Alabama/Florida: Bass Tournament, April 2012

Long before dawn, Saturday, April 21, Live Oak Landing on Alabama’s Tensaw River was alive with the sounds of 162 teams making last-minute preparations and launching boats for Florida’s 16th Annual Log A Load For Kids bass tournament.   The teams blasetd off in three flights, each hoping that at the end of the day they’d have the heaviest five-fish stack of Mobile-Tensaw Delta bass to claim the guaranteed $5,000 first-place check.

Longtime friends and first-time teammates Lee Grandquest and Travis Glidden, both of Mobile, won by more than a pound.   Their impressive 16.63-pound limit was anchored by a 4.42-pound largemouth.   Tournament committee member Bob Moore, with the Florida Forestry Association, said between entry fees and a live auction held at theTournament’s conclusion, organizers hoped to raise close to $20,000 to benefit the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Pensacola, Florida.   Over the last 15 years, Log A Load For Kids has raised more than $617,000 for that Hospital.

“We weren’t real sure how much participation we’d get being the first time we’d held it on the Delta, but with 162 boats, we’re real pleased with our first one,” said tournament director Glen Williams.   “We hope to make it bigger and better each year.”

National Fundraising Total for 2011

The 2011 Log A Load For Kids® state fundraising totals are in, rendering a grand total of $1,746,731 raised during the year-a slight but significant edge up (by about $30,000) over 2010’s total. Thanks to all the states that participated last year, and a special salute to the top three fundraisers: Arkansas raised $448,243 last year, Georgia $247,601, and Alabama $230,000. The cumulative National total, since the campaign began, now comes to $34,449,931.

Minnesota: Timber Harvest Raises Funds

Minnesota: Timber Harvest Raises Funds

 

Last October, UPM Blandin conducted a tree thinning operation on approximately 8.2 acres of

UPM forest land, yielding five truckloads of wood, valued at $6,270, that Blandin donated to

Minnesota Log A Load For Kids to benefit the Minnesota Children’s Miracle Network hospital.

Local logger Scott Pittack and his loader

operator Jason Gilhousen volunteered to log,

while Mike Rieger, Duane Hill, and Mike

Warren hauled the wood to the UPM and

Potlatch mills.

During the harvest, UPM Blandin also hosted a

“Spruce Management Field Day,” through Julie

Miedtke with the University of MN Extension

Office. State, county, and federal foresters

viewed the harvesting process in the morning,

while private landowners and students from

Grand Rapids High School and Itasca High

School attended in the afternoon. (Photo shows

private landowners getting acquainted with a processor head.)

Cheryl Adams, UPM Blandin Forest Ecologist called it “truly a team effort . . . we are very

happy to continue to support Log A Load For Kids and the Children’s Miracle Network

Hospitals.”

Oregon: “Smashing” Success in Fundraising

Oregon: “Smashing” Success in Fundraising

Where in Oregon can you go on a Friday night to have a piece of an $800 chocolate cake, see an auctioneer get a whipped cream pie smashed into his face, and watch over 250 fun-loving loggers raise over $28,000 for children’s hospitals? The answer is: the Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL) 42nd annual convention and Log A Load For Kids fundraiser! The dessert auction was new this year. Rather than serving a traditional dessert at each table, a dozen delectable and calorie-rich works of art were auctioned to those who wished to have dessert after dinner. This auction alone raised $3,400, with the top prize going to AOL President Bruce Zuber, who bid $800 on a double chocolate cake (that he was nice enough to share with others).

Spirited bidding continued throughout the evening on some very high-quality donated items:

four tickets to the 2012 Civil War football game between U of O and OSU (donated by Beaver Sports Properties–$2,100 value); two axle-steering tires (donated by Les Schwab Tires- $1,800); an MS 440 Stihl power saw (donated by Zuber & Sons Logging-$3,300); and a Savage .270 hunting rifle with scope (donated by Westech Rigging-$2,500). Bidding for these items, and for many others, kept spirits high and checkbooks open far into the night. The total raised-$28,085-beat last year’s by 33%. Either things are getting better, or everyone was on a sugar high.

