Friday, December 21, 2012

CALGARY DELIVERS THE GOODS !



2012 Wrap Up Calgary

You did it!!! Your generosity enabled 18 Wheels of Christmas to deliver 26 skids of food for a total of 24,250 pounds to the Calgary Food Bank on December 18th. The centre of attention was a Christmas tree made entirely of the baby food purchased with cash donations collected throughout this year’s campaign. We also had an additional 1 ½ skids of baby food donated by Heinz Canada and Save-On-Foods. The Rotary Youth built a Christmas tree out of these jars and had it on display at Fifth Avenue Place in support of the Food Bank’s annual food drive. In support of this year’s campaign we sent 2 cheques totaling $3,550.00 to the Calgary Food Bank.

18 Wheels of Christmas was again invited to Lake Bonavista Promenade, Douglas Square Mall and for the second year to Fluor Canada Jeans Day Event for Food.  Along with our loyal supporters such as Stan Poulsen Trucking, Bess Tank Lines,  Rosenau Transport, Boghean & Company,  Style-Craft Printing, Midwest Surveys, Vitran,  TST Overland, Consolidated Fast Frate, Desa Glass, Univar Canada, Gibson Energy we also found this campaign to have a few new ones. We would like to thank Westfreight Systems, J&R Hall, Hill Bros., Mika Trucking and The Filling Station for their participation to this year’s campaign. Without your donations and contributions we would not have met our target of filling the trailer. Thank you!!!!!!!

This is 18 Wheels of Christmas 10th year in operation and we are still amazed with the generosity of the companies and individuals we contact each and every year for donations. It is this dedication of support which has allowed 18 Wheels of Christmas to continue and to grow. 18 Wheels of Christmas is now in Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton,
Lloydminster, Sparwood BC and as far north as Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, BC.

18 Wheels of Christmas consists of a strong team of volunteers, drivers, dispatchers and warehouse staff, mechanics and graphic department who give up their evenings and weekends to help in making each campaign a success. 18 Wheels could not do without you. Thank you!!!!

Saskatoon Round Up!

Saskatoon 18 Wheels Of Christmas 2012 Wrap Up
What a great year here in Saskatoon to help support our local Food Bank and Learning Centre. We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day to walk in-front of the truck handing out candy canes along the way. During our Annual Santa Claus Parade.  We aired our 18 Wheels of Christmas campaign with Jeff Rogstad and Deborah from The Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre.  The hospitality we received from Extra Foods on Waneskewin Road and Sobeys Preston Crossing was amazing. There we collected donations and sold raffle tickets. To date we have raised over 16 thousand dollars for the Food Bank.  Through our major sponsors we received from Fort Garry Industries;  lights to deck out the Christmas trailer and Rawlco Radio sponsored  $16,500 in advertising for our campaign.  On December 19th we transported 16 skids to the Food Bank.  Great Job SaskatoonJ
Here are the people that we would like to thank for their donations of food and money to make this year a great success.
Back to Your Roots                                          Department Of Highways             Nexus Ag
Bridge Carriers                                                Husky Travel Centre                     Northstar Innovative
Canada West Truck Centre                             Stevenson Wheel                          NSC Minerals
ClearTech                                                        Victor Chudyk                                Park Derochie
Comco Systems                                               Rawlco Radio                                Parrish & Heimbecker
The Comco Systems Staff                               Heinz Hofman                                RDK Transport
Epsilon Chemicals                                           Kramer                                           RJ’s Excavating
Extra Foods – Wanuskewin Dr.                       W R T Equipment                           Saskatoon Truck Brite
Ghost Transport                                               Maxim                                      Sobeys-Preston Crossing
Kleysen Group LP                                            Fort Garry                                        Titan Transport
Jay’s Moving & Storage                                   Brad’s Towing                                 Traeger BBQ
JBM Transport                                                   Tradex Commodity                         Turner Transport
Lawson Heights Elementary School                 Matt Fagnou                                    Smokehaus
Malcolm & Mary Legget                                   Watrous Mainline Motors          
Volvo                                                               The Mall at Lawson Heights             Shawn Souster
 

Saskatoon Press Release!


