Giving the time of her life

Ask anyone who’s really, really good at something how they do it and they’ll almost always say they don’t exactly know. They just started doing it because they thought it might be fun. Then, well, one thing led to another.

Thirty-five years ago, Doris Doyle of Falher, Alberta found her joie de vivre in fundraising. Having agreed to help raise money for charity work in Zaire, Africa, Doyle organized local children to perform in a music recital of sorts, and then invited their families to attend — with cash in hand.
The community came out in droves. They paid without complaint. It was fun and by all accounts a resounding success. So Doris did it again the next year, and the next, and the year after that.

Five years in, feeling encouraged, Doris was ready to ramp things up and localize the benefits. “Now I’m going to help my own,” she decided. “And I’m going to change it to galas!”

And so every year for the next 23 (through 2012), Doris, with the help of her committee of five like-minded women, would plan, recruit, organize, promote, stage and sell out a gala event that promised to be bigger than the last.

“Every year it would get fancier and more beautiful,” says Doris. “The meals were unbelievable, and the music!…the music was always local people. I think that’s why it attracted so many.”

How many? The grandest of all galas had upwards of 700 guests complete with a sit-down dinner. “I can’t even explain to you what it was like,” says Doris. Just talking about it makes her vibrate. There’s pure joy at knowing the scope of her contribution to the community, at helping others and remembering the fun in it.

“I know I gave hundreds of thousands of dollars, but never kept track. I was so happy to give it away. It was just plain fulfilling!”

It would seem that’s the real bottom line here. Getting people excited about something. Giving them a chance to give of themselves for a good cause. Celebrating the community’s talents and good fortune. Strengthening the community.

“I have to say I’m selfish,” said Doris. “I knew it was going to help somebody, of course — but I did it because I loved it. It was the best time of my life!”