Boosters

Here’s a HUGE community outreach opportunity everyone can get behind:  The Loft Stage is working with Beyond the Yellow Ribbon  (BTYR) of Woodbury and Cottage Grove to support deployed service members.  At each White Christmas performance, BTYR will be present collecting donations to package and ship to our men and women in the service.  As you prepare for the big show, remember to bring a donation and make the holidays a little brighter for our troops far from home.

Here’s a list of items BTYR is hoping to collect:

• Vacuum sealed home baked treats
• Jerky
• Gatorade/PowerAde drink mix packets
• Ground coffee/ Starbucks, Caribou
• Protein bars
• Instant soups
• Gum
• Nuts
• Puzzle books
• Oatmeal packets
• Trail mix
• Chex mix
• Car magazines
• Hunting/sports magazines
• Lotion
• New movies
• Homemade Christmas cards the soldiers can use to send to their families

We’ve already received some great donations from families for the opening night Silent Auction, but we really could use more.  Here are the answers to all your Silent Auction questions:

Q:  Do I have to attend the Gala to bid on Silent Auction items?

A:  No.  All are welcome to check out the goods and place their bids.  Just sign up for a bidder number before you get started.

Q:  When do I know if I win and do I have to be present?

A:  Bidding closes five minutes before the end of intermission.  People can check their bids either before the show’s second half resumes or after the show is over.  We do prefer you pay for and pick up your winnings that same night.

Q:  What sorts of donations are you still looking for?

A:  Everything and anything.  We still need people to ask retailers for donations.  Cash always works.  Or put together a theme basket.

Here are some ideas:

Gift Cards for stocking stuffers:

• Starbucks or Caribou
• Steepery/Tea Garden
• Sporting Goods Stores (Dick’s, Sports Authority, Golf Galaxy, etc.)
• Target (of course) and other local retailers
• Local restaurants (Woodbury, Hudson, Afton, Lake Elmo, etc.)
• Movie theatres

Local services:

• Heppners Auto Body
• Oil change
• Teeth whitening
• Manicures/pedicures
• Massage
• Hair salon services

Theme baskets such as:

• Italian dinner (noodles, sauce, cheese grinder, cookbook)
• Baking basket (baking pan, spatula, baking mix, cupcake liners, etc)
• Hostess basket: (lotions, holiday towels, fancy soaps, etc)
• Dog Lover’s basket (gift card to a pet supply store, toys, treats, copy of Old Yeller, etc)
• Family Movie Night—look for holiday, teenage, children’s, and/or comedy classics to create a theme, then add popcorn
• Slumber party basket (hair and nail supplies; makeup; curling wand; snacks; just about any John Hughes’ movie ever made)
• Family Game Night
• Wine lover’s basket
• Beer lover’s basket
• Chocolate lover’s basket
• Coffee lover’s basket
• Book lover’s Bestsellers basket
• College student homesickness survival kit

Q: Where should I drop off donations?

A: You have two options!
1.  Contact Kristy Martin (mnkristy@hotmail.com; 612-978-2264) or Pam Gotz (pjgotz@mmm.com; 651-324-8871) and they will pick up your donation from you
2.  Drop off at Kristy’s house: 8409 Marsh Creek Rd; Woodbury (bin outside of front door)

Q. When are donations due?

A. As soon as possible!  We will take donations up until Monday, November 19, but since we need to put together descriptions for the items, the sooner we receive them the better.

Of course, feel free to contact Kristy or Pam with any questions, and thanks again for your support of the Loft Stage’s largest fundraiser of the year!

As a member of the International Thespian Society’s Minnesota Chapter, East Ridge High School boasts an active Thespian Troupe.  Each year, students have an opportunity to attend the state student theatre festival that provides training, performance opportunities, connections to colleges, scholarship opportunities, and a chance to meet other student thespians from around Minnesota. Operated by The Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), The International Thespian Society (ITS) is the world’s largest honor program for students in theatre arts. Students earn membership by participating in the school’s theatre program and accumulating points. Those ERHS students earning membership are formally inducted into ITS at the end of the school year during the Theatre Banquet. For more than seventy-five years, EdTA and ITS have worked together to honor student achievement in theatre, strengthen theatre education experiences, support theatre teachers and reward program excellence, and encourage the public to view theatre education as an essential way to enrich student lives and build life skills. Check out this website for more information: http://schooltheatre.org/

True fact: Butter Braids sales is one of Loft Stage’s tastiest fundraising efforts. Get your orders in by the end of October for delivery by the holidays. Get some braids for yourself. Even better, sell them to friends, family, and neighbors and then casually invite yourself over for coffee and butter braids. That way, see, you can sample the goods, strengthen social bonds, and make money for your theatre program at the same time. Which would make you one smart cookie. As if that’s not amazing enough, students also can direct a portion of their fundraising profits into their own accounts for use on theatre-related expenditures, like fees, makeup kits, and tap shoes, AND on LoftPAC trips to shows like Billy Elliot, AND PLUS even the big TRIP TO LONDON. Sweet!

Family of cast and crew can pre-order tickets to White Christmas starting October 15th.  Do yourself a favor and get ’em while they’re hot, because on October 26th the general public will be snatching them up at warp speed.