2023 Tewa Holiday Project Wrap Up
I am starting out the wrap-up with links to the pictures for the Coats4Kids delivery and the food delivery to the Village of Tewa.
2023 Tewa Holiday Project Coats4Kids Delivery
2023 Tewa Holiday Project Food Delivery to the Tewa Community
The success of the Tewa Holiday Project is entirely the result of the outpouring of love and generosity of the “Tewa Holiday Project Community.” Folks from New Hampshire and New York City to Homer, Alaska, The Hopi Reservation, and, of course, the Verde Valley. It does not happen without all of you.
We raised just over $20,000 in cash donations; we delivered over 260 brand-new winter costs, a record number, over 500 hand-knit hats, and over 150 brand-new wrapped toys, just for starters.
It took two large delivery trucks from Manzanita Outreach to get everything up to Hopi. We had turkeys, 25-pound bags of beans, 20-pound bags of Blue Bird flour, oranges, apples, carrots, potatoes, blankets, shampoo, toothbrushes, apple juice, sugar, oatmeal, cooking oil, hand sanitizer, bleach, a virtual cornucopia of food and personal items.
There are just so many folks that I need to make a shout out to:
Mike Wise, Paul Favorite, Guy Fridge, Nick, Jeremy Ivy and Nick Pabst for helping move all of the food and personal items from the grocery store to the Warehouse at Manzanita Outreach.
Dale and Rosemary Stellick and Sedona Eye Care for helping bring in the bounty of over 150 wrapped toys for the Tewa children.
The Volunteers that helped with the packing event at Manzanita Outreach and those that made the delivery trip to the Village of Tewa.
The fabulous knitting ladies from Sedona and Sedona Kind, two groups from the Church of the Red Rocks, the Culver City, CA. Senior Center knitters and the knitting ladies organized by Lorraine Romanow from the Phoenix Area. Over 500 hats were knitted and Lorraine’s group provided scarves for First Mesa Elementary and the head Start kids.
And….. Sandy Immerso, Jeremy Ivy, Kendra Ivy, Jeff and Theresa Felzenberg, Nick Pabst, Delta Dental, Mary Smoak, Christi Bulot, Jan and Roy Reimer, Sandy Pinney, Meg Beauchamp, Ron Fischer. I know I have forgotten someone, it is not intentional.
Nearing the end but not least:
Ben Burke and Manzanita Outreach. Thank you for allowing the Tewa Holiday Project to be a part of the best Non-Profit in the Verde Valley, maybe the whole state. We could not have gotten all those tons of goods to First Mesa without you
Jeremy Ivy. Jeremy was there every step of the way, so to speak with me, and a newly broken hip and total hip replacement. I cannot thank you enough!
And finally, really…
The irreplaceable Caroline Diehl and the students from Verde Valley School. This year is the 10th year that we have provided brand-new winter coats to the children at Hopi. We started out with First Mesa Elementary and about 100 coats. Then we added a foster care program, then we added the entire Hopi Head Start program two years ago. Then, this year, after a call from the administration at Second Mesa Elementary, we added another 50 coats, bringing it to over 260 brand-new winter coats for the children at Hopi. You cannot even believe what a logistical undertaking it is to get this feat accomplished. When you look at the pictures of the coat delivery you will see the tables full of coats, and that is a just a small part in the successful organizational achievement in getting each coat to each student in the size and color requested. If you think I am going on too long about this I am not, it is incredible.
When I got the call from Sedona Mesa Elementary, they initially asked if we could do 225 coats for their school this year, it was too late. Our success at First Mesa Elementary had reached them. We decided on 50 coats for those of the highest need.
My goal for next year, including serving the 100 Tewa Elder families, is to expand the Coats4Kids program to include First Mesa Elementary, Second Mesa Elementary, the Hopi Head Start Program, and the foster care program, totaling around 450 coats. I will need your help!
Mark your calendar for December 14, 2024, our tentative date.
Thank you ALL so much for everything. I cannot adequately express the gratitude of the Tewa Elders and the Tewa community.
We wish you all a Happy, Prosperous and Healthy 2024
Randy and Milton