Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Fluor Canada. You are The Spirit Of Giving !!!

MMMM Timmies for people who work in transportation...who knew........

We have found a new definition for WOW and it is  FLUOR Canada !!!!




18 Wheels of Christmas was invited by the Fluor Cares committee to be a part of their “Jeans Day for Food Event” Every employee who wants to wear jeans to work on the event day must bring a food or monetary donation for the food bank. This is the second year we were invited to this event and are absolutely amazed at the enthusiasm and generosity of these employees

At 6 am the 18 Wheels trailer pulled into the Fluor parking lot and we immediately set up. We barely had time to open the doors to the trailer when the donations started rolling in. Some were dropped off at the trailer others were dropped off in the beautiful front lobby of the Fluor building. Fluor had their cafeteria staff supply hot coffee for those of us outside (and it was cool at that time of the morning let me tell you) Coffee and donuts were available in the lobby for the donors and volunteers all morning.




It would not be a stretch to say every employee who walked into the building gave a donation. The bags of donations literally filled the main lobby area we could not bring in gaylords fast enough.  By 9 AM the parking lot was full and we had amassed 1550 pounds of donated food and a whopping $3,300.00 cash.

We have to thank the FLUOR Cares committee, Chris Demler, Kelsey Hough for inviting us to be a part of this amazing event.

18 Wheels of Christmas has a wonderful secret shopper who knows how to get the most food for the dollar. Our secret shopper turned the $3300.00 into 4625 pounds of food. This amount also included a 1500 pound skid of the precious baby food. With the initial food collected on event day these few hours gave 18 Wheels of Christmas 6175 pounds of food.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Saskatoon Media Advisory !

 
18 Wheels of Christmas Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre
December 20


 On December 20th at 11 AM, Rosenau Transport will be pulling up to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre in a 53 foot trailer with a very special Christmas gift. 18 Wheels of Christmas, conceived in 2002, was created to give the Global Transportation Community a way to give something back to the communities in which they live and work. As stated on the Rosenau website, "The concept, though simple, has far reaching effects for the less fortunate. Our ultimate goal is to use 18 Wheels of Christmas to stock every Food Bank in every community across the country at Christmas time!" Says Laurie O’Connor, Interim CEO of the Food Bank and Learning Centre: "This donation ensures that we can meet people’s needs in the coming months. We could not be more pleased with Rosenau’s tremendous show of support for the community." Carrie Willey from Rosenau Transport had this to say: "We are excited and thrilled that we can help those in need. We are really happy that the other transport companies and the public have pulled together to help make our campaign such a success in Saskatoon."
MEDIA INQUIRIES Laurie O’Connor
Interim CEO
Saskatoon Food Bank
Cell: (306) 370-6998
www.saskatoonfoodbank.org

Carrie Willey
Rosenau Transport
Ph: (306)244-7088

www.rosenau.org

Douglas Lake Sobey's

December 3, 2011

We were invited back to the Douglas Square Sobey’s by our 2 favorite ladies Vyetta and Bev with this year a special request for our appearance from the store manager Jamie. This is the 9th year we have been at this location and the people of the Douglas Glen and Douglasdale communities never stop surprising us.

Santa and his trailer arrived at 9:30 AM. The weather was pleasant and our enthusiasm was visible by the smiles on our faces. From the moment the doors to the trailer were opened and the music playing we had shoppers filling our grocery cart. The steady stream of people never seemed to end and neither did the smiles. The youngsters always excited to see Santa for a picture, a hug or a special treat from his bag kept the smiles on our faces until we closed the doors to the trailer at 1PM.

Once more we experienced the generosity of people and cannot describe the feeling as hampers and bags of groceries were placed in our shopping cart filling it to the brim. We could not empty the cart fast enough. There was not one special moment at this location as the entire 3 ½ hours spent there was special.

18 Wheels of Christmas came away with case lots of tuna, peanut butter, mac and cheese and a case of rice. To top this all off the Sobey’s manager, Jamie, and her team donated 50 prepackaged food hampers!!!!! Ask us if we are HAPPY?!!!!

We are now that much closer to filling this trailer to the limit for our December 21st food bank delivery.

Again, Vyetta and Bev your spirit of support for this campaign is unmatched, thank you!!!!!!

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Generosity Of Lake Bonavista

Could the Community of Lake Bonavista be more generous??!!!

November 26 found us at the Lake Bonavista Promenade from 9:30 AM until 1:00 PM. The weather was warm and so were the hearts of this Community. Vyetta and Bev invited 18 Wheels of Christmas back for the 9th year in a row. The residents of this SE Calgary location never stop amazing us.

In the few hours we were there we received 390.00 in cash donations (this goes to the purchase of baby food) and filled 8 food bank donation boxes with non-perishable food items. The friendliness and compassion of these people absolutely knock our socks off. We saw people purchase cases of the pre-packaged food hampers bring them out to the trailer get into their vehicle and leave; which left us with the impression these kind people were only at the mall to donate to our cause.

To watch this kindness and to see how the parents of younger children teach the art of giving selflessly to others is alive and well does the heart good.

Santa and his gift bag were again a big hit with the little ones and even some of the older ones who could not resist a picture with the big guy and enjoy a candy cane.

We all left tired but happy and so grateful for the chance to once again be a part of the Lake Bonavista Community.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Okotoks Holiday Light up

Twas a cold, frosty night but the hearts and smiles were warm!!