ROSENAU TRANSPORT’S 18 WHEELS OF CHRISTMAS ROLLS UP TO THE SASKATOON FOOD BANK & LEARNING CENTRE!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA EVENT: 18 Wheels of Christmas
WHEN: December 19th 10:30 AM
WHERE: Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre, 202 Avenue C South, Saskatoon, SK.

Wednesday, December 18th at approximately 10:30 AM, Rosenau Transport’s beautifully decorated semi will be pulling up to the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre with a very special delivery. 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 Carrie Willey from Rosenau: “This is our fourth year doing this initiative in Saskatoon and our 10th year across Western Canada. We have contributed to communities in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.  This is how we enjoy supporting our communities. We feel this is an important thing to do because the price of food today in grocery stores makes life really difficult for people- everything seems smaller but the prices are getting higher. It’s hard to eat healthy when you can’t afford it one on income.”

Laurie O’Connor, Executive Director of the Saskatoon Food Bank & Learning Centre, says that Rosenau’s support is greatly appreciated: “We really enjoy our partnership with Rosenau Transport. This company truly goes above and beyond-it’s a huge undertaking on their part.”

O’Connor says that the staff and volunteers at the food bank really look forward to Roaenau’s donation: “Every year we get to see this gorgeous semi roll up-it’s such an exciting time, because we know how much this means to our community.  We also love to see the folks from Rosenau- they are so thrilled to be able to make a big difference in the lives of people who come to the food bank, and their enthusiasm is an inspiration for our entire community.”



MEDIA CONTACTS:

Laurie O’Connor
Executive Director, Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre
P: 1 (306) 664-6565 extension 232 C: 1 (306) 370-6998 W: www.saskatoonfoodbank.org

Carrie Willey, Rosenau Transport
Ph: (306)244-7088 W: www.rosenau.org

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Terry Evans Of K 97 and 18 Wheels Of Christmas!

For the past five years, Terry Evans of K 97 radio has pledged to live in the 18 Wheels Of Christmas trailer until it is full. Once again, he did not disappoint the Edmonton Food Bank. Congratulations to Terry, the Edmonton crew and 18 Wheels Of Christmas. Ask and Ye shall receive...one full trailer of donations!!











Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sparwood has a big heart!



 
The Crowsnest Pass is a community in decline, between the layoffs at the mines and the Devon plant closing, hundreds of people are now without work. This is hard enough when there is no one else involved but life becomes more difficult when the family includes children, especially young children, and when it is Christmas time. These out of work parents all want to give their children the happiest Christmas possible, which includes having toys under the tree Christmas morning. Knowing how difficult this simple wish can be for some parents to fulfill K&K Forwarding, Rosenau Transport as part of the 18 Wheels of Christmas 2012 campaign teamed up with the Women’s Resource Center and the Stones Throw cafe in order to collect toys for the children whose parents cannot afford them.
On November 27 the ‘Support our Troops’ trailer was parked across the street of Stones Throw Cafe in Blairmore. Together Steve Galbraith (Sparwood Operations Manger), his fiancĂ©, and drivers Steve and Kalvin (with two of his sons) gathered donations of toys and books along with the odd donation of food for the food bank. The toy drive was scheduled from 10am to 2pm, but as more people were arriving and asking if they could come back with toys the drive went until 3pm. All of the toys were high quality and everyone brought more than one toy, one lady brought an entire trunk full of toys. Even those people who did not bring a toy gave money so more toys could be bought. It was heart warming to see the people donate nearly $2400 worth of toys and $315 in cash. Thank you to the volunteers and to all those who donated this Christmas will be a merry one for the children of the Crowsnest Pass.  Hopefully next year we can put smiles on the faces of even more children.





Lloydminster Update!

The totals are in for the Food Drives done in the Lloydminster areas. Vermilion, Manville and Wainwright collected a total of $ 7,536 dollars in donations and an astounding $25,000 in Lloydminster itself. Well Done Everyone..!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Lloydminster Never Dissapoints

The 18 Wheels Of Christmas Spirit is alive and well in Lloydminster. December 8th, 2012 saw the Lloydminster Rosenau Crew out for 18 Wheels with plenty of support from the media and the community.

