Another Power of the Purse is in the bag (so to speak!)

Last year, so many of you seemed to enjoy my photos from our local community foundation's purse-themed fundraiser, the Power of the Purse, that I thought I'd share some photos of the latest event, which was held last Thursday. Our event photographer took the "official" photos during the event itself, so I don't have any of our speaker, Minda Dentler, but she was the first woman handcyclist to complete the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. She was absolutely amazing and left us all in tears! Born in India, she developed polio as an infant, and as a result, both her legs were paralyzed. Although she was left in an orphanage, she was later adopted by a US family and came here at age 3, eventually having surgery and learning to walk with the help of crutches. She told of growing up in an athletic family and of her journey to the Ironman competition. I'm pretty sure every woman (and a few men!) in the room left feeling quite motivated!

This event benefits the Coweta Community Foundation's Women's and Children's Fund, and since it's called "Power of the Purse," purses are used in the theme and decor. This year, they had a fun oversized purse that lots of folks posed with, including my friends Phil and Monica.

Monica, by the way, is our local balloon whiz, and look what she designed for this event! Foundation board members Mike and Will were good sports and agreed to pose with the balloon purse when I told them prior to the lunch that I needed some people to stand next to it to show the size. I told Monica that, once again, I'm so impressed with her creative work, and she said she'd just gotten back from "balloon university." (Who knew?)

Our luncheon meal this year consisted of a lovely salad plate and …

Cupcakes with fondant purses on them!

Of course, the *real* purses are always quite the draw, and this isn't even half of the ones that were in this year's amazing Silent Auction.

If I had deeper pockets, I would have bid on the Tiffany package ...

... or perhaps the Chanel package. (Maybe after I write that best seller!)

The other fun part of this event is that the Foundation annually names a "Woman of the Year," and this year it was my friend Nancy (turns out I have a lot of friends named Nancy!), who is a tireless advocate in the fight against pancreatic cancer. I was thrilled to see her recognized for her hard work. It was another fun event for a great cause, and I was so honored to get to be a part of it.