Year: 2013

LOG A LOAD FOR KIDS® UPDATE 2013

A Word from National Log A Load® Foundation Chair, Rich Palermo

“What It’s All About”

I apologize, in advance, if this is too personal, but, here I go. The work we all do, to inspire others and achieve our Log A Load goals is sometimes a lonely, stress-filled, and personal journey. I want to prove that point wrong, even though it sometimes feels that way! I was proven wrong twice this past August!

The Ninth Annual Softball Tournament here, in Charlottesville, Virginia, was our best yet. We are now just a few thousand dollars short of our goal for sponsoring a Chemotherapy Room at the new University of Virginia Children’s Hospital. Our teams, their supporters, and our many sponsors made this our best Tournament yet. That is what continues to inspire me to keep Log a Load for Kids at the forefront of my energies.

The personal stress for me occurred when we had two inches of rain, after only seven of our twenty games had been completed, and the day was a rain-out, without a rain-out date. Most of the teams stayed put. We continued two hours later, and we completed the Tournament, raising almost $20K. My hats off to those sponsors and teams!!!! This was our most successful Tournament to date!

When it comes to support, let me tell you another story about a true group of supporters and another of the many miracles we all work for.

Just two weeks ago, the Virginia Loggers Association its Annual Meeting. The current VFA president had just been made aware that his daughter had been diagnosed with cancer. As the word of this personal health crisis spread at the annual dinner meeting, VFA Members decided to dedicate all the normal Dinner Meeting donations to that wonderful girl and her fight for life. The hat, as we traditionally call it, was passed, and a few thousand dollars were raised to help a “kid” in her effort to become a “miracle child.”

I can’t help but be even more inspired, in our efforts to help kids! Thank you to all who know the many personal journeys we take to help children. Many are right here in our back-door.

By the time this column appears, CMN’s annual Celebration in Orlando (October 9-11) will have occurred. Let me take this opportunity, as we travel to the end of Log A Load’s 25th Anniversary year, to give you the thanks you deserve for the efforts I know you will have made to make it a huge success.

Thank you for all you do for all those kids and their families!

Best wishes,
Rich Palermo, Chair
Log A Load For Kids Foundation
richpale@earthlink.net

LOG A LOAD FOR KIDS UPDATE 2013

A Word from National Log A Load® Foundation Chair, Rich Palermo

“Miracles”

I recently witnessed one of the many “miracles” that we all try to provide to the kids, parents, and doctors at the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals throughout the USA, Canada, and even Australia.

At FRA’s April Annual Meeting in Jacksonville, CMN’s Rod Hamson brought Jennifer Edwards and her twin five-year-old boys to share their story with us. Despite the doctor’s prognosis that only one of these boys would ever breathe a breath after birth, and that that boy’s birth could affect the survival of the other boy and of their mother, the family decided to work for the survival of both.

In fact, supported by the care provided at a CMN hospital, both boys survived. Jack and Luke were born 17 weeks early, each weighing just over a pound, and-as we saw during Jennifer’s inspiring presentation-they are each healthy and physically active kids.

I know that many of you have your own miracle stories. Please share them with us, and with the many donors and sponsors who have continued to support all of our Log A Load For Kids campaigns and events so generously, providing the funding necessary to keep these miracles happening.

I hope that all of you have ordered (or already received) your “Bury The Log Truck With Dollars” contribution boxes and are putting them to good use. Greif Packaging, the company I work for, matched the sum-over $400-collected in only six weeks in one of those boxes, from truck drivers who daily visit our mill, as well as from mill personnel. Please contact FRA’s Log A Load Coordinator Richard Lewis at rlewis7575@aol.com to obtain a box and for a supply of drawing tickets for a chance for a Gator that John Deere has generously donated in recognition of Log A Load’s 25th anniversary.

 

But, just as important, please share your success stories about Log A Load fundraising with us. Most recently, for instance, the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association conducted a parade of trucks at the Timber 2013 trade show, culminating in a $17,000 check presentation to Pennsylvania’s CMN hospitals.

And speaking of great work over the border: Log A Load For Kids in Canada has also been active. Log A Load/Nova Scotia recently presented a check for $42,000, and Log A Load/Labrador-Newfoundland presented a check for $36,000, during CMN’s Canadian Atlantic Region telethon. Hat off to the Canadian Woodlands Forum for the great leadership it’s providing to the campaign!