Our friends with The Brittania Wilton Fire Department were on hand as well helping out this great cause!


It is always terrific to see our customers , suppliers and competitors out to support this cause. Here, our friends at Tirecraft came down with a donation.
A Happy bunch of Food Bank Supporters!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

FLUORTASTIC!!!!!!!!


December 7th
 
What goes on at 6 A.M. on a Friday morning??? We can tell you what. While some of you were still cozy in your beds and some of you were in your kitchen enjoying a hot cup of Java or Cocoa some of us were outside freezing taking donations of non-perishable food items, frozen turkeys and dollars.

Fluor Canada has this amazing team which works under the banner of Fluor Cares. This is a committee of dedicated individuals who give their time organizing event days to raise money for different charities.
We are very privileged to have been invited back to be a part of their Jeans Day Event for the second year in a row. This Event is staged so the Fluor Canada team members can wear jeans to work on that day. The premise is very simple wear jeans to work and bring a food or $$$ donation. To show the team member has donated they are given a tag to wear. A simple idea indeed but the results are WOW!!!!. Fluor Cares advertises this event as In Support of 18 Wheels of Christmas. (We are headliners)


This event starts at 6AM when it is very cold and goes until 9AM when it is a little warmer (not much) and slowly we make our way into the lobby. Santa and his elf Skippy hand out candy canes and warm wishes.
In 3 hours these team members donated $3,423.45, 12 Food Bank gaylords of food and 5 frozen turkeys. These donations came from 4 of their locations 2 in the Sunpark Plaza, 1 in Quarry Park and 1 in Canyon Meadows.
Thank you to all the Fluor members!!!!!!

This Community never disappoints!!!


18 Wheels of Christmas was invited back for the 10th year to Lake Bonavista Promenade where we are never disappointed. The morning was fairly chilly but the weatherman promised it would warm up. It never did but the cold certainly did not keep this community locked in their snug homes. When we arrived Vyetta and Bev were already there waiting for us. We got the sandwich boards out the music blaring and then Santa made his arrival known with his huge HOHOHO voice.



As soon as we had opened the trailer doors Maureen (the Safeway Manager in this mall) rolled out a shopping cart full of hampers which her and her team had collected for us the day before. Talk about a good start to a chilly day. These types of donations went on from 9:30 AM right up until we closed the trailer doors at 1:30 PM. We collected an astonishing 12 Food Bank gaylords full to the brim and $465.00 cash (for baby food). Lake Bonavista really knows how to share the spirit of the season. Our 18 Wheels of Christmas Santa put smiles on many of the youngsters out shopping with their parents his candy canes went quite fast.
We were treated to the most delicious lemon mango muffins ever freshly made and still warm by the ladies at THE FRIDGE. Every year this shop treats us to something special last year it was apple cider.
Our time for the season is starting to wind down… this Friday we will be found at Fluor Canada for their Fluor Cares Jeans for Food event and then we must send the Christmas Trailer to Jodi and Ken in Edmonton for Terry Evans of K97 to live in the trailer until it is full. Here’s hoping the weather is warmer for you this year Terry than it has been in the past.
Truly amazing!!!!!!!
18 Wheels of Christmas always delivers to the Calgary Food Bank a Christmas tree made entirely of baby food from the generous cash donations we receive our warehouse staff builds it and it is the first thing to come off the trailer when we deliver. This has become our signature picture for the last 10 years.



 This year things have been changed up a bit. This year in support of 18 Wheels of Christmas the Food Bank asked if they could do it themselves. The fine folks of the Food Bank went to work and found a donor who would donate enough baby food for the tree. They also had in mind who they would like to build it.
The picture you see here is the Christmas tree the Rotary Youth built with the truly amazing donation of a skid and a half of baby food from Save-on-Foods and Heinz Canada. The tree is located at Fifth Avenue Place in Calgary and will be delivered by 18 Wheels of Christmas on December 18th.
Thank you to everyone who was involved with this amazing project.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Two Fantastic Ladies !

