Letter to the Editor: Thanks Burlington From People Helping People

The Board of Directors of People Helping People, Gayle Hobgood, Director Burlington , and the People Helping People Fundraising Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the Community of Burlington for their generosity throughout the year of 2011.

The year started with our annual Fundraiser in January at the Flatbread Company.  Sean Toomey, Managing Partner at Flatbread, is always so generous to the Town of Burlington.  As usual there was a line out the door and a wonderful bake sale with baked goods provided from the churches in town.   Sean also donated his services to host one of our “volunteer appreciation lunches”.  Our next fundraiser at Flatbread will be on Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

In March the on Wheeler Road donated their services to host a “volunteer appreciation luncheon” for many of the volunteers for People Helping People.  Everyone had a great time and we thank Jose at the Hilton Garden for always being so generous to People Helping People.

, who is always so generous to the community, donated a percentage of all proceeds on a Tuesday night this summer to PHP. Doug Schafer, owner of Lester’s, has always supported the causes of PHP and we appreciate his constant generosity.

The Trail Animals Running Club donated the proceeds from one of their events to PHP this summer!

came to town in September and wanted to help out a local charity and chose PHP.  Jon from b.good hosted a cook-out on the common which was a huge success.

Our most successful fundraiser was provided by David Icken of and Doug & Deb Place from the Printing Place.  A $1,000 dinner at Capital Grille was raffled off with proceeds going to provide holiday dinners to the families of the Burlington Community Food Pantry.

The Toulopoulos family, owners of , hosted a Wine Tasting in November with a percentage of all sales for the day going to PHP. They also will be hosting a volunteer appreciation luncheon in early 2012 .

In December the participated in the “loose change” event.  The students were asked to bring in all their “loose change” during a one week period in December.  hit a “home run” raising $4,100 in one week!  Thank you to all the Marshall Simonds Middle School students for their generosity!

came to town in December and like B-Good wanted to do something for the community.  On their of all sales to PHP.  A special thank you to Bridget Kelly of Burton’s Grill.

Once again the coordinated the “Gifts of Hope Campaign” in December with Lester’s BBQ, at the , and David Anthony’s participating.  We thank the Burlington Union for Coordinating this and for all they do for PHP throughout the year publishing our stories and covering our events!

We would be remiss if we did not thank Jamie Haggerty of the Daily Times, who is always so willing to publish our events, stories and accomplishments in the Daily Times.

Steve Duran, Store Manager of , made a great impact of the Holiday Season by hosting a fundraiser in November and December that resulted in food donations of $2,800 to the Burlington Community Food Pantry.

A new church named Revive to town, and the parishioners of Revive donated their Christmas Eve offerings to People Helping People.  We thank them and welcome them to our community.

We also thank all the congregations in the town and the temple for always being there with both monetary and “people” support throughout the year.

We thank the above individuals and businesses for reaching out to us and helping us raise both visibility and funds for PHP.  You truly made a difference in many people’s lives.  

The members of the Fundraising Committee are Steve D’Orio, Linda Roscoe, Shelley Joyce, Janet Knudsen, Dr. Andrew & Dr. Kandyce Mutter, Valerie Healey, Randy Nowell, Janet Sullivan Fitzgerald and Dan DiTucci. 

If you are interested in hosting a fundraiser or have an idea for one, please contact Janet Sullivan Fitzgerald at sullivanfh@comcast.net.