2009 Fulton Park Thanksgiving Outreach - What we accomplished

Here is a Thank You note we sent out, with a recap of everything that was donated and the volunteers who supported us:

Thanks isn't even an appropriate word. I looked it up in the dictionary and the thesaurus, and I still can't find a word to express what I feel towards those who helped us make the Thanksgiving Outreach a possibility. This literally wouldn't have happened the way it did without all of the volunteers. If Viq and I had to do it on our own, we would have, but it wouldn't have been the huge success that it was.

While I feel like I'm on an awards show, here is a list of the volunteers that came to help Thursday. I sincerely hope I don't forget anyone!
-Cathy & Tom Lockridge, Evansville - cooking, storing food, and delivering meals
-Donna, Leroy, & Jeffrey Bleemel, Jasper, IN - they stayed at my house and cooked all of the food as we needed it.
-Dan Hildebrand, Holland, IN - Dan was referred to us by the Rescue Mission. He helped with setup, cleanup, and delivering meals.
-Rosa Froiland and Christian, Evansville, IN - setup. Rosa also helped pass the word around Shoe Carnival for food donations.
-Keely Perry & family, Evansville, IN - Keely was referred to us by the Rescue Mission. They helped with setup and serving food.
-Melody Anderson & 9 of her family members, Princeton, IN - Melody was referred to us by the Rescue Mission. They helped with setup and serving food.
-Nealy & Renee Vickery, Evansville, IN - Nealy is a friend from church and a co-worker of Viq's They helped with setup, cleanup, and serving food.
-Paul Abramson, Evansville, IN - Paul lives in our neighborhood and received a flyer when we passed them out. He attends First Christian in Newburgh. He helped with serving food and cleanup.
-Emily, Evansville, IN - Emily is a co-worker of Viq's. She helped with setup and serving food.
-Joy Payne, Newburgh, IN - Joy attends BTCC and approached us after the I Heart movie. She and her family helped with setup and serving food. She also took pictures.
-Damon, Teresa, and Dane Hancock, Evansville, IN - The Hancocks attend BTCC. They helped us after delivering meals with the Evansville Christian Life Center. Damon took pictures and shot video, while Teresa and Dane helped serve meals.
-Summer & Steve Aulich & family, Evansville, IN - This family wanted to volunteer somewhere that morning and were turned away by both the Rescue Mission and the ECLC. They happened to drive by, got out of the car, and stayed to help for hours with setup, cleanup, and serving food.
-Stacey Davis & family, Mt Carmel, IL - Stacey was referred to us by the Rescue Mission. They helped with setup, cleanup, and serving food.
-Stacy & Jon Kirchoff, Ft Branch, IN - I work with Stacy at Shoe Carnival. Even though she was sick, they showed up to help serve food.
-Fire Station #3, Evansville, IN - our intent was to feed the firefighters. Apparently the had a different plan, as they already had food! They showed up at 9:00 and helped us setup tables and tarps and carried LOTS of heavy stuff for us. You won't see them in any pictures unfortunately, but they were a huge help.
-Lisa Cresci, Chandler, IN - Lisa came Wednesday evening to help us prep food and desserts.

