by Chloe Taylor
“I guess that’s one way of looking at it,” Zoey said. As far as she was concerned, whatever way Marcus wanted to look at it that made him less mopey and miserable was fine with her!
“Dad always says, ‘There’s a lid for every pot,’ ” Marcus reminded Zoey, giving a pretty good imitation of their father. “I guess I’ll be searching for a better-fitting lid. Though if Allie changes her mind, maybe I’ll reconsider.”
Zoey sighed. “Relationships seem so complicated. I mean, Uncle John and Aunt Lulu seem to get on really well and are in love and all that, but her first marriage ended in divorce—and Priti’s parents ended up getting divorced too.”
“And then there’s Dad and the Mystery Lady, whom we never even get to meet,” Marcus said. “They seem to get along, but who knows?”
“He better introduce us to her soon,” Zoey grumbled.
“Definitely,” Marcus agreed. “It’s time for the Mystery Lady to be revealed.”
The next day at lunch, Libby announced that she’d added up all her Bat Mitzvah money.
“If I give some of the gift money, plus the money from the bake sale, I’ll have just over half of what I need to raise to buy the fridge,” she said. “I thought about giving more of my Bat Mitzvah gift money, but my parents said they wanted me to save some for when I go to college—and to spend a little bit doing something fun, too, since I worked so hard.”
“So what are you going to do to raise the rest?” Kate asked.
“Well, I’ve thought about it, and I realized that maybe Zoey was right,” Libby said. “I mean, I had the most amazing time wearing my dress, and I felt incredibly special in it, but if I auction it off, some other girl could wear it and feel special and I’d raise more money for the food pantry’s fridge. Maybe not the whole amount I need, but every bit helps.”
“That’s great!” Zoey said. “I bet you’ll raise at least seventy-five dollars. Maybe more!”
“I just want to make sure it goes to another Bat Mitzvah girl,” Libby said. “So that she can feel as special on her big day as I did. My parents said they’d send an e-mail to all the guests about the auction.”
“Maybe you can put up a sign at your Hebrew school, too,” Priti suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Libby said. “Also, I was wondering, Zo . . . can you do a blog post?”
“Sure!” Zoey said. “I’d be happy to!”
“If I could finally raise enough money to donate the fridge,” Libby said, “that’ll be the best Bat Mitzvah present of all.”
“You’ll do it,” Kate said.
“Definitely!” Priti agreed.
“We are so going to make this happen!” Zoey said. They all raised their milk cartons to drink to the ultimate success of Libby’s project.
CHAPTER 9
Dream Dress for a Cause
Hey, Sew Zoey readers! I’ve got a special guest blog today from one of my BFFs, Libby. I’ll let her explain!
Hi! I’m Libby! I just had my Bat Mitzvah, and for my mitzvah project, I created a kitchen garden to grow vegetables for the food pantry where I volunteer, so the people who come there can have healthy, fresh produce to supplement the canned and boxed food. But that also means the food pantry needs a new industrial fridge in order to properly store the fresh produce. What I’m able to grow isn’t enough to fill the whole fridge regularly, but the head of the food pantry and I arranged for local farms to donate produce a few times a week. Thanks to help from my BFFs and my Bat Mitzvah guests, I’ve raised just over half the cost from a bake sale and from gifts. But I’m trying to raise the last bit I need—or at least part of it—by auctioning off my Bat Mitzvah dress. It’s hard to let go of the dream dress that Zoey made for me, but if it gets a second life as another girl’s dream dress—and helps provide delicious, healthy food (via the new refrigerator) for families who come to the food pantry—it will be worth it! Thanks for your help and support!
XO, Libby
Hi! It’s me, Zoey, again. So we’re trying to figure out the best way to auction the dress. Any suggestions?
When Zoey checked her blog the next day after school, there was a comment from her fashion mentor, Daphne Shaw.
Try Fundworthy.edu. It’s a site where kids and schools can safely set up auctions to raise money for school clubs, events, and nonprofits. And they don’t take a big percentage, unlike some of the other auction sites. Let me know when you set up your page, and I’ll spread the word around the studio and on my blog.
