We done a good thing.

So, last week, I had dinner with my dear friend Gina Ardito. We went to Carrabba's Italian Grill in Smithtown, NY. We love Carrabba's. The food is excellent, service is always top-notch, and they don't ream you on the price. So there we were, gorging ourselves on lobster ravioli and peach sangria, when we were asked if we would like to take part in a raffle they were holding. It turns out, one of the Navy SEALS who was shot down in Afghanistan was from the area, and his wife and little boy are now without a husband and a father. The raffle was to raise some money for the family. A highly excellent cause, and we of course bought lots of tickets.

Well. You can't lay a good cause in front of Gina without some gears grinding into action. She said, saaaayyy, we know romance authors who write Navy SEAL romances, why don't we see if we can get them to donate some signed books, and we'll make up a nice basket and give it to Carrabba's to raffle off? She immediately thought of Suzanne Brockmann, who she has been stalking at conferences forever, and I immediately thought of JoAnn Ross, who I regularly distract from writing by singing Disney tunes and being a goofball over on Facebook and Twitter. We asked the waitress about it, and she said she'd get someone to come talk to us.

The JVP of Carrabba's Northeast Region, Skip Jackson, happened to be in that restaurant that day, and when the waitress went to him to tell him about these two crazy ladies at Table 14 (or whatever table we were at - I had to make something up), he came to sit with us and talk about Carrabba's long-standing commitment to military personnel and families. We told him our idea, and he was thrilled to have us take part in it. He personally has done a vast deal of good things for military causes, including a trip to the Middle East to feed the troops some fantastic Italian food. He's a peach, that Skip! Plus he has a droolworthy motorcycle. Just sayin'.

We raced home to contact those two lovely, lovely ladies, and on the way I thought of some others who might be interested. I got word to Melanie Jackson and Virginia Kantra, who both jumped on the idea. Ms. Ross contacted some author friends of hers - Gennita Low, Stephanie Tyler, and Marliss Melton, who were all right on board as well.

Right now, we are awaiting the arrival of the books these wonderful women are donating, and once they're here we'll be able to coordinate with Skip to put the baskets together and set up the raffle. He wants to add in candles, wine, and all sorts of things to make them really girlie, romantic gifts, which I think shows a terrific tender side of a very manly man.

I'll post again as he situation develops. We're looking to make kind of a big deal out of it, but we have to get with Skip first and see what's what. It's all very exciting! Stay tuned for pictures and stuff!