I wanted to do an update to last week’s blog on the Boise International Market (BIM). If any of you have visited the GoFundMe page that was started for the families, you’ve seen that the Boise community raised more than the $50,000 goal in just a few days. It was decided that the funds would be distributed equally among the families and per the last update, 90% of the funds had already been distributed.
Last Friday they held a ‘4th Friday on the Bench’ event which hosted food trucks, live music and dancing, artisan goods and international restaurants. The event went really well and there was a fantastic turnout. Since the vendors had lost everything in the fire, they asked for donations of tables, umbrellas, chairs and items for a Silent Auction. As you can see if the pictures below, several people donated and this helped make the event a success.
Shortly before 6:00 I received a text from a friend stating that she’d left because it was too hot and crowded for her boyfriend’s parents. I was excited, as the crowd meant the event was already a big hit. I arrived a few minutes later, after picking up another friend, and we were lucky to find a decent parking spot. The rest of our friends arrived a little later and we walked around to peruse the food trucks and decide what we wanted to eat. I opted for spaghetti, and the others got Hawaiian, Columbian empanadas, and Ethiopian food. There weren’t quite enough chairs, so we stood around a table and ate our food. Everyone was commenting on how well the event had come together and how many people had showed up.
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Idaho Central Credit Union was there accepting donations for the BIM families.
After we finished eating we walked around and looked at the artisan booths.
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Then we ventured over to the Silent Auction. While we didn’t buy anything from the artisan booths, I did bid on a beauty basket, which I ended up winning at the end of the night.
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After viewing the Silent Auction items, we stopped and enjoyed the music and dancers. I have to say, I’ve always been amazed by belly dancers-I’ve never been able to move my hips and stomach like that!
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My friends and I had a wonderful time and were glad that it had been such a successful event. We left full and happy. I hope they continue to have events like this as they rebuild.
For more information about the market: http://www.boiseinternationalmarket.com/
To donate or to read the amazing comments from the local community: https://www.gofundme.com/BMIFamily-Fund/
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