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Monday, December 18th 2006

14:41 (663 days, 12h, 21min ago)

THANK YOU, "ELVES"!!!

Name: Andi Grant
Hometown: G2TT Headquarters
Anything you want to add: Happy Holidays, All!

First, thank you to Carol Kana, Beth Bellucci and all of the volunteers who wrapped gifts at the mall to raise money for our organization on Saturday.

At the same time, in our volunteer center in Rocky Hill, we had a full house. Santa's Elves packed 98 enormous holiday boxes. The event could have turned into a fiasco, but the volunteers saved the day.

You see, I was exhausted from my trip to Washington, DC (with cancelled flights on both ends of my trip) and was not well prepared. Additionally, in the morning, I waited online for 35 minutes at the wrong post office for an important document that I thought would be waiting for me and it wasn't, so I arrived at the center about 30 min. late. I called John Scanlon in a panic, so he could ask Security to come open the doors for everyone. Thank God John leaves his cell phone on!

When I got to our center it was PACKED.

Hundreds of donations had arrived,

including ones from ...

Green Chimneys School in Brewster, NY

and

DELOITTE & TOUCHE in McLean, VA

and

Cookies from Eileen Watson & her Cadette Girl Scout Troop #194

People were extremely busy sorting, talking, carrying boxes of donations, etc. There were a lot of people asking me things right as I walked in the door, and I was ready to collapse, cry, or turn around and go home.

... but I got myself settled, collected my thoughts, and starting printing the address labels for our care packages.

Before we packed, we gathered in our main room and Susan Dawid spoke. I handed 2 letters from troops in Iraq (that we had just received) to 2 newcomers to read aloud to everyone. It is the troops' letters and their own words which tell our story - not mine. I apologized for arriving late and explained the purpose of my trip to Washington, DC, and gave good news that we were in compliance with the Dept. of Defense regulations discussed at the summit I attended. Then I rushed back to my laptop to continue printing the labels.

We had approx. 100 people, including Southern Connecticut State University Students (thanks to Jack Mordente - an ESGR friend.) He brought young veterans with him, from many branches of the service who had returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. They were great! Jack was awesome. He is very energetic and motivated. I hope they all come back! According to Jack's email to me today - they all asked when the next packing party was! SCSU also gave us a TON of donations last week. My plan is to recruit them seems to be working!

Bob was at Walter Reed visiting our wounded and Libby, Elinor, Jeannette, Pilar and a few of our other faithful volunteers couldn't make it, but it still went really well! Maybe not as organized as I'd like, but it was successful, nonetheless.

I credit the packing party's success to: Kristy Tiede, Lydia Granitto, Alex Granitto, Jim Burns, Sue Chechoski, John Scanlon, Donna Brbovic, Susan Dawid, Susan Parent, Phyllis Kloeppner, Linda Liscinsky, Susan Perrone, Rose Marie Nelson, Dave O'Hagan, Melissa Brookson, David Sgro "Ricco", and a few more "regulars". They made it happen and let me do my administrative tasks...

Lydia and Alex Granitto handled the food and soda arrangements and Alex handled the trips to the Post Office. They were outstanding! Susan Dawid, Donna, Kristy, Linda, Phyllis and others managed the volunteers.

I had a small group of volunteers who packed the boxes which had "special requests" They were newcomers: a young lady named Katrina, another named Marsha, and Bryan & Mary Ayers. I called them my "Special Ops" team - and I have to say...they were FANTASTIC! Bryan was a natural at it!

Jim Burns single-handedly recorded the MOUNDS of new donations in my office. Lord only knows what my son, Ryan, was up to, but I think he actually helped!

Jim was awesome (as usual).

Oh! And 10,000 CDs from the band "Lustra" arrived and were shipped out.

Towards the end of the party, MORE donations came in from the Essex Board of Trade and another group, as well as from Mr. Ruocco, our Auditor, and his staff!

That evening, SPC Eric Shackelford (in Iraq) emailed me asking me if I could send him and his unit PEANUTBUTTER FUDGE! I told Eric we normally didn't send homebaked goods, but if he allowed me to choose a few folks we know well, I'd see what I could do. He was extremely grateful. So...

Do I have any takers??? (Why am I thinking Rose Marie Nelson or Carol Kana might jump at this?...)

Of course, today, at 3:12 PM, after Jim & Elinor left, 10 NEW boxes appeared via UPS and the Post Office! I sure hope they don't contain holiday items in them!

To all you "Santa's Elves,"

including those who have donated funds or collected items, I am extending my deep thanks for all you do and wish you a very Happy Holiday!

And to our troops - please know we are thinking about you during this holiday season and always.

Love,

Andi

6 Comments.

Posted by Carol Kana:

You know me too well Andi. I will make peanutbutter fudge and drop it off around Jan 1st.

Andi says: Thanks, Carol! Eric and fellow Kentucky National Guardsmen: You're going to be spoiled!

Monday, December 18th 2006 @ 16:41 (663 days, 10h, 21min ago)

Posted by Andrea Harmon:

Awesome job, Connecticut! Texas is working hard to get to that level, but we still have a lot to learn! You have a lot of dedicated workers with awesome hearts in Connecticut and I can't wait to be a part of that when I visit in January!

Monday, December 18th 2006 @ 21:34 (663 days, 5h, 28min ago)

Posted by Diane Hill:

Dear Andi,
I meant to write to you over the weekend but I lost track of time. A

I want to say "wow" to what an awesome experience I had as I took part in the packing party this past Saturday! I left there exhausted, but so grateful and fulfilled with warm fuzzy feelings of the work that we all accomplished. I truly felt so touched by the whole event and could not wait to come home to call my family and friends to tell them about it! As it was my first time volunteering there, I felt "at home" as soon as I sat down at a table where I thought those folks had been there before. It turned out that we were all first timers and we worked so well together, sharing a lot of laughter too!

I definitely want to take part every month at a packing party and will look forward to finding out when they are.

I wish you and your family a very happy, bright and healthy holiday season.
Love,
Diane
:)

Monday, December 18th 2006 @ 22:08 (663 days, 4h, 54min ago)

Posted by Bob Sarmuk:

I made my drop-off of donations on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised by two things in particular:
1) The very professional and grateful staff that was there to accept the items, and
2)The amount of items being donated!!
Someone donated a trailer FULL of Girl Scout cookies! Your volunteers asked me for a name so that "thanks" could be sent, but I was a little rushed for time. I just made the dropoff ...

The true thanks for researching your web site and donating the items goes to my wife Barbara E. Fernandez and my daughter Marissa F. Sarmuk.

Bob Sarmuk

Monday, December 18th 2006 @ 22:45 (663 days, 4h, 17min ago)

Posted by Susan:

I hear Lydia Granitto is going to make peanutbutter fudge and so is Carol Kana.

I heard that Andi plans on hosting a "FUDGE COOK OFF!" In January! I will definitely look for that one on the calendar!