To the Editor:

People get together for all kinds of reasons: Family events, friends gathering, events of joy, ceremonial events, and even times of heartache.

This past weekend, many of us were brought together for a common reason — to help a friend in need, Pam Spawn. She is the reason that we did our part to make this event a huge success and in the process, friendships were started, friendships were strengthened, hatchets were buried — and in the end we took an awful situation and made something good out of it.  By and large, it was a “fun”raiser.

I had the honor of running the bake sale. People offered to bake to contribute and, quite honestly, I for one am overwhelmed with gratitude to all of you. People I didn’t even know called me. Strangers from wide and far saw the flyer and baked and bought and delivered. This bake sale was the greatest.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you did to contribute.

Overall, everyone gave, not just the awesome bakers. People took time to come and have a meal prepared by the volunteers from the Elks. The Elks donated the food and their time and, wow, did they work hard.

The organizer, Kathy Cranker, worked tirelessly to receive donations from upwards of 50 businesses who donated gift cards and prizes. People made baskets and how creative they were!

It is nearly impossible to thank everyone who came and donated so let me say thank you to all involved.  No part was small; every little ingredient came together to make one huge successful event.

In the process, we are reminded that there are charitable people in this world, that we can pull together for the greater good — and moreover we are supporting someone who is facing the biggest challenge of her life.

As we move forward, we can also feel good about ourselves knowing we helped someone we love. How lucky are all of us? Very!

Thanks again, everyone.

From one small piece of the pie,

El Dorato

Editor’s note: El Dorato is a dispatcher for the Guilderland Central School District for which Pamala Spawn worked as a bus driver until her diagnosis early this year with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. The June 1 Pasta for Pam event raised $8,000 for Spawn.