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The Everyday Heroes annual fundraiser and Veteran's Appreciation Day event was held at Surfside Marina (Surfside Texas) on Saturday, April 26th. Everyday Heroes provided a 56 passenger Coachways Charter bus to transport the Veterans to/from Surfside Marina, located in Surfside Texas. The photo at left shows the arrival of the Veterans to the event. |
Many Veterans from the El Campo, Wharton and surrounding towns attended the event. They included members from Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) Chapter 1069, American Legion Post 251 and the VFW. Many rode the bus to attend the fundraising event. Bus riders also included Veteran's spouses and guests. Other Veterans drove their personal vehicles to the event. In total, approximately 50 Veterans, spouses & guests attended the event.
VVA Chapter #1069 of El Campo Texas, would like to express its thanks to Everyday Heroes, Inc. for inviting all Veterans to attend the fundraising event and for providing the charter bus to transport the Veterans to/from the event. The Chapter members would also like to express their gratitude to all the Everyday Heroe's volunteers for making them "Feel Right at Home" during the entire stay. The Veterans were especially thankful for the wonderful service they received during the entire evening meal. A truly overall "Welcome Home" event!
CLICK HERE for more information regarding Everyday Heroes, Inc., and the services they provide for all Veterans.
VVA Chapter #1069 of El Campo Texas, would also like to express its thanks to Surfside Marina for their staff's wonderful hospitality and to the organizers and sponsors of the Swordfish Seminar. What an awesome show of support for all Veterans! Thank-You All!
CLICK HERE to visit the Surfside Marina website.
CLICK HERE to visit the 2coolfishing website for more information regarding the Swordfish Seminar, including the Everyday Heroes fundraiser and see all the various vendors who supported the event.
The above photo shows the Surfside Marina facility with Surfside Beach in the background. This is where the Swordfish Seminar and the Everyday Heroes fundraiser & Veteran's Appreciation Day event was held.
The large building shown is the indoor boat storage facility.
No need for a boat ramp at Surfside Marina!
A large tent was setup for the event and included seating and tables for hundreds.
The tent provided for a cool area for visitors to eat their meals and also provided a place for the Swordfish seminars to be held. In the later evening, it provided the gathering place for the big fundraiser auction.
Hundreds of vendors and seminar supporters donated items for the both the live and silent auctions.
Many can be seen here enjoying their meals.
Many tables were setup for those vendors who would be particpating in the auction.
The above photo shows the stage area where the seminars and the auction were held. The photo also shows the volunteers who manned the auction registration table.
The above photo shows the propane cookers where all the crawfish, shrimp, potatoes & corn were cooked. Much thanks to those companies that provided the propane cookers for the event!
Much thanks to all those who volunteered to cook, to those who helped with the cooking and to those who helped serve the food.
And the food was great!
The above poster shows the photos of some of those Veterans who have received mobility scooters from Everyday Heroes. The sign says: "Money raised at today's event will help provide these services for Veterans - THANK YOU!" CLICK HERE for more information regarding Everyday Heroes, Inc., and the services they provide for all Veterans.
There was also BBQ brisquet, sausage, potatoe salad, beans & trimmings provided at the event. There was also beer & soda provided for visitors. Note that all food & drink was included in the admission fee.
The above photo shows one of the Swordfish seminars in progress.
AND THEN THE VETERANS ARRIVED! It was around 2:00 PM in the afternoon when the buses arrived.
The above photo shows the Coachways 56 passenger charter bus that carried most of the Veterans to/from Surfside Marina for the event. Everyday Heroes provided the transportation for the day's event.
The above photo show the van that transports Veterans on a daily basis to/from the DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. This transportation service is provided by Everyday Heroes, Inc.
The above photo shows the Veterans receiving their offical fundraiser event wrist bands before exiting the bus. That's Leonard Sternadel (far rear of bus), President of VVA Chapter 1069, handing out the wrist bands.
All Veterans are finally allowed to exit the bus.
As soon as the Veterans were off the bus, they were escorted to their reserved seating under the big tent.
And then the event volunteers started bringing on the food!!
There was plenty of crawfish, shrimp, potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, BBQ brisquet & sausage, boudin, potato salad, beans, etc. to go around!!
The above photo says it all! That's Dan Medrano (left) and Frank Kulcak (right) of VVA Chapter 1069 enjoying the meal & beverage. :) Frank is also the Vice President of VVA Chapter 1069.
And once again, we want to Thank all those who served the food & beverages to the Veterans! The Veterans later commented how well they were treated by all, and wanted to express their thanks to everyone who helped serve the meal. It meant a LOT to them!
The above photo shows Chapter president Leonard Sternadel talking to the charter bus driver "Edison", who he himself is a Vietnam Veteran Marine. Edison also drove the bus on the Chapter's trip to Austin to attend the Texas Capitol Vietnam Veteran Monument (TCVVM) dedication ceremony, back in March.
CLICK HERE for the complete Austin TCVVM dedication ceremony trip report
The above photo shows Dwight Winkler (far left), the Veteran's Service Officer for Wharton County, and Lifetime member of VVA Chapter 1069. The Chapter would like to thank Dwight for all his hard work in organizing the bus trip to Surfside.
CLICK HERE to view Dwight's VSO page residing on our website
Looks like another Veteran is having a good time in above photo. :) Yes, I'm referring to you Frankie!
After the meal, the Veterans then had the opportunity to take in all the sights of the event and the interesting activities going on at Surfside Marina itself. Things to see included all the vendor's booths, all the items layed out for both the live and silent auction. Many Veterans purchased tickets for the silent auction. A general Good-Time was had by all.
The above photo shows the stage area being prepped for the evening auction. The auction started at approximately 5:30 PM. The Veterans were then able to watch the auction activities, until their departure time around 6:30 PM.
The above photo shows the auction organizing and registration team hard at work. It's this team's hard work that allowed the auction to run smoothly and efficiently.
The above photo shows Leonard Sternadel, president of VVA Chapter 1069, kicking off the auction with a greeting to all attending Veterans.
TIME FOR VETERANS TO LEAVE. It was around 6:30 PM when all the Veterans started to gather and board the bus for the trip back to El Campo.
Many "Thanks" were passed back & forth between Veterans and event organizers, supporters & volunteers!
Much thanks goes to all the local Police who provided security for the event - they were a great bunch of guys!
One final photo of the Veterans, just before leaving Surfside Marina.
The above photo shows Leonard Sternadel, president of VVA Chapter 1069, leading the bus out of Surfside Marina. All the Veterans commented on what a great day they had and wanted to thank everyone for their kindness and support.
Photo above and photos below show some of the auction excitement as it lasted late into the night.
The auction started around 5:30 in the evening and ended around 10:00 PM. Although the Veterans were scheduled to leave around 6:30 PM, they did at least get to see the auction and auctioneer in action.
After the auction, all the winners of the silent auction raffle were announced - and there were a bunch!
Final wrap up of the event occurred around 11:00 PM. Another successful Swordfish Seminar and Everyday Heroes fundraising event! Congratulations to all those involved and a grateful Thank-You from all Veterans!