had volunteered with Horse-N-Around TRC, I came up with The Jasper Tree.

Jasper was the most amazing little boy there ever was in a wheelchair. He absolutely lifted me up every day. I loved that little guy more than everyone that has ever been in my life. He is the inspiration for my giving back. 

My friends, Travis and Anna, have a family and they had a little boy with peds cancer. I went to them and said hey, I would like to help bring light to your struggles and create an event to honor them. Well, I have always wanted to go to a masquerade ball and by hell, I was going to create one. I had done an amazing amount of footwork and handshaking, just getting things done in a couple months. I put together a committee and met with venues. I did a lot of work. I had a friend that helped with promotions, we made a promo-video and it was fun.

Well before the event was to happen their son passed away after a hard fight. I felt deeply for them and I asked them, would it be alright to continue this as a celebration of TJ's life and bring awareness.

They said yes that would be perfectly fine. I named the event, The Un-Masquerade Ball. I went all over, made phone calls and sent emails collecting prizes and gift cards for this event. I wanted to show I was creative and a hard worker for something that I believed in. There was so much drama around the building of this event. I originally wanted the event to be held at Loft and Cellar but they were playing hardball and pulled the reservation date out from under me. So we went to Tilt on Trade. The owner of Tilt was under the impression that my event was a Chive Charities event but it was a TJ's Team and the Jasper Tree event with support from the Chive.

It had been hijacked. I was so frustrated that I wasn't being given just credit. I just wanted to be taken seriously by people for helping others. 

The promo-videos were pretty cool and led by a very talented ex-friend but the committee didn't like them or the host I had picked. Well, I went ahead with all that anyways. They had a problem that he said somethings about Charlotte that were unflattering at the time those rent-a-bikes were all over the place that struck a nerve. I thought it was funny. We had superhero decorations, masks, a spiderman, and fancy outfits. A good time was had by all. It was so amazing there was drama and money being raised for the families at St. Jude, where the families don't pay for services and money is raised and donated. We helped 4 families and I felt very honored to have helped. The auctioneer became sick before the event and we had an amazing impromptu auctioneer/ cowboy step in. He was funny and was on fire. The Dj was lit and we played a game where people could donate to hear a song or even not hear a certain song. It was a hit. 

That whole process was pretty stressful. I cried that night and decompressed all the tension that was building up inside. I cried for joy that it went off so well. 

Well was that the end of the masquerade ball, nope! The next year in 2019, we did it again that April but I wasn't included in the details. They went off the path and did a Mardi Gras theme, in April.

I was so infatuated with trying to change the theme. It was horrible to think of  Mardi Gras in April, gag!!! The committee stayed with that theme and I even brought in some marketing guns to help that they didn't utilize to their best abilities. I was not happy with the way this was going. I felt it was going in the wrong direction but I wanted to support it still. They raised the ticket prices after a year of it being an event. This was clearly a mistake because we need bodies to bid and have fun and it was clearly an event that needed to blossom. I felt very hurt that I wasn't included and that I had to ask to help. The event wasn't as successful as the year before, fewer bodies and more things to bid on even with an online auction. I just felt slighted as the year before. I wanted to part ways after this past one but I thought, I should check on this year's event. Wrong, I was wrong again. They already had wheels in motion to move it out of Charlotte and have an open bar. I suggested that I could help find a venue in Charlotte. Then I asked for advice about helping them and I got a don't do it. So I stopped.

I was hoping for something fun and amazing to come out of this. I still have that hope just it's a little dimmer.

The Jasper Tree is poised to raise funds for special needs children's programs that help families in need. I want to throw really great events and parties and this helped me prove to myself that my heart is in the right place. It just needs to stay focused on the families at the heart of this organization.

Fighting for pediatric cancer research is important but I don't have a horse in the race so to speak. I am proud I could create something special for a family to use as a vehicle for their voice and the voices of children who have no voice. 

In regards to the quote, I lifted up the Anderson's to help their mission and I felt blessed. I needed to write this as a way to explain or vent how I felt. I know giving to the community isn't about recognition but when one is trying to be taken seriously it was important to me at the time. I love giving back to the community and to those that I love.