Team Sparkling

Every summer our organization had an intern in the fundraising department. They would help with database entry, gift acknowledgements, and event preparation for about 15-20 hours a week, and it culminated in working the gala weekend in August before they returned to school.

In my second year at this organization, with the second gala looming, I was now on my fourth intern. I remember taking my intern to the hotel with me for a walk-through of the space, and introducing her to the event concierge at the hotel. The three of us spent a decent amount of time together making decisions about the space. At one point, I was so meta-stressed (stressed that I was stressed) about the event that I asked the same question three times.

On the night of the event, everything was (surprisingly) going smoothly but it was evident that I was without sleep and a little frazzled. The live auction was just starting when the hotel event concierge came up to me and handed me a paper coffee cup. I smiled and said “Oh no thank you, I don’t think I can take an extra cup of anxiety”. He handed the cup to me and winked before walking away to talk to the chef.

I took a sip and almost spit it out in surprise. It was a paper coffee cup of straight CHAMPAGNE. (I hid my reaction by turning around and pretending to talk into my headset.)

After an excruciating 20 minutes the live auction was over and we had reached our goal! Quickly moving into the after party set up, I turned to see my INTERN behind me with another paper coffee cup. She handed it to me quickly and said “Need a refill? I laughed so hard. Here was my college intern, handing ME a cup of champagne.

That was my favorite moment of the night - the moment I realized that despite the extreme pressure of the event making or breaking our salaries, I had an awesome team there supporting me.

I now work for a different organization, but I still think of them when I open a bottle of something sparkling.

- Samantha

Texas