Right Now, Standby...

Let’s focus today’s post on the nuts and bolts of what’s going on with the Foundation RIGHT NOW.

The picture to the right is of the latest round of $500 financial assistance grants headed out in the mail today.  Five more families helped.  Five more unbearable situations made a tiny bit more bearable.  That brings the total number of families helped since CJSTUF’s inception to 95 (We’ll be hitting 100 soon enough)!  That doesn’t include the hundreds of people fed during the Lunch Bunch and other meals programs facilitated by the Foundation or the emergency financial assistance provided in the form of utility bills paid, gas cards purchased, etc...

There’s only one way these things happen and that’s through your generosity.  Roger and Rachel Reynolds, The Board ofDirectors, and all involved with CJ’s Thumbs Up Foundation would like to thank everyone who have helped make this year more successful that we could have possibly imagined.  And it’s not over yet.

Our most recent fundraisers, The Amazing Raise and the Groupon Grassroots Campaign, have raised over $4,000 ($2,300+ of that guaranteeing at least 7 Lunch Bunch meals which will feed no less than 420 people).

The next thing is the Eagle Rare Award contest that continues into January.  People can vote once every 24 hours.

Now, the 500lb gorilla in the room is the Fall Art Auction on Friday, October 19 at the Cultural Art Center in Glen Allen.  There will be a dessert bar including chocolate fountain (YUM!), wine donated by The Caboose in Ashland, live and silent auctions with a variety of pieces ranging in value from $20 to $1,800, and (here’s the really cool part) three interactive artists who will be creating pieces during the evening.  Those pieces will be auctioned off at the end of the evening.

Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased here.

The future holds the kind of promise that can only come from seeing the exit of a very dark tunnel after being trapped inside for an extremely long time.

There will be wonderful Businesses Of The Month in November and December.  Please standby for details.

Initial plans are underway for a benefit bluegrass festival on Saturday, July 20, 2013 and a 1,000-mile bicycle ride in 2014; no official date as of today. (Mr. Roger needs a good road bike)

And yet, there are still other plans that are too early in the works to mention here.

For RIGHT NOW, please buy your tickets to the Fall Art Auction, vote for Rachel every 24 hours, and start getting your holiday shopping lists together to fill at our Nov. and Dec. Businesses Of The Month.

All you can do for the future events is standby…