Now for a list of those who donated. This absolutely blows me away! I know I'm going to miss someone, so PLEASE don't be offended! That's how much food there was!
-Donna & Leroy Bleemel (my great aunt and great uncle), Jasper, IN - they provided 1/2 of the silverware, green beans and corn, all of the carryout containers, all of the dessert containers, turkey, dressing, gravy, and Donna's sister made 10 pumpkin pies.
-Lisa Cresci, Chandler, IN - stuffing and carrots.
-Kimberly Hodges, Evansville, IN - Kimberly cooked two turkeys for us, provided two boxes of brownies and marshmallows for the sweet potatoes.
-Our BTCC Life Group, Evansville, IN - Our lifegroup purchased the two turkeys that Kimberly cooked.
-Joy Payne, Newburgh, In - Joy purchased a TON of food. Dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now! :-)
-Damon Hancock, Evansville, IN - Damon purchased stove top, gravy, trash bags, paper towels, and baked us a ham.
-Steve Polley, Newburgh, IN - Mr Polley baked us a ham.
-Debbie Hack, Princeton, In - Debbie made 4 turkeys for us. She also collected food from her church family. She was up until 4:00 a.m. on Wednesday finishing the last turkey!
-Teresa Kelly, Boonville, IN - Teresa and her mom got all of the items donated by their church and made three pans of corn casserole.
-Kim & Ken Ellsperman (QDoba), Evansville, IN - The Ellsperman's donated the chaffing dishes and pans, sterno fuel, and plastic wrap.
-Old Tyme Deli, Evansville, IN - Mike at the deli donated a whole ham and baked it for us.
-Marx's BBQ, Evansville, IN - Marx's smoked a whole turkey for us, and changed my tastebuds forever!
-Cathy Angle, Evansville, IN - I work with Cathy at Shoe Carnival. She baked us a whole ham, provided a ton of canned and dry goods, and was a huge source of support.
-Shawn & Christy Tapp, Evansville, IN - purchased our first two cans of green beans.
-Lindsay Chaffee, Newburgh, IN - Lindsay cooked a turkey for me and also bought all of the dessert plates.
-Natalie Jaranowski, Evansville, IN - Natalie offered to let us use her kitchen to cook (turns out we didn't need it!) and bought the paper plates and coffee cups.
-Billie Nichols & Joey Denham (Rafferrty's), Evansville, IN - Rafferty's provided us with a case of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and let us borrow some supplies along the way. They also gave us all the ice we needed. Viq works for a great place!
-Stacy Kirchoff, Ft Branch, IN - Stacy and her mom provided us with 15 boxes of sweet potatoes and 32 cans of green beans.
-Jen Griese, Evansville, IN - Jen bought 18 cans of turkey gravy.
-Nicole Gibson, Evansville, IN - Nicole bought 10 cans of cranberry sauce.
-Shoe Carnival Payroll Department, Evansville, IN - the payroll dept provided us with 4 large desserts.
-Nick Lindy, Evansville, IN - Nick and his wife made us a ton of cookies.
-Robbie Hodges, Evansville, IN - Robbie baked us a pumpkin pie.
-Rob Tant, Evansville, IN - Rob baked us one the best pecan pies I've ever had!
-Buehler's Buy Low on Morgan, Evansville, IN - they donated a gift card so we could buy supplies.
-Lewis Bakeries, Evansville, IN - donated 25 packs of dinner rolls.
-Bobbi Staten, Evansville, IN - Bobbie baked us an awesome turkey.
-Mandy Cottrel, Evansville, IN - Mandy provided two cases of sodas, stuffing, and corn.
-Jamie Wayne, Carissa Dougan, Patti Spooner, Stacy Kirchoff, and 4 anonymous Shoe Carnival employees - they each donated the $10 Schnuck's gift cards we receive at work.
-Schnucks - they gave us a gift card for supplies. In addition, they donated all of their leftover desserts (three days worth!) and the flowers for table decorations.
-Darlene Hawkins, Henderson, KY - Darlene bought paper plates.
-Evansville Fire Department - In addition to the volunteers, they provided us with paper towels and foil.
-Kerry Sinclair, Evansville Print Specialists - Kerry was kind enough to print the 1000 flyers we needed to canvas the neighborhood.
-Andrea Aubrey, Newburgh, IN - pumpkin pie
-Beth Jones, Evansville, IN - chocolate bundt cake
-Tom Vernarsky, Newburgh, IN - brownies
-Ken & Viki Thomasson (my inlaws), Madisonville, KY - mashed potatoes, jello for cranberry salad, coffee urns.
-Nealy Vickery, Evansville, IN - Sugar, tea, table coverings, and ice.
-Andy Chandler, Newburgh, IN - patio heater and propane.
-Angel Franklin (Ray Ray's), Evansville, IN - chocolate cake and ice.
-Ellan Brown, Evansville, IN - roaster pans.
-Chuck Frary, Newburgh, IN - we didn't know Chuck at all. Viq met him at work. Two days later, he provided us with 12 cases of sodas!
-Bethel Temple, Evansville, IN - tables.
-VFW Post 1114, Evansville, IN - tables & chairs.

I KNOW there is more, but my brain is just not remembering it right now!

Finally, I'd like to thank those who donated financially. There was some stuff we just had to buy, and these people made it possible.
Andy Chandler, Newburgh, IN
David Kapp, Newburgh, IN
Pam Clouse, Evansville, IN
Nick Phillips, Evansville, IN
Cliff Sifford, Newburgh, IN
Billie Nichols, Evansville, IN
Jack Cooper, Newburgh, IN
Brian Wink, Evansville, IN
Michelle & Scott Rose, Evansville, IN
Dr Alvey, Evansville, IN
Melinda Bachman, Henderson, KY
Bill & Cindy Kandel, Evansville, IN
Michelle & Alex Small, Indianapolis, IN

I would also like to thank Sarah and Larry from Fox 7 and Gretchen and Jim from 14WFIE for coming out to cover us. We never expected that, and both stories were great! We hope that the coverage you guys provided will help inspire others to reach out.

There are so many stories that came out of this. I'll post another note soon with those, after my brain has had time to decompress.

I want to thank those who prayed for and supported us. This seriously wouldn't have happened without all of the prayer that we received. And the encouragement was a huge help along they way, when we started to get the "Oh wow...what have we gotten ourselves into" thoughts.

I also want to mention a few people that jumpstarted this idea and didn't even know it.
-Pastor Dave for sending us to the Leadership Summit.
-Pastor Harvey Carey for encouraging us to get out of the huddle.
-Hillsong United for making awesome music that changed our way of thinking.
-Pastor Steve for giving us the go ahead.
-Little Brooklynn Wilhite for inspiring us to give to others and changing our way of thinking. I won't elaborate, but the Fire Station dream is because of her, and she is missed every single day.

So, there's my "list". I'm really good with lists and numbers, and not so much with words. I sincerely hope I haven't forgotten anyone! Once again, thank you! And remember, "you ain't seen nothin' yet" - we're only getting started.