Wendy's June 22, 2013

WOW! We are beyond grateful and incredibly humbled but the outpouring of support and donations that came out of the Saturday, June 22, 2013 event hosted at Wendy’s Restaurant at 1200 N. State Street in North Vernon. Amy Henderson (store manager) and her staff, along with the Henderson family pulled out all the stops to make this daylong event one to remember! It was a day of car washing, baked good consuming, lemonade drinking and face painting fun all to raise money to buy Hunter a Wheelchair Accessible van.

The list of people to thank is incredibly long and we apologize if we have missed anyone. We would not be able to raise the funds we need without the support of the community! The estimated cost to procure a van suitable for Hunter is large and simply put there is no way we can achieve our goal without each and every one of you. From the people that donate their time, talent, prizes and baked goods to the people that come out and buy t-shirts and cookies, each of you is important to us!

 We can’t thank Amy and her crew at Wendy’s enough. She is so proud of her team and she has every reason to be! Amy asked us to share this message from her to her staff:

“Just want to say Thank you to all of my employees and Managers that made Hunter’s day such a great day it was the biggest one they have done so far. So everyone should feel proud. Thank you to Samantha that helped me get donations and helped in the hot on your day off, to Jenny for getting the coolers and helping me keep things straight, to Chantal for helping run the store the day of and keeping me from having to, and to Ray for coming an helping with stuff like getting me duct tape and things for the hoses, and Raymon for finding people to paint faces and be Wendy, and Chandra and Jonathan for making signs for me and to all the crew that bought Tshirts and Ribbons and to support you guys are great with big hearts and I love you all I wanted it to be big for Hunter and it was awesome so THANK YOU all!!!!”

Thank you to Jason and Erica Ruckel Noel from Mixed Soundz Entertainment who donated their services and set the backdrop by spinning tunes and making announcements all day long. Sisters Floral & Gifts, Kelley’s Greenhouse and Joyce’s Flowers, Inc. all donated crazy cool balloons to make sure everyone knew there was a party going on at Wendy’s! And bakers like high school student Kirsten Rose Giddings (who we think has an excellent future in her chosen path of going to culinary school) and Molly Monday of Molly Ann's Bakery made sure there were plenty of goodies for everyone to choose from! 

Speaking of bakers… Who knew we had such amazing talent in town? You ladies, ALL OF YOU, rocked it out AGAIN! From full size sheet cakes to fudge to muffins and bread, cookies, brownies, the variety of treats seemed endless! And based on sales (almost a complete sell out) everyone who stopped by agreed, there are no better bakers in the world than the ladies of Indiana!!!! Every single time we’ve put out the call you guys make sure the sugar starts flowing! There are no words to express our gratitude so you will have to be satisfied with the sight of growing waistlines! 

When we posted looking for volunteers to come help us on the 22^nd, Jason Hacker and Josh Leak, coaches for the Jennings County 5^th and 6^th grade Panthers Basketball team answered the call. The team, along with their parents and siblings SLAM DUNKED the car wash! Talk about hustle! These guys washed more cars (and one dog lol) than anyone could have ever anticipated! Even Hunter got in on the sudsing action! Not to be outdone, more than a few of their sisters spent the day selling these really cool paracord necklaces! In fact hunter loves his so much, he’s still refusing to take it off! Sure there was plenty of water play (even the big kids could not resist a little splashing on a hot day) but these guys more than earned their place among the ranks of Hunter’s Heroes and Hunter personally made sure each member of the team, their sisters and the coaches all went home with one of the newly available Hunter’s Heroes bracelets! 

Wendy’s manager Amy Henderson’s son Noah came up with the awesome idea to have a lemonade stand! Who could resist buying a cup from such cuties? Artistry In Motion Tattoo & Piercing shop not only came out to support Hunter but called later in the day to ask if someone could bring t-shirts by their shop as they had customers wanting to purchase their own after seeing one in the window! Christina Collins, Wendy Batts, Lisa Moore, Amber Asher, Casey Boyd Miller, Kasey Woodward Birge, Linda Witters, Sherry Lafferty, Kristy Thompson Miller, Don Beihle, Jami Bain, Jeremiah Harriman, Samantha Kuntz and too many others to list. THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything! People like you are the heart and soul of Hunter’s Heroes!

Of course none of this would even be possible without the continued support of Trent Low of Fresh Printz. Not only is Fresh Printz the exclusive supplier of all Hunter’s Heroes apparel and signs, he also loaned us tables and made even made a donation (tears were shed –seriously –Trent Low is just an OUTSTANDING human and business man). Trent buddy! FIRE UP the press because we pretty much sold out of small and medium shirts and the ladies are still patiently waiting to be able to purchase tank tops (available starting July 4^th at N. Vernon City Park –come see us)!

We would also like to extend a special thank you for the continued support of the Batts Family of Wissel’s Auto Service. Stacy and Frank, there are no words to adequately convey how much you and your family mean to Hunter, the Darlage family and the team behind the scenes at Hunter’s Heroes! Whether it’s keeping the Darlage-mobile running, volunteering on site at events, baking, donating soap for the carwash or any of the dozens of other things you do, big and small, you clearly exemplify what we mean when we use the word heroes.  

Just a reminder for everyone that bought tickets for the 50/50 Drawing, as advertised the pot is being held over and ticket sales will continue at the July 4^th event going on over at the North Vernon City Park (need not be present to win)! We’ve got some exciting things planned for July 4^th so make sure to stay tuned for more information!