In the 10 years 18 Wheels of Christmas has been up and running we have seen a lot of support, generosity in donations and many of the heartfelt thank you from complete strangers for what we do but nothing compares to our favourite 2 ladies. Vyetta and Bev have constantly supported and promoted 18 Wheels of Christmas all of these 10 Years by inviting us into their business and accepting donations from their customers and friends. It needs to be mentioned as well Vyetta and Bev brave the cold (or even when it is above zero) right along with us. They have a unique way of obtaining donations and letting people know what we are all about.

This year was no exception once again they invited us to set up in front of the Sobey’s in Douglasglen Square and once again the generous spirit of this Community came shining through. We collected 2 large boxes of donated food, $515.00 in food vouchers and $150.00 in cash. The cash donations go towards the purchase of baby food which is often overlooked. This was all collected in 2 hours. We can not thank Vyetta and Bev enough.

On December 1 we will be at Lake Bonavista Promenade from 9:30 am – 1:00 pm Vyetta and Bev will be right there with us.

Colleen A. Nickel

Saturday, November 24, 2012

18 Wheels And The Grinch Visit Fort St. John !

Well 18 Wheels traveled a little closer to the North Pole Saturday November 24th and visited The Energetic City, Fort St. John BC!

Thanks to the generosity of the folks in Ft. St. John BC and especially our hosts at Home Hardware, our first collection day here was a success! Once again, we partnered with N.E.A.T. While they were in the store doing their Christmas Light Exchange, we were outside collecting donations and handing out coupons for the Home Hardware Store for every donation!

It was a bit frigid out there but thanks to an endless supply of Tim Horton's coffee, we made it through the day. Chris, Karen and Brandon made the trip up from Dawson Creek and spent the day at The Home Hardware Store in Fort St. John BC. The day was not without it's difficulties however, we started our day off by getting stuck in some deep snow. Luckily Alec from the Ft. St. John Terminal showed up with a tow rope and gave us a little tug and got us rolling again.

There was another tense moment when The Grinch showed up, threatening to deprive us of our hard earned Food Donations!

However, after we explained to the Grinch that all the food we collected was staying in the community and going over to The Local Food Bank, it melted her little icicle heart and she began to help promote our cause!

 After we were done, we transferred all of the donations over to the pick up truck to run up to the Food Bank. It was a bit tight in the alley way and we decided that though it would be cool to deliver with the 18 Wheels Trailer, we might be stuck there until Spring came along!
 Thank you once again to Dzengo and Karen from N.E.A.T., (The Northern Environmental Action Team) for inviting us to be a partner with them in their annual event.
I really want to extend my appreciation to my girlfriend, Karen and also to Brandon Jensen from Dawson Creek for giving up yet another Saturday to help out with this worthwhile cause. Your willingness to give so freely of your time shows a true representation of your characters and is a reflection upon you and the community in which you live.

Well, we are getting the trailer polished up and ready to make the trek back down south for some exciting 18 Wheels events down in Edmonton and Calgary. Good Luck guys and we can't wait for next year to make it even bigger and better!

Chris Richards
Dawson Creek BC

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Rosenau Team Member Gets into the Action!

Jeff Mayo, an Edmonton Line Driver and his family took a snapshot out of the movie, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation!

They decorated their home with literally thousands of lights which no doubt have attracted much attention in their neighborhood!

In addition to the incredible light display which I'm sure took many hours to design and put up, Jeff and his family added the piece da resistance dead centre of the display.




A collection box for 18 Wheel Of Christmas!



Jeff says his goal is to fill a body job for the 18 Wheels Of Christmas Food Bank drive in the Edmonton area! Way to go Jeff, we salute you and your family for undertaking this! It is the contributions of people like Jeff and his family that make this such a terrific event and cause to be involved in. How about the rest of you out there?m Let's get a box in front of every house!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Busy...Busy...Busy ...!

