CHRISTMAS 2000 (c) 2012 BRONEIST Consulting. All rights reserved. Web Designer | Master BRONEIST Consulting
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It was a “Happy Holidays” 2000 Thanks to all the financial donors, volunteers and supporters. A number of you expressed the desire of having the time and money to assist in providing “good will to men” this holiday season. It was definitely the thought that counts; actions are a bonus. The less fortunate of Seattle GREATLY appreciates you all! It was the encouragement and support that made this happen, in addition to the donations and volunteers. As many of you know, coordinating tasks such as this is not easy. However, it was with an outstanding amount of pride and motivation from each of you and our desire to make someone else’s Christmas as pleasant and memorable as possible that made this a successful and rewarding challenge. How did this happen? As mentioned in the last week’s initial email correspondence regarding the “Christmas 2000: Feast for the Less Fortunate” - if you will - I was unable to visit my family for the holidays. There were other friends, such as Michael Karls - to name one - and other individuals who were not traveling home for the holidays. Instead of focusing on the negative side of the situation, I thought that it would be beneficial to friends and most importantly, to the less fortunate of our Seattle community to go beyond the usual Christmas traditions and find another way to experience and share the “Spirit of Christmas”. The result was a plan to solicit food, funds and volunteers necessary to prepare meals for less fortunate community members. Ideally, this would have been planned weeks in advance. Fortunately, it was accomplished within a week’s time. Thank goodness for Email! What happened? There was no formal, official process to this project. For example, as I began to hand out meals downtown Christmas night, I was approached by an individual, dressed in some type of Security Uniform, forcefully saying, “You can’t feed anyone here, do you have a license”. My reply, of course, was no. Less fortunate, hungry individuals who had gathered around my vehicle after to offer help to distribute the meals proceeded to direct me to drive down a few blocks to “the Park” where I could finish handing out the containers of food. This was an eye-opening experience, but I guess I understand ordinances and protocol that would help to keep order when it comes down to feeding the homeless and less fortunate. To back up for a moment to gathering the funds, donations and preparing the meals, it was all done in a mildly organized and somewhat impromptu style. However, Michael Karls reinforced the idea that some people need structure in completing tasks, so thanks Michael. I will keep that in mind when organizing events like this in the future. Furthermore, it was wonderful having two young ladies, ages 15 and 8, assisting to prepare the meals and passing out the first batch on Broadway Avenue, Sunday night - Christmas Eve. Thank you Lisa Rice for bringing your lovely daughters, Nikki and Imani, over for the experience. To sum Overall, this project was a worthwhile, successful, rewarding activity. To see the look on people’s faces when they were handed the plates was touching. The volunteers mentioned that because of their participation in feeding the less fortunate this year their Christmas was more fulfilling. Moreover, the response from all of you was Overwhelmingly Beautiful! I couldn’t have asked for a better Holiday. I hope that this will set the stage for more activities, projects and events that will allow us all to share/give back to Our Seattle Community. Below is a list of donors, volunteers and a brief project breakdown. Thanks Again!!! -Andre Taybron _______________________________________________________ Financial Donors Mark D. Anderson Scott Bolton Sian Hale Kyle Johnson Greg James Dr. Kurt Kirstein Gregory Massey John Saban Matthew Sater Barry Silveria Jon Newman Volunteers Michael Karls* Lisa Rice* Nikki Washington Imani Washington *Donors and Volunteers _______________________________________________________ Total Amount Raised $222.00 (This was within a weeks time period Total Meals Served Goal 50 meals Actual 56 meals Funds Donated to Homeless Shelter $75.00 There was enough to have funds and the remainder supplies donated to a homeless shelter. Back