On December 3, 2011, hundreds of people from the Jesuit community piled into the Terry Center to kick off their holiday shopping with a bang at the Jesuit Women’s Auxiliary Christmas Bazaar.
The Christmas Bazaar is an annual fund-raiser to help make Jesuit education possible for more students. The event brings together the entire Jesuit community to get a leg up on their Christmas shopping.
Vendors from around Dallas were represented at the event, setting up stands to sell a wide assortment of great gifts and general knickknacks. The Bazaar also included a bake sale that brought a wide assortment of delicious treats, from brownies to home-made fudge.
The Christmas Bazaar is not just all fun and games though; a lot of work went in to planning the event and making sure it went off without a hitch. The Christmas Bazaar is held every year by the Jesuit Women’s Auxiliary and spearheaded by two chairwomen. This year, Shelly Codd and Betsy Guidone captained the event.
“The work that goes into organizing this event requires two very special women,” said Linda Soich, a heavily involved volunteer. “They have to be willing to work about 5 months in getting the volunteers, accepting applications, and seeing to all the details and the different facets that go into this event, such as a raffle, bake sale, and over 100 vendor booths.”
“The feeling of the Christmas Bazaar was festive and energetic,” said Jesuit mom Cathy Bain. “It definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.” Vendors played to their audience, offering uniquely Jesuit goods. “Vendors catered to the Jesuit families by customizing items that would appeal to them such as a beautifully handcrafted Jesuit scrapbook to record a student’s four years at Jesuit.”
“The Christmas Bazaar was a huge success,” added Soich. “The shoppers enjoyed themselves and the vendors were pleased with the large crowds.” It appears that the event was definitely worth all the hard work.
For more information on Jesuit’s holiday events, check out the school website.