18 Wheels of Christmas is busy busy busy we were back for the 4th year to Okotoks and the celebration they put on every year to mark the Christmas Season. Holiday Light Up kicked the season off on November 16th. This community really knows how to do it right. The main street is closed to everything except foot traffic. For the whole length of the main street there are fire pits on every street corner. Food vendors, hayrides and cartoon characters up and down the street. The big guy in red is always there greeting all the wee ones and handing out candy canes. Right in the middle of all the celebration is 18 Wheels of Christmas, the stereo blaring carols and our volunteers chatting with the families, petting dogs and most of all collecting cash and food donations for the Okotoks Food Bank. Karen Wilke of the Food Bank had some food bank volunteers on hand this year to help and boy did we need it. The donations started almost as soon as we finished setting up and continued this way until the fire works ended a fabulous evening. 18 Wheels was able to turn over to Karen Wilke and the Okotoks Food Bank $2766.50 in cash donations plus $600.00 in prepackaged food hampers as well as at least the same amount in dollar value of donated food from the fine folks of Okotoks.

A huge thank you to Karen Wilkes for the advertising and your volunteers, Mark Doherty of Okotoks Public Works for the awesome parking spot last but not least Janet and Kent for their unwavering support and enthusiasm.

November 24th you will find 18 Wheels of Christmas at the Douglas Glen Square in front of the Sobey’s then December 1 we will be at Lake Bonavista Promenade. These 2 venues have supported 18 Wheels for TEN years and we look forward to the invite from Vyetta and Bev every time. December 7th we will be a Fluor for their annual Food for Jeans Day.

Dawson Creek has it's first 18 Wheels!

For the first time, the 18 Wheels Of Christmas trailer made an appearance in the City Of Dawson Creek BC! On Saturday, November 17th, 2012, we partnered up with NEAT (Northern Environmental Action Team) and CJDC for an exciting day at the Canada Safeway store in Dawson Creek. This is an annual event put on by CJDC and we were honoured and privileged to be invited to partner up with them.

Despite frigid temperatures, the generous folks in Dawson Creek donated 1500 lbs of food for our local Salvation Army Food Bank. CJDC was on site all day doing radio promotions while our local Rosenau staff braved the frigid temperatures and filled the trailer.

On Monday November 19th, we brought the food over to the Food Bank and helped fill many empty shelves and created a few smiles.




I would sincerely like to thank our Rosenau staff who donated their time and helped out on collection day. Brandon Jensen, David Pelle, Bruce Sydnam, Molly Watson, Harold Modahl, Aron and Tracy Threinen.

I would also like to thank the terrific folks at N.E.A.T. and Greg Evans and all the people over at CJDC. It was fun and we are looking forward to building it even bigger and better for next year!

We are off to Ft. St. John for Saturday November 24th, 2012 for another first, collecting at the Home Hardware store. We will update you as soon as that event wraps up.

Then the trailer will be making it's way down to Edmonton and Calgary for some exciting events down there!

Saskatoon is on the Road!

We are gearing up for some air time with CTV and Jeff Rogstad on November 15th.  To advise the public of Saskatoon that we are accepting monetary and non perishable food contributions from now until December 14th .  Continuing on with our Annual Santa Claus Parade which takes place on November 18th.  Then we will be situated over at Extra Foods on Waneskewin Road from 9am-12 and at Sobeys at Preston Crossing from 1pm-4pm on December 8th.  We are also looking forward to spending some time over at the Credit Union Centre during a couple of Blades games.  We are excited to announce as well that we have Lawson Heights Elementary school involved as well in collecting non perishable food items. With the monies raised we will purchase much needed items such as baby food. Once again we are challenging other transportation companies, the general public  and suppliers to continue making this campaign a success. We are going to deliver to the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre on December 19th.

2012 18 Wheels Of Christmas

As we enter our 10th year of 18 Wheels Of Christmas, we are excited to see how much this worthwhile project has grown, and the difference that it makes in so many lives!

Ten years ago, when we started, we had one trailer and one day of collections in the City Of Calgary. We now have two trailers, working our way towards a third trailer and have events all over Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. It has been a fabulous ride and we can't wait to see what the next ten years brings us!

Of course, none of this would be possible without our many sponsors and partners and of course the general public who have been so generous in their donations. It is wonderful to see all the new names that appear on our trailers every year.

We are looking forward to another successful year and we will keep you all updated as events occur all over Western Canada! And don't forget, drop us an email if you would like to help or leave a comment on our blog if you have suggestions or ideas to help this worthwhile cause!