The Okotoks Holiday Light up was a huge success this year. This was the  3rd year 18 Wheels of Christmas had a presence at the Holiday Light Up and to date our most successful. The weather was not in agreement for the 18 Wheels crew at -25 and windy it was the coldest we had experienced at this venue. The families taking part in the festivities certainly warmed the hearts of our volunteers with their donations of cash and food.

18 Wheels was very pleased to present to Karen Wilke of the Okotoks Food Bank $970.00 in cash donations, over 50 bags of Safeway food hampers and 10 bags of donated food. The generosity and compassion of this community is outstanding. There were groups handing out toques in case you forgot yours and another with hot apple cider which the 18 Wheels crew was very grateful for.

From the start of the evening’s festivities to the closing with a brilliant fireworks display all we can say is thank you Marg, Karen and the wonderful people of Okotoks for inviting us to share another evening with you. We look forward to next year.

Saskatoon is Rocking the Numbers!

We had a very exciting time at the Santa Claus parade here in Saskatoon, We received honorable mention for our campaign on November 20th.
Since we began collecting for the Saskatoon Food Bank and learning Centre we have to date received $5,746.11 in monetary donations.
We look forward to attending the Saskatoon Blades game November 30th with our trailer.
On December 10th we will be located at The centre at Circle and 8th Street from 9-12pm and Sobey’s  in Preston Crossing from 1-4pm
Again we are looking into setting  up our trailer on December 17th at the Mall at Lawson Heights from 9-12pm.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Douglas Lake Mall welcomes 18 Wheels again

18 Wheels of Christmas has been invited back to the Douglas Square Mall Sobey’s for Dec 3 from 10 am to 12 pm. This mall along with the Lake Bonavista Promenade has been a major contributor to 18 Wheels of Christmas since our first year. Once again a huge thank you to Yvetta and Bev for their continued support.

Saskatoon is going hard !

Ok, all of our sponsors, partners and contributors to The 18 Wheels Of Christmas Campaign better start stepping up if they want to keep up to Toon Town!! Way to go Carrie, Chelsey and Team!

Saskatoon has a new major sponsor.
C95, Rock 102, and News Talk Radio 650 CKOM
As well;  we will be located at The mall at Lawson Heights November 26th from 9am-12pm
Extra Foods on Waneskewin Road from 1pm-4pm on Nov 26th
Then December 10th we will be located at The Circle at Centre and 8th Street from 9am-12pm and Sobey’s at Preston Crossing that afternoon from 1pm-4pm.
We will make our delivery to the Saskatoon Food Bank and learning Centre on December 20th.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Lake Bonavista !

Make sure you join the Calgary Crew at the Lake Bonavista Promenade on November 26th from
9:30 am to 1:30 pm. These folks have been long time supporters of the 18 Wheels Of Christmas Campaign. This is being hosted by Vyetta Sunderland and Bev Blue.  Come on out and show your appreciation and help support a worthy cause. Our goal is to ensure NO ONE goes hungry at Christmas and beyond.

Remember,

The Magic Begins With You !

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

And The Fun Begins !


There is no better place to start the update than where 18 Wheels all started.....Calgary has been fielding calls and turning wheels....I know this is just the start....

So far Calgary has

November 18th  Okotoks Holday Light Up this is our 3rd year doing this

December 9th we are at Fluor from 6am to 12PM this is a Fluor driven food collection event. Last year we collected about 12 food donation boxes from this Company in 2 hours.  Bonita Hamilton of Fluor organizes this event and her response from the employees is tremendous.

In Saskatoon, things are really shaping up as Saskatoon Coordinator Carrie Wiley updates us........


In Saskatoon we are planning the following events:

1)  We are going to televise our campaign on CTV to inform the following events with Jeff Rogstad.
2)  We will take part in the 21st Annual Santa Claus Parade November 20th-2011
3)  As well we plan to set up the 18 Wheels of Christmas trailer at three different mall locations accept donations, and raise money toward helping those in need.

Lawson Heights Mall
Sobeys
Centre at Circle and 8th

4) We also have planned to set up donation boxes throughout different locations in the city.
5) There will also  be the help of elementary schools putting together hampers of non perishable food items.

With the money raised we will purchase much needed items for the Food Bank.
Once again we are challenging others in the transport business, and suppliers to help fill this trailer.
We will deliver the food on December 20th to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre.

Outstanding Carrie, We look forward to hearing more from Toon Town on the success of these collection efforts!

Out in Brandon Manitoba, Coordinator Paul Drakely could barely get the first invitation out and his phone was ringing off the hook......

 Well we are just getting going with this. I am trying to get ahold of the local food bank to start this all off. I received our first $500 dollar donation within 15 minutes of sending out our invitation to all our friends out there. A very big thank you and well done to the crew at Crane Steel.

And out in Sparwood BC, Event Coordinator Cindy Dwyer is itching to get that region rolling and has been in contact with local businesses and service clubs with a view to knocking last years efforts out of the water.....

2011 Bigger and Better

You know all those promises you make ......Yes honey, I am going to finish the basement....Yes honey, I will clean up my tools....Yes Mom, I will clean my room...... Yes organizers and executives of The Eighteen Wheels Of Christmas...I will keep up the Blog ! It is completely unnecessary and unprofessional of you to threaten me with that whole Santa Claus and the naughty list..(Just in case, let him know I am trying to catch up)

So sorry, we have been somewhat lax on updating you all on the blog......but NO longer......we shall endeavor to set the matter straight......we shall move forward.....we shall forge ahead.....we shall...........ummm well you get the idea. Stay Tuned, all of our wonderful 18 Wheels Supporters. There is much news to come and many terrific anouncements......and this time, we shall keep you posted.....