Fishes & Loaves & Five Hour Energy Drink
I haven’t been posting very regularly lately. I’ve been a little busy, what with the fundraising and all. This year’s Christmas campaign was the hardest since I got into this line of work. It was also the most rewarding.
We had a 40% increase in Christmas Assistance applications. Though many people were frightened by the thought of running out of toys, my staff (who I appreciate more than they know) never doubted we could do it. Neither did I. And that faith was rewarded. Not only did we manage to serve 917 families, we loaded an entire box truck with extra toys. Fishes and loaves…
I was also introduced to 5 Hour Energy drink on one of our many 14+ hour days. (Thanks Crissy!!) It came in handy more than once during the past few months. I’m not complaining though. We serve too many people that are worse off than us to fall in that trap. But this year was definitely harder. I guess that’s why it makes it so much more rewarding and humbling that today we can announce that we hit our Christmas goal of $2,750,000!
Indianapolis is a special place. Many other cities in the Midwest were not able to meet the demand this year. But Central Indiana really came through. Of course, there are many people to thank. Everyone at WISH-TV, WIBC, Emmis Communications, Planned Investments, Wal-Mart, and Mayor Greg Ballard. There are too many to list here, but we’re grateful just the same.
Tomorrow, I’ll get back to the usual nonsense that comprises this blog. And, I’ll commence the final stages of 7 Dead Flamingos -a novel that’s been in the works for three years! It has taken that long because seeing those fishes and loaves moments takes a lot of time. And a lot of 5 Hour Energy Drinks.
Thank you, Citizens!
January 14th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Congrats on the goal – that’s awesome!
James and I had our fishes and loaves moments too. Working with the Marines and Toys For Tots, we had no clue if we were going to be able to give gifts to all of our families (we had a huge increase as well). At one point I even mentioned the loaves and fishes concept to the Gunny Sgt in charge of the toys – thankfully, he understood – and appreciated my words. We too ended up with toys left over and were able to give away more than they thought we were going to be able to give away.
TGCIO! Thank God, Christmas is Over! =)
Blessings.