Preparing for Hilarity for Charity, County Fair, 2019

Lots of wonderful updates! ENJOY! 

Adam Hamilton. Born January 21, 2019

I will be attending my 4th Hilarity for Charity (HFC) annual fundraiser in Los Angeles in 17 days!  I’m pumped up because I was unable to attend last year’s show due to a high-risk pregnancy and not allowed to travel. I’m pleased to announce that I had a very happy and healthy baby boy named Adam Hamilton. He was born January 21, 2019 and weighed 9lbs, 3oz. (Thank god for c-sections)! I am just loving him to pieces. Everyone else in the family is in love with him too. Now on to the good stuff regarding HFC.


 


















HFC’s goal is to raises awareness, inspires change, and accelerates the progress of Alzheimer's care, research, and support. View their website to learn more about the great work they do: https://hilarityforcharity.org

https://hilarityforcharity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/HFC-2018-Annual-Report-Digital.pdf

For the first time since becoming a 501c3, HFC released their annual report for 2018 to show donors what funds were raised and how they are being used. Take a peek! It’s filled with lots of goodness. 


In the HFC 2018 annual report readers can find the mission statement. which can be referred to as the C.E.A. Or if you line up the letters in another way, it could be called, A.C.E. This stands for the following:

Care-for families facing this disease

Educate-young people about living a brain healthy life 

Activate- the next generation of Alzheimer's Advocates

The 2018 annual report has strategic highlights such as partnering with Netflix where they showcased their 2018  fundraiser around the world. They hired Bonnie Wattles as the Executive Director. They awarded over 230,000 respite hours, met with members of the U.S. congress, started research studies for brain health and prevention, and launched the #ManyFacesOfAlzheimers. See my story at https://hilarityforcharity.org/stories/brooke-westlake-of-nevada/ Ironically, my story was shared 6 days prior to my late Grandma Bev's birthday. She would have turned 90.

My Rivet Revolution Bracelets with a photo of Grandma & I.

Lauren Miller- Rogen began conducting live Facebook chats. They partnered with Humble Bundle and raised $108,000 and then raised another $20,000 on Giving Tuesday. More than 725 Rivet Revolution bracelets were sold, of which 10% of all sales go back to HFC.  https://www.rivetrevolution.com  

Wearing my Rivet Revolution Bracelets

I have my Rivet Revolution bracelets in white, purple, dark red and a light brown. I love wearing them. Do you have yours? HFC also provided over $500,000 in care grants! (FREAKING awesome!). The report is fantastic and shares many other wonderful accomplishments. Please read it when you get the chance. https://hilarityforcharity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/HFC-2018-Annual-Report-Digital.pdf

Now, let’s talk about this year’s HFC fundraiser. Hilarity for Charity has a theme each year for their annual fundraiser. I have been to prom (2014), James Franco's Bar Mitzvah (2015), and a Halloween costume party (2016). This year's theme is "The County Fair". Watch Seth's promo reel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh_FaIgsbbE


I love this theme because during the summers I spent with Grandma Bev in Oregon she and I attended several county fairs. In 1989, she took me to Terrebonne, Oregon's annual "Good Earth Day". In essence it was a local county fair of sorts. It had carnival rides, games, food and competitions. Being that this blog is dedicated to my late Grandma Bev, who passed away from Alzheimer's in 2012, I couldn't help but be reminded of those wonderful times that her and I shared.

Juniper Breeze Newspaper. August 23, 1989

Well, readers, you are in luck! I have a comical Good Earth Day story. The first time I attended the Terrebonne's Good Earth Day, my photo ended up in the local Juniper Breeze newspaper, on August 23, 1989

My photo was printed because I was the only girl able to climb a greased pole and touch the red flag at the top. I won $1 for doing this and was very proud of myself. Looking back now, I can't help but wonder who's idea it was to put a flag on top of a greased pole for children to try their luck at earning a dollar? I will let my readers come up with all the jokes and laughter about this. I have had some great laughs over this childhood event and memory. 

This write up regarding the "slippery pole" is very funny.

I also remember being in line with boys who were being boys. I was the only girl, and I remember them saying to me I wouldn't be able to make it up the pole because I was a girl, and because I was in a dress. I gladly accepted this challenge because I was very athletic. After touching the flag and earning my $1, those same boys were super annoyed while I walked away feeling very proud. More importantly, my grandma cheered me on and congratulated me on my win. 


The next day the local Juniper Breeze newspaper arrived at Grandma's house. She was standing in her driveway, and I heard her say, "Well, would you look at that!" I had no idea why grandma was excited so I rushed over to her. She handed me the newspaper with a big smile on her face.

I had other kid experiences with climbing poles. My favorite was climbing gym poles. Once on top, I would spin in circles, forward and backward. I can't imagine what that would to do my knees today. I also climbed Teether poles and swing poles where I would dangle from the top. Grandma Bev took some great photos of me playing on various poles in the school yard as a child. I am glad to say I found these photos and I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Photo By: Grandma Bev. Young Brooke and friend Desire, playing on gym poles at Long Valley Elementary School. Doyle, California-1989

The following year, Grandma Bev and I went to the Deschutes County Fair in Redmond, Oregon. I do not remember there being any greased poles for me to climb, but I did get to sit on the lap of a clown named "Gordo". Grandma snapped a photo of me and this became Grandma's Christmas card that was sent out to family and friends that year. 

Brooke sitting with "Gordo" the clown. Deschutes County Fair, Oregon-1990

My other funny childhood county fair story was when I won 3rd place lizard racing during Doyle Days, in California. Doyle Days is an annual festival held once a year during the summer. They have dancing at the Buck, a 5K race with a pancake breakfast, a parade, an outhouse race, and a lizard race. https://www.susanvillestuff.com/big-fun-in-south-county-at-annual-doyle-days-event-this-weekend/

Zombie, our Leopard Gecko Lizard.

To qualify for the lizard race, you had to bring your own lizard. Most people did not own a lizard, but around Doyle there are lots of wild blue belly lizards. As a child, I would catch blue belly lizards all the time, or I would rescue them from my cat, Duffy. Blue belly lizards are friendly and beautiful. To this day, I am still very fond of lizards. We have a pet Leopard Gecko lizard named Zombie. His markings are very striking and he very calm. He does not move very fast and just likes to be held. Plus, I did not have to catch him in the wild. He was purchased from an exotic animal shop that was closing. Zombie has a forever home with a nice tank and lots of crickets to eat. He is fat and happy. 

For the lizard race, we put the lizards in a long box that was divided by small wooden walls. We then used squirt guns to make the lizards run to the other side of the box.  I received a bright white 3rd place ribbon for my Lizard Racing victory but lost it later that day. I cherished that hard earned 3rd place ribbon, and I cried about losing the ribbon for several days. I did a google search to see if Doyle Days still existed. To my surprise it still does. On August 2, of this month, there was an article posted, titled "Doyle Days hosts World Famous Lizard Races this weekend": https://www.lassennews.com/doyle-days-hosts-world-famous-lizard-races-this-weekend/

 

Photo By: Grandma Bev. Young Brooke on top of a Teether Pole. Roger Corbette Elementary School. Reno, Nevada-1991

What makes me laugh about these life experiences is that I couldn't make them up even if I wanted to! I am forever grateful for these memories of my county fair experiences with Grandma Bev. I can't wait to see what fun adult memories will be created at HFC County Fair. Maybe a potential Christmas Card for 2019?

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