BUUF Cabaret / Auction / Pledge Appreciation Dinner

After taking a break for two years, we are happy to once again host our annual BUUF Cabaret on Saturday, May 14th! The cabaret is a great evening of food, fun and optional bidding on auctioned items. BUUF President Harvey Johnson has already agreed to serve as MC and Auctioneer for the event. Proceeds from the event will go towards the future construction of a pavilion on BUUF’s property.

Casual mingling and viewing of silent auction items will begin at 5:00pm. Dinner will be served at 5:30pm. (BUUF will provide both a meat and a vegan main dish, while volunteers will be asked to bring side dishes.) At 6:00, we will begin our live entertainment interspersed with a live auction of select items. Remaining items will be included in the silent auction.

Everyone is encouraged to sign up for a 3-5 minute performance in the cabaret (including children!). Musical acts are welcome, as are poetry or dramatic readings, skits, jokes, dance performances, etc. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate, please limit your solo act to one per person. (However, feel free to participate in more than one group performance.) Our Music Director, Beth La Fleur, will be lining up acts and assisting with special performance needs. Please email Beth (music@berrienuu.org) with the name of your act, the type (dance, vocals, etc.) and any special needs such as a screen for slides, microphone, an amplifier for instruments, an accompanist, etc. Please notify Beth of your performance by Sunday, May 1st. Note: If you are interested in participating but don’t have an act in mind, let Beth know as she will be organizing a few group acts.

The performance and auction portions of this event will be hybrid (in person and over Zoom.) We invite even those at home to participate. We will stream your performance on the large screen monitor, and you can view stage performances via Zoom.

BUUFers are also invited to donate items for both the live and silent auctions. A variety of items are welcome, such as artwork, gift cards/certificates, good quality household items, gift baskets, services (e.g., dance lessons), special breads or desserts, toys or games, etc. Minimum value of $10 please. We ask that all items are donated by Sunday, May 1st, so our auction team of Harvey Johnson, Nancy Gilpin and Julie Williams have time to sort items and choose certain ones for the live vs. silent auction.

Plans are to wrap up our pledge campaign around May 13th, so this event will also serve as a pledge appreciation / celebration event. The board will be announcing the results of the campaign and thanking members who pledged.

While this event will not be advertised to the public, BUUFers may choose to invite friends or family members to attend the event or even perform. This is a great opportunity to introduce potential BUUFers to all the fun and creativity in our fellowship. (Note: Child care will be provided during the event, as needed.)

Please RSVP by emailing Joanne at office@berrienuu.org by May 1st. The RSVPs will help us ensure enough food and drinks are available. There will also be three sign-up sheets at BUUF starting this coming Sunday:

We hope as many BUUFers as possible will attend. We haven’t been able to party like this in over two years!