PHCruise2008. Party with a Purpose! Wow, what a fabulous Easter Egg!!!!!!!!! Kudos to all involved in such a fantastic effort! Hi cruisers, Wow, the real world isn't as much fun as our life at sea! It's taken a little while to finish all of the accounting for the cruise, but we've finally arrived at a total. We had an ambitious goal to exceed Parrothead Cruise 2007 by raising over $45,000. After totaling all of the income and deducting all of the expenses of producing the event, we did even better than that. I'm humbled and proud to announce that Parrothead Cruise 2008 raised $56,905 for Breast Cancer Research!!! Thank you to all of you for everything you did to help up reach such a terrific amount. It was truly a party with a purpose. The creativity and generosity of Parrotheads is extraordinary. I'd like to call out just a few of the more spectacular and unusual ways we ended up with our total: + The Chinese Auction contributed $1545 to get us off to a flying start. + The 50/50 Raffle raised $1500. + The Silent Auction was phenomenally successful. Thanks to all of the great donations and bids we brought in over $13,000. + A tremendous thank you is due to Alan Tate, Steve and Landa Bosley, Bob Scarboro, Gail O'Halloran, Sharyn Hill-Filteau and Shurl Gates for opening their hearts and checkbooks at the Live Auction. They combined for $5950 bid on the signed guitar, surfboard, Kenny Chesney Hat, 10th Anniversary CD collection and the Cabana Boy services of Scott Sperber! Special thanks to Scott for donating himself for the cause. + Toenail painting has gone from a fun tradition to a serious fundraiser. The Toe Hoes brought in $2222! + What can be said about the The Great Shave Off? Here's where your creativity, generosity and slight insanity really demonstrate how we Party with a Purpose. The sacrificed moustaches and shaved heads brought in over $2250! + Wasted Away in Margaritaville was more than just an amazingly good time: Charlotte Lanier's careful negotiations and planning led to a $3175 surplus donated to the cruise charity. + Paul Palonsky was crowned Champion of the Parrothead Poker Tournament, which added $360 to our total.. + Gail O'Halloran hand made those fantastic totebags to sell aboard to pitch in for the cause, and donated $2500 in proceeds! +The onboard raffle was new this year, and it was a huge hit. A $20 ticket won Susie Johnson a balcony stateroom for two on Parrothead Cruise 2009! Of course, Susie like many of you bought much more than one ticket. So much in fact that we sold over $5700 worth! Thanks again to Shurl Gates and Rock and Roll Joe for coming up with the idea and really running with it. There were many, many more examples of friends and strangers contributing in ways large and small. This is all added to the funds contributed by our cruise agents, who rebate a portion of their commission plus some incentives given by the cruise line to our cause. My heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone who contributed their time, talent and treasure during our week in the sun. The monies will be donated to Breast Cancer Research and Awareness charities that the Atlanta Parrot Head Club has longstanding histories with. I'm looking forward to presenting the big checks (literally and figuratively) on behalf of all of us. Thank you again for a fantastic Trip Around the Sun. Fins up, Brent Jones Atlanta PHC =20 Awesome stuff gang...makes ya feel proud to be a Parrot Head!