Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Target Turns Woe Into Wonder

My dad read this to me yesterday morning when we were opening gifts. It made my day!

Target turns woe into wonder

News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) - News B6
Kathryn Their, The Charlotte Observer
Published: December 25, 2007

Jody Schwandt, executive director of the Mooresville Soup Kitchen, got the call at 8:30 a.m. Christmas Eve.

Would the soup kitchen like some food? Not just some food, but every frozen food item at the SuperTarget in Mooresville -- from pork loins to chicken to vegetables and frozen dinners.

It needed to be taken quickly. A computer malfunction had shut the store's entire freezer system, including storage walk-in freezers in back and display cases out front.

Schwandt and folks from First Baptist Church, which houses the soup kitchen, cobbled together a volunteer crew Monday to load, haul and sort the food.

The group twice filled two 18-foot-long commercial trucks lent by church member Randy Marion, owner of area car dealerships. Volunteers also made one trip in the church van with a trailer behind it.

"If it's frozen and they sell it at Target, we got a little bit of it," said Joe Cullen, the church's Baptist Men director.

Most of the food will stock the soup kitchen's freezers for weeks to come. Food that the soup kitchen can't use was distributed to families in need from other area churches.

Morrows Chapel United Methodist Church took frozen waffles for the Sunday breakfasts it serves to churchgoers without enough food at home.

"By thinking pretty quick," Cullen said, "[the store] was really able to bless a lot of people at Christmas time."

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Donate ECU Hawaii Bowl Tickets to the Troops!

If I can't go to Hawaii to see a bowl game (isn't it sad that ECU was my only hope to go to a bowl game this holiday vacation?), I want to make sure someone gets to enjoy it who truly deserves it!

From the ECU Athletics Email List:
"This Tuesday is your last opportunity to help send our military service men and women to the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, Sunday, December 23. Many dedicated service members are stationed in the Pacific area and the East Carolina Pirates, as an extension of our regular season Tickets For Troops campaign, will be providing a number of tickets through donation to the five branches of the military.

Pirate fans who donate tickets through Tickets For Troops will receive a commemorative 2007 Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl ticket for their donations. You may contribute to the effort by calling 1-800-DIAL-ECU or through our online Ticket Donation.

PLEASE HURRY! The donation deadline is set for 5:00pm, Tuesday, December 18, in order to allow delivery and distribution to our troops. More than 2,000 tickets have been donated by your fellow Pirates, and every ticket that is purchased for donation by this deadline will be included!

Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl officials are cooperating with the United States Pacific Command to identify deserving marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen and their dependents who are not traveling home stateside for the holidays.

As the Pirates prepare for their clash against Boise State in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, please consider purchasing tickets to help send local Hawai'i-based military personnel and their families to Aloha Stadium to cheer for the Pirates. Thank you for your continued support of Pirate Athletics, and for helping us paint the holidays PURPLE for our troops in the islands!

GO PIRATES!

Pirate Football
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Phone: 252-737-4570
Fax: 252-737-4646

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