Let’s make this year, our 25th Anniversary Year, one of the best, and please let me and FRA know what we can do to help you achieve “miracles” in your state.

Rich Palermo
Chair
Log A Load For Kids Foundation
richpale@earthlink.net

LOG A LOAD FOR KIDS UPDATE 2013

A Word from National Log A Load® Foundation Chair, Rich Palermo

“Anticipation and Celebration”

Here we are, almost to the summer of 2013 after a very successful 2012 of supporting the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals, with a national total of $1.9 million dollars! I commend all of you and am still in awe to share the results of 25 years of Log A Load volunteer work that has raised over $35 million dollars. Please pass on to all your Log A Load volunteers the thanks and gratitude I have for them.

In honor of our 25th-year, T.W. Byrd’s Sons (FRA’s 2012 National Outstanding Logger), Flint Equipment, and John Deere have donated a brand new John Deere RSX850i Trail Ready Gator, to be used for a National Drawing in celebration of our 25 years of Log A Load successes. National Log A Load Coordinator Richard Lewis, with his enthusiasm, persistence, and energy, was the catalyst that helped make this happen. A BIG thank you to Flint Equipment, John Deere, Byrd Logging-and Richard. You can obtain Log A Load Gator Drawing Tickets from Richard at rlewis7575@aol.com, or 301-452-4202.

For our 25th year, we have also developed “Bury the Log Truck With Dollars” contribution boxes-hinged plastic boxes with a contribution slot on top and a wooden Log A Load Log Truck inside. Please order one or more of these boxes from Richard and use them to capture contributions at your Log A Load Fundraising events. (Photo shows Rich Palermo with Richard Lewis, displaying a “Bury the Log Truck” box.)

 

Speaking of success, I would like to congratulate Amy McFadden, of South Carolina, for her appointment as the South Carolina Forestry Association Chair of the Board. Amy, our 2012 Log A Load For Kids National Volunteer winner, has been a true inspiration to others with her dedication and tireless efforts to promote Log A Load.

Each time I start to put a Log A Load event together and work with sponsors, businesses, and all the great volunteers here in Charlottesville, Virginia, I have a concern that this one is going to be more difficult than the last and maybe not as successful. But the new event is always successful, due to the persistence, the support, and the endless Log A Load volunteer spirit of all who participate. I always have a little part of me that says, “I could have made it more successful, if I’d just done . . .”

I guess that feeling is what keeps all of us striving to do more the next time!

Rich Palermo
Chair
Log A Load For Kids Foundation
richpale@earthlink.net

LOG A LOAD FOR KIDS UPDATE 2013

A Word from National Log A Load® Foundation Chair, Rich Palermo

“Celebrating 25 Years!”

As we move toward our 25th year of Log A Load For Kids’ existence, due to the creative efforts of a group of far-sighted individuals in South Carolina, I have to celebrate one very important individual who played a key role in our great success. During the decades through which FRA has served as Log A Load’s national sponsor, Linda Gibson, as FRA’s staff liaison, left a strong mark. Please join me in wishing Linda every success in her future endeavors and in thanking her for helping to grow Log A Load’s cumulative donations to children’s hospitals to over $34 million during her years with FRA.

Now we move forward, with former FRA President Richard Lewis stepping up as our liaison. Richard is a long-time Log A Load supporter over the decades, and he will continue to further our efforts and successes in supporting the kids at all 85 CMN hospitals nationwide.

At our National Log A Load Advisory Group meeting this past September, we decided that the best and most effective way to celebrate our 25th Anniversary would be for each state program to make a point of highlighting the 25-year mark at our normal state events and fundraisers. There are plans to create a special commemorative logo. We are also working on a project to develop wooden log trucks with the Log A Load logo in clear plastic display boxes, with a contribution slot on the top of the box. State Log A Load campaign folks will take the display boxes to local fundraising events and encourage contributors to “Bury the Log Truck” with cash.

National celebrities, such as Bobby Goodson, of Swamp Logger fame, and Chuck Leavell, musician, tree farmer, and author, have both agreed to appear in Public Service Announcements for us, along with other forestry heroes, to be identified.

That’s 25 years behind us. Logging and forestry people everywhere are committing ourselves for the growth and miracles of the next 25.

Rich Palermo
Chair
Log A Load For Kids Foundation