Special thanks go to Jaime Yraguen for donating his professional auctioneering skills, once again, and for being such a good sport about the cream pie that was “donated” into his face, as a reward. Log A Load For Kids Committee Chair Jean Zuber and her Committee did another fantastic job organizing this annual event.

Pennsylvania: Continental Pheasant Shoot, March 2012

On March 17, 2012 the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association hosted the Log A Load For Kids Continental Pheasant Shoot near Tyrone, Pennsylvania, raising $4,700 for the state’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.  Thirty-six shooters participated-the largest turnout ever-from 26 host companies and organizations.  All participants enjoyed fine shooting, beautiful weather, great camaraderie, and a delicious prime rib luncheon.  Special thanks to Bob Long of George W. Long and Sons Lumber for organizing and managing the event.

Washington’s 15th Annual Auction Fundraiser

The Washington Contract Loggers Association’s 15th Annual Log A Load For Kids® Auction was a huge success.  The St. Patrick’s Day theme brought in lots of “green” for the kids with the Silent and Live Auctions:  the event raised $26,825.

One special item was an Anniversary Quilt, sponsored by approximately 50 logging and equipment companies, each purchasing a square and providing an embroidered copy of their companies’ logos to adorn the quilt.   The winning bidders were Dan and Wendy Bowman, Bowman Logging Company, Monroe, Washington.

Florida: 17th Annual Golf Tournament, May 2012

The 17th Annual Log A Load For Kids Golf Tournament, held May 22, 2012 at SUnny Hills Golf Course in Chipley, Florida, drew 106 golfers to the green and raised more than $12,990 for Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital.

Winning teams included:

  • First Place Net Score Team:   Home Oil (Tommy Johnson, Suzanne Johnson, Stan Scott and Roger Heswey)
  • First Place Low Gross Score Team:  Anders Real Estate (Jim Anders, Westly Pate, Ashton Hayward and Carey Scott)

The Committee sends its special thanks to Jim Cottingham, Mike Schofield, Britt Ward, and Bill Waller for their diligent efforts and support of this successful event.

A Word from Log A Load Foundation Chair, Rich Palermo, Summer 2012

As I pen this message to you, I can’t help but reflect on the aspects of what really makes each of us so successful.   It is that unseen, but totally innate, part of each of us that makes us give our best, to be the best and succeed in what we set out to do?   Like those who sat around a table one evening who had a vision and created the Log A Load For Kids program to help the kids.

As most of you know, Log A Load For Kids has no real corporate backing, offices, or paid staff; yet the program will have raised over $35 million dollars for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by our 25th anniversary.   What we’ve raised for the kids across the United States, and how we’ve raised it, still impresses me every time I share what we’ve done (and what we continue to do) with others.

Unfortunately, one of Log A Load For Kids’ long time supporters, dedicated Virginia State Chairperson, Robbie Robertson, part of a husband and wife team, will no longer see the benefits of his efforts.   After 13 years of surviving pancreatic cancer, Robbie finally succumbed to this disease–but not before becoming one of the very “miracles” we all try to provide to the kids through the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.   His complete and dedicated support of almost every event held in Virginia, and in other neighboring states, helped to bring Log A Load and everybody’s real dedication to the forefront.   I will miss him sorely, and so will everybody else, but none so much as his wife, Nikki, who remains our Virignia State Chairwoman.

It is the integrity, the energy, the fervor, the belief in what we do, and the successes which we see around us that keep us all continuing to do our best to influence others to join us, however they can.   We can help our organization grow and become more productive, not for ourselves, but for the kids we all want to help and their families, who so desperately need our support.   Let’s all try to inspire new voluneers and also raise the consciousness of the rest of our forest industry so that every organization will strive to help Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in the United States.   We’ve already shown what we can do for the past 24 years, so let’s see if we can rise to the challenge of growing our Log A Load volunteers, events, and successes as we move into our 25th year.

More than anything, please be safe, whether logging, papermaking, sawmilling, driving, cruising timber or whatever you do in your everyday life.   It’s all of us collectively, that inside energy, spirt, and dedication that goes a long way to “making us so successful.”

Thank you for what you do best.

Rich Palermo
Chiar
Log A Load For Kids Foundation