Thank you’s

2007

Here is an email that the organizers sent out after the 2007 event.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I want to take the time to thank each and every one of you for your contribution and support for this little idea that grew wings. We ended up handing out close to 700 blankets and 30 gallons of chili on a frosty Christmas Eve morning!

Those that were there on Christmas Eve saw firsthand the positive impact we made. I have never heard “God Bless You” and “Thank You” so many times in one day! The folks that received the food and blankets were more than appreciative and I have been thinking about them since then and hoping that they are just a bit warmer (with the freezing nighttime temperatures) than they would have been before. If you saw the news reports on Channel 3, when they interviewed the homeless folks they all said great things about the chili and the blankets, but mostly about the people who handed them out. One comment really struck me, and that was the man who said (in a nutshell) that he just appreciated people who would take the time to welcome the homeless and take care of them instead of being afraid or asking them to leave. What more could we ask for???

Some of the facts on the media coverage were a bit off so I want to set the record straight and recognize some important people who were involved.

Thank you to:

• Carol Dawson and Country Glazed Ham for the 30 gallons of great chili and to their chef Jill who gave of her time to make it all.
• Shannon Miller and her family and Sonoran Trails Middle School who gathered 300 of the 700 blankets we had
• The Fourlis Family, Explorer Middle School and Scottsdale Unified School District for another 150 blankets
• Sharon Hager and the folks at Acxiom for 70+ blankets
• Carol Sowers and the Arizona Republic for blankets and a nice cover story in Valley and State
• Barb Dickerson who rolled and tied hundreds of blankets and helped us load 700 blankets in the trailer the night before
• Lucas Choate who photographed, edited and uploaded the site on Flickr for all of us to enjoy
• Tonie Salomon for the serving bowls and utensils
• Mike and Jean Choate for hundreds of candy canes and chocolates
• Thea Angie and her friends for hundreds of homemade cookies
• And to everyone who donated time, blankets, food, water, etc, etc….we couldn’t have done it without you!

I have heard from almost everyone that you’d like to make this a yearly tradition. I believe it was as good or better for all of the volunteers and their families as it was for the homeless folks! I could write a novel on all the little stories…from Dawn Kirby’s son who took his own sweatshirt off his back and gave it to someone, to my cousin Tracy Biggs and her daughter Hailey who gave their own scarves to a couple of people, to the Eric Victor family from the Phoenix Fire Department who had a bag of perfectly fitting sweatshirts and pajamas for a mom and her two daughters, not to mention the Spider Man monster truck they had for the little Spanish-speaking boy from that family who LOVED Spiderman. The look on that boy’s face when Eric’s son handed him the truck made my Christmas! I know I have missed a million little things but I think you get the idea! It was a good thing!

I have attached some of the coverage and links to photos for you to look through – http://www.flickr.com/gp/92655261@N00/EV01R0. Please send me your comments and suggestions for improvements for next year. I would love to see you all back again as we strive for a bigger and better Blanketing Arizona in 2008!

Best Wishes to your and your families for a very Happy New Year!

Shaney