Zoey called Libby right away to tell her.
“That’s awesome!” Libby squealed. “If Daphne puts the auction on her blog, then maybe we’ll be able to raise all the money!”
Zoey couldn’t imagine that a dress she made would ever sell for that much, but she didn’t want to discourage Libby.
“Well, first we have to set up the auction page,” Zoey said. “Why don’t you come over tomorrow night for a sleepover, and my dad can help us? Then we can get the whole thing rolling.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Libby said.
The following evening after dinner, Mr. Webber helped them set up the auction page.
“What do you want to call it?” he asked.
“Dream Dress for a Cause,” Libby said.
“Okay,” Mr. Webber said after he’d typed the name in. “And how long do you want the auction to run?”
“What do you think, Zoey?” Libby asked.
“How about a week?” Zoey suggested. “That’s long enough to let people know about it, but not too long that we’ll have to wait for weeks to find out.”
“Sounds good,” Dad said.
He uploaded several pictures of the dress on Marie Antoinette, and one of Libby wearing it. Mr. Webber cropped that photo so that Libby’s face wasn’t visible, for safety and privacy purposes.
“I think Libby should be the one to press the button to post this online,” he said.
“I’m so nervous!” Libby said. “I hope this works!”
She pressed enter, and “Your Auction: Dream Dress for a Cause is now LIVE!” appeared on the screen.
“Now we just have to wait and see if we get some bids,” Zoey said, refreshing the page to see if they had a bid yet. “That’s the hard part.”
“A watched pot never boils,” Dad said, laughing when Zoey refreshed the page again. “Go do something else for a while!”
After watching a movie, accompanied by a bowl of popcorn, Zoey and Libby checked the auction page again.
“Look! There’s a bid!” Libby exclaimed.
“It’s only twenty-five dollars, but it’s a start,” Zoey said.
Sure enough, by the time they went to bed that night, two more bids had come in, bringing the total to sixty dollars.
“It’s still a long way to go.” Libby sighed. “Do you think we’ll get there?”
“We’ve got a whole week of the auction left,” Zoey said. “I’m going to post the link on my blog tomorrow morning. And don’t forget, Daphne Shaw promised to spread the word around her studio and post about it on her blog. That will make a difference.”
“I hope so,” Libby said. “I have to make this fridge happen!”
Libby texted her friends updates throughout the weekend whenever new bids came in. By Sunday night, there were twenty bids, and it was up to one hundred and seventy-five dollars. By Monday at lunch, there were thirty-two bids with the highest bid at two hundred and sixty. But by Tuesday, the bids had slowed.
“There have only been two more bids since yesterday,” Libby said. “And the price has only gone up to two hundred and seventy-five dollars. What happens if this is it? I still wouldn’t have raised enough to buy the refrigerator.”
“Let me see if Daphne posted about it yet,” Zoey said. She checked Daphne’s blog on her phone. “She hasn’t. I’m sure when she does, you’ll get more bids.”
“But there’s only a few days left,” Libby said worriedly. “What if she’s forgotten to do it?”
“I’m s
ure she won’t,” Zoey assured her.
But deep down, she wondered the same thing. At dinner, she asked her father if maybe she should write and ask Daphne why she hadn’t posted it.
“Honey, Daphne Shaw is a very busy lady, and it’s wonderful she’s taken such an interest in you,” Dad said. “It was really kind of her to offer to do you a favor, but you shouldn’t bother her about it.”
“What if she forgets?” Zoey asked.
“Then she forgets,” Dad said. “But she hasn’t let you down so far, has she?”
“No,” Zoey admitted.
“In fact, she usually surprises you with her awesomeness,” Marcus observed.
It was nice to see Marcus looking a bit more upbeat these days. Zoey had hated seeing him so mopey over Allie.
“True,” Zoey said. “I guess I’ll just wait and see.”
