This weekend was a wonderful, action packed weekend. Our annual Stuff The Bus always brings about so many memories and feelings. We'll start with Friday afternoon when I took my show on the road to Provident Bank in Sparta. WOW. The minute I walked into their beautiful lobby, you could see immediately the generosity of so many. That lobby was packed twice as full than previous years. All the past few weeks we've been stressing the record breaking need and urgency. Just because the government shutdown ended, hasn't stopped the major need we have locally and nationally. Locally we're hoping this will help over 450 families right here in Sussex County, New Jersey. We stuffed that bus by Provident Bank more than I have ever seen in our kick off opening night history! I had a feeling it was going to be a very good and record breaking weekend. I then went to The Irish Cottage Inn to see friends and enjoy a victory beer, before meeting up with besties Jasen, Brendan, and Matt at Kite's in Vernon. We had a great time catching up with each other.
Our Stuff The Bus food drives behind the scenes take a ton of hard work by several of us at our radio stations behind the scenes. During November we work nonstop almost around the clock, knowing we usually go almost 2 weeks without a day off, and our next day off won't be until Thanksgiving morning. By Thanksgiving, honestly behind the scenes we're all basically running on fumes. Why do we do something that is such a massive undertaking? The people! The best part is getting to help people who need it the most, and then another amazing part is seeing how wonderful and helpful people really can be. You see so many and hear plenty of stories. Sometimes you have the total cute factor of little kids running to donate and so happy to help other kids. Sometimes you have folks who donate because they remember being in that position before going through hard times themselves. You often have folks who hear it on the radio, before they knew how massive the need is, then drive right over to help us and donate.
Provident Banks in Sussex County, ShopRites in Sussex County, and Tire King in Sussex were all drop off locations. It made me so happy to see a box full in Franklin ShopRite over a week ago! There were so many success stories. Saturday I was at ShopRite of Sussex, and Sunday I was at Byram ShopRite. I swung by Franklin real quick, did a Facebook Live video with Steve Andrews then made my way to Shoprite Of Sussex. I love going to ShopRite of Sussex, you'll typically see me there 2-3 times per week. I alternate between their salad and hot bar. It was so much fun seeing many familiar faces, while meeting new friends too. I immediately ran into my friend Jill Space who was there to support our Stuff The Bus food drive.
All of the sudden, a gentleman walked by asking how late our Bus was going to be there until. We get asked this question quite often when we are out on site doing these kind of things. We told him the bus would be there until 4, and it was only 11am not to worry, he had plenty of time. He went into the store and came back out in a couple of minutes. He then came walking towards us and the bus, asking "how long do you think the line is? I'm under a time crunch today." We then told him, not to worry, there wasn't a long line, he could simply go on the bus and drop off his food donation. He went on the bus, and came out almost as fast as he went up into the bus. He came out with his sleeve rolled up saying to us "I thought you were doing a blood drive, not a food drive!" Whoops. I guess maybe my red iHeart coat I was wearing made it slightly confusing? Every single year we do Stuff The Bus, something happens that causes us to look at each other and say "well, wow, that is a new one! That is a first!" This is the first time I've seen someone confuse us with a blood drive. He walked away probably slightly embarrassed. I'm not upset he didn't donate, how could we be? He was willing to give us his blood. Literally!
1 of 15 2 of 15 3 of 15 4 of 15 5 of 15 6 of 15 7 of 15 8 of 15 9 of 15 10 of 15 11 of 15 12 of 15 13 of 15 14 of 15 15 of 15
I was so happy we stuffed the bus in ShopRite Of Sussex too. I then ran into besties Deniece and Roy, we went to Industry Kitchen & Bar in Sparta. It was so funny as we were enjoying Guest Appreciation with each other, bartender friend Kristen, or as I call her, "Tipsy," laughed and said "oh boy, are you guys all new friends?" I told her we've been friends for several years and she cracked up saying "yeah, that makes sense."
Saturday night I then went to see Girlfriend Brooks in Hackettstown. She really has turned her place into a Winter Wonderland. Every time I go over she keeps putting up more, and more Christmas decorations. I'm there at least once or twice a week, and she somehow keeps finding more Christmas decorations! She was very happy to show me and tell me all about her new decorations that she just put up at her place. I felt bad because she saw me yawning, tired from working so hard. She was a great sport and let me basically sleep on the couch while we had Elf on TV. After Elf ended she offered me which ever show I wanted to watch, but another channel had Elf just starting up. We just said to each other "why not?" We watched a good chunk of Elf again.
I was basically dead weight Saturday night and slept like a rock. I was out on the couch by 6pm, then basically in bed by 9:30, then got out of bed at 7 the next morning. I was wiped out for sure, but it's worth all the energy when we're doing Stuff The Bus.
1 of 16 2 of 16 3 of 16 4 of 16 5 of 16 6 of 16 7 of 16 8 of 16 9 of 16 10 of 16 11 of 16 12 of 16 13 of 16 14 of 16 15 of 16 16 of 16
Sunday I was able to wrap up our Stuff The Bus at ShopRite of Byram. I had so much fun running into old friends and making new ones.
After Stuff The Bus, I was able to make it to The Irish Cottage Inn in Franklin for Football Sunday! My Patriots won just barely which made me happy, despite our injuries. The Giants were so much fun to watch with Jameis Winston playing quarterback, until they lost yet again.
It was fun watching the Dallas Cowboys come back and upset the Philadelphia Eagles. You know the hate for Philly runs strong here when Giants fans were rooting for The Dallas Cowboys!
Thank you for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Next weekend I'll be going back up home to Mansfield, Massachusetts visiting my family. I can't wait to see them.