Operation Homefront 2016

A message from our National Sales Manager - Jay McSpadden

    This past week I had the privilege of presenting a check for $24,515.00 to Operation Homefront in San Antonio, Texas. Brad Allen and Lori Stephens also represented our great little company, and it was truly a great event.

   As a brief overview, it was seven years ago when our owners were looking for a charity that we could really get behind and support and Operation Homefront was one of the organizations that really stood out to us… an organization that supports, in so many ways, our wounded hero soldiers and their families when they come home from deployments and have so many needs …medical, psychological, employment, housing and the like.

     These are the true heroes of our country and they and their families suffer through some serious hardships, but Operation Homefront is there, providing housing, medical help with the VA Hospitals, employment help, and the list goes on. They provide the many needed services that the government sadly does not.

   So when we saw the great deeds accomplished by this organization, we decided that it would be our choice to support their efforts by donating a portion of our Red, White, and Berry Blast (what else, patriotic!) to this worthy cause.

   At the presentation, we were joined by Operation Homefront's new COO, General Bob Thomas, Gracie Broll (Director), Jason Moody (Marketing/Photo), and about 50 soldiers and their families.

    We opened with introductions, and then Brad showed our YouTube clip about Making Smiles, and the RWBB plant video. We then handed out a bunch of RWBB and Assorted twins to the Moms, Dads, and lots of little ones who came. The kids LOVED it, and we loved taking their pictures and “hearing them smile and laugh”.

     After that I made a short speech about what an honor it was for our little company to support and help in our own way, these incredible heroes and their families and how, over the past 7 years we have contributed over $155,000 to their cause. I thanked them for their service to their country. General Thomas told me later that our support covers the cost of 4 of the 26 families’ rents in the San Antonio Village. Now THAT is meaningful, especially when you talk to these great people and they come up to you and say “thank you so much for your support….we wouldn’t be here without your help”. Brad will remember that last year, a wounded soldier and his son showed up to move into their new apartment with only a duffle bag for the Dad, and a small suitcase for his son, and in those were all of their personal possessions! The apartment was fully furnished.

If those types of situations don’t move a tear or two nothing will. They TRULY appreciate our help and are not shy about saying so….our dollars provide a lifeline to these families when they need it most.

    I told a couple of the soldiers that we may not understand everything that they have been through because we couldn’t know that, but I told them that we CARE about them and want to do whatever we can to make their lives better.

  This is the 6^th check presentation that I have done and it is something that I look forward to every year. I hope we continue long after I am gone.

  I am so PROUD to work for a company that actively participates in making peoples’ lives better. If you can only see the appreciation in their eyes, it makes it so worthwhile and feels so good to make a difference.

   I want to thank everyone in our company that plays an integral role in getting these products to our customers.  It’s because of you that we’re able to get the Red White and Berry Blue pops on the shelf and make people smile across the country. In making those people smile we are all helping our soldiers and their families smile!

  Thank you Lisa and Barry for this opportunity, and thank you for continuing this year after year. It truly does matter and it for sure makes a difference to these brave heroes and their families.

I’ve seen it first-hand!

THANK YOU All!!

Jay McSpadden

National Sales Manager

The Ziegenfelder Company