She didn’t have to wait very long. Zoey was late for the bus the next morning, so she didn’t have time to check the latest developments on the auction page. At school, Libby met her and Kate when they got off the bus.
“Have you seen the auction page?” she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down with excitement.
“No. What’s going on?” Kate asked.
“Daphne Shaw posted a shout-out about it on her blog,” Libby said, “and the bids are going wild! We’re getting close to the goal!”
Zoey smiled. She should have known her fashion fairy godmother wouldn’t let her down.
It turned out that Daphne had even done a step better. She left a comment on Zoey’s blog saying that she’d sent tips to several fashion news sites, and they’d all linked to Daphne’s blog post about the auction. By lunchtime, the hits on the auction page were going through the roof!
“How much is it at now?” Priti asked. “I’m so excited I can barely eat my lunch!”
“Four hundred dollars!” Libby exclaimed. “Wait, another bid! Four hundred and ten!”
“And it’s not even Friday yet!” Kate said.
“This is so great! I bet you’ll have enough for the refrigerator if this keeps up,” Zoey said.
“I hope so!” Libby said. “It’s awesome—and all thanks to Daphne.”
That wasn’t the end of Daphne’s awesomeness. When Zoey got home from school that day, there was a package from Daphne’s studio. Inside was one of Daphne’s dresses and a note:
Dear Zoey,
I’m sending this as a Bat Mitzvah present for your wonderful friend Libby, who has been so generous with her time—and with her beloved Sew Zoey Bat Mitzvah dress. She sure knows how to give back, and I hope that more kids will learn from her example. Libby is fortunate to have a friend like you supporting her in her efforts.
Your friend,
Daphne Shaw
P.S. If it’s not the right size, let my assistant know Libby’s correct one, and we’ll exchange.
Libby was thrilled with the gift. “That’s so nice of her!” she said.
“Try it on to see if it fits,” Zoey suggested. “Then I can take a picture of you wearing it to send to her.”
Daphne didn’t usually design clothes for tweens, but she’d made Libby a beautiful lavender A-line dress with a scattered floral print. It fit her pretty well considering Daphne had never met Libby and didn’t know her size.
“I love it,” Libby said. “I am sad to give up my Sew Zoey dress, but it will be worth it if we can get the fridge for the food pantry. And now it’s doubly worth it!”
“Maybe good things came to you because you were doing good things,” Zoey observed. “You know, what goes around comes around, or whatever.”
“I don’t know if that’s what happened,” Libby said. “But as long as we’ve raised enough to get the fridge for the food pantry, I’m happy!”
The girls made plans to be together for the final hour of bidding after school on Friday. They gathered around the computer at Libby’s house, and together with Mrs. Flynn and Sophie, they watched the screen as a bidding war picked up and the minutes ticked down.
“Can you believe this?” Libby asked.
“I know, it’s crazy!” Kate exclaimed. “It’s like a feeding frenzy!”
“Look!” Priti said. “It’s almost up to six hundred dollars!”
“Now it’s six fifty!” Zoey said. She couldn’t believe someone was willing to pay that much money for a dress made by . . . her!
They all counted down the final ten seconds. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three . . . two . . . ONE!”
The final bid, which came in right at the last minute, was for seven hundred dollars!
The girls danced excitedly around the room.
Libby checked the computer again, as if she almost couldn’t believe it was real.
“Oh look! I just got a message from the top bidder through the site,” Libby said. “It turns out she works with Daphne Shaw!” She started to read the message aloud. “ ‘We’ve been looking for a Bat Mitzvah dress for my daughter, Becky. Her theme is ‘Becky in Bloom,’ so the floral theme of this dress fits perfectly. Would you be able to send it overnight so we have time for alterations? I will, of course, pay extra for that. Good luck with the project, and congratulations on your Bat Mitzvah.’ Isn’t that cool?”
“I’ve already had the dress dry-cleaned and packed up in a box, so we can send it to her tomorrow morning,” Mrs. Flynn said.
“So do you have enough?” Zoey asked.
