From Penelope Garofano ! Ok, my turn - couldnt find the time last night to stand up and say my piece so here it goes. On December 19, 2013, Jason came to my office and said Penny, I have to tell you something. He proceeded to tell me the doctors had discovered he had cancer and had to report to the cancer center the next day. He fell into my arms and sobbed, saying I havent told my children yet. Half of me was in denial and the other half said youve got to do something and its gotta be Big. I tried to console Jason, I told him he was going to be fine and I would have his back always. I contacted Chuckie Whitehead and we agreed a benefit was in order. We chose the date, contacted the Moose Lodge & opened an account. I reached out to Ryan Brady and to start the Jason Allen Benefit on facebook, then texted my very good friend, Carol Jean Pritchard, explained what was about to happen and asked her if she was in, she texted back absolutely. And so it began, with the most generous people pulling together with one goal. Ryan, Carol and Chuckie, you three are godsends, thank you. The Moose Lodge, thank you - I knew we needed the largest venue and that was it. Topher Conway and Henry Alberico started gathering raffle items, two rifles that set the tone for this. Craig Hanson, for your tender caring of Jason. Leanne Bixby, thank you for tracking all the donations through the Heritage Family Credit Union. Kelley Loso and Frank Wilk, my co-workers and partners in crime - they held down most of my work at the department so I could keep the massive growing event organized - Thank you both. To the dispatchers at the RCSD, Jennifer Coffin, Rachael Ellison, Daniel Austin and Bob Firpo - you guys did an awesome job selling raffle & dinner tickets and accepting donations, all while doing your real job - Thank you. George Pratt headed up the kitchen staff along with hours of work from Jay Sabataso of the Palms. George, Jay and David Fish made meatballs, 407 and cooked 407 sausages on Super Bowl Sunday - now thats dedication! Jay made all the sauce at the Palms and with the help of David Fish, Henry Alberico and Kevin Blongy, trucked it up to the Moose Lodge. Thank you Vicki, Bob, Sue, Chris, & Shirley a job well done keeping all those hungry people fed. The awesome T-Shirts were a donation from Peter Louras of Initial Ideas. I called Peter, told him what was going on and asked if he would donate 50 Tshirts - He said absolutely. When I picked them up I said thank you so much and he said, no, Thank you for letting me do this. The worker list grew and I knew I had to have more shirts - I called Peter again and he asked how many and what sizes?! FOOD - I knew we needed alot - Paul Colwell of Price Chopper Rutland donated all the meatball meat, napkins, cups and an additional $100.00 in gift cards. McKenzie donated all the sausage, Black River Produce donated all the lettuce, Hannaford pasta and eggs, Tops, Shaws of Fair Haven, The Iron Lantern, Friehofers and the Party Store. Each donated the items needed to put on the this dinner and I thank you. This is really just a small list of the people and businesses that helped us, but they are the ones I worked with that were so generous, thank you all. In the very near future, there will be a formal thank you to everyone in the herald. Yesterday was for Jason and his family to help relieve some every day stress so he may focus on his complete recovery. I love you Jason and Ive still got my boxing gloves on!
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 23:57:43 +0000
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