“I’m one hundred and fifty dollars short,” Libby said.
“Listen, honey, Dad and I spoke about this last night. We agreed that we’d donate the last bit you need, because you’ve worked so hard to make this happen, and we’re very proud of you,” Mrs. Flynn said.
Libby hugged her mom. “Thank you!” she said. “I love you!”
“How does it feel?” Kate asked. “You’ve worked so hard for this.”
“It feels good!” Libby said. “I can’t wait to tell the director of the food pantry we actually did it!”
On Sunday morning, as Zoey was eating her pancakes, Libby called.
“I talked to the food pantry’s director, and he’s arranged for a photographer from the local paper to come on Tuesday after school to do a story about me raising the money for the fridge. I want you to come too because it was your idea to auction the dress—and Daphne putting it on her blog made all the difference.”
“I was just happy to help, but sure, I’ll come,” Zoey said.
“Great!” Libby said. “Mom will pick us up after school.”
Zoey got off the phone and told her dad and Marcus about the photo opportunity.
“That’s awesome,” Marcus said. “But now it’s time for the really important stuff. What do you think I used for the secret ingredient in the pancakes?”
The Webbers had a ritual of having Sunday morning pancakes, and they took turns making them with an additional secret ingredient that the others had to guess.
“I’m not sure what you used. Maybe walnuts?” Zoey asked, “But I’m definitely tasting satisfaction, too.”
CHAPTER 10
Sweets to the Sweet
It’s really “sweet” to meet our fund-raising goal for the food pantry’s new fridge. Thanks, Daphne Shaw, for the shout-out on your blog—traffic to the auction went through the roof! Especially sweet wishes to everyone who bid for the dress. I know the food pantry’s patrons will really enjoy having fresh produce instead of just canned and packaged goods—and they’ll appreciate eating healthier, too. But since I have a sweet tooth, this is inspired by sweets instead of vegetables. Sorry, Dr. Dryer (my dentist)! And sorry, Dad!
“Hi, Zoey!” Sophie called out as Mrs. Flynn’s car pulled up in front of Mapleton Prep on Tuesday afternoon. “Can you sit next to me?”
“Sure.” Zoey laughed.
Libby was wearing her Daphne Shaw dress, and Zoey wore the name tag dress she’d made. Kate joined them too because she was volunteering at the shelter and had arranged to carpool.
“I like
your headband, Kate,” Sophie said.
“Zoey made it for me,” Kate said. “I’m trying to soften my look a little, without changing it completely.”
“It suits you,” Mrs. Flynn said. “Very pretty.”
“How is it going with you and Tyler?” Libby asked.
“He’s being more considerate of my feelings since I talked to him at your Bat Mitzvah,” Kate explained to her friends. “But I figured I’d try a few new things, too, as long as I still feel comfortable with them.”
“It’s like having the best of both worlds,” Zoey said. “I’m glad I could actually help this time instead of messing things up!”
When they arrived at the food pantry, Kate and Zoey helped Libby take a huge check from the back of the car.
“It seems ridiculous to have this big check, but the food pantry’s manager said I should order one so it would make more of an impact in the photos than handing them a regular check,” Mrs. Flynn explained.
“Can they actually deposit this?” Zoey asked. “Imagine going up to the bank teller with it!”
“Or trying to put it in the ATM!” Kate said, giggling.
“No! This is just for the pictures,” Libby said. “Mom has a regular check for depositing.”
“Let me help carry it too!” Sophie begged.
Kate gave up her spot so Sophie could help carry the enormous check. Sophie was tall for her age but could still barely see above it.
“I’ve got to go meet Tyler to start my volunteer shift, anyway,” she said. “Have fun with the paparazzi!”
Inside, the food pantry’s manager, Mrs. Reed, waited with the director, board members, and a reporter and photographer from the local paper. They all congratulated Libby on her hard work and thanked her for making such an important gift to the organization.
“I wish I had more people with your energy on the board!” the director said. “We’d raise enough money to double the size of the building in no time!”
