2nd Annual Corn Hole Tournament

Some of you may remember my post from last year titled HELPERS.  Our boys' summer camp lost their pier in Hurricane Irene, and Brendan and Jackson decided to help raise money to rebuild it.

This year, the boys wanted to host a second corn hole tournament and decided to raise money and collect canned goods for our local food pantry.

The first money donated was by Jackson back in February.  He donated $20 of his birthday money to go to this cause.  I was a little shocked and very proud of him.

Other ways the boys raised money included cashing in coins that we had saved from last year's tournament until October.

Selling coffee cup snuggies handmade by their grandmother, Patsy:


Selling cross Christmas ornaments made from masonry nails and wire (crafted by myself and Jackson):


which we secured to these cards (I used Brendan's handprint to make a logo):


Selling a custom set of corn hole boards donated to their cause ($200 - thank you Lotts) :


And of course, just asking for cash donations:

We had scheduled the tournament for Sunday, October 7th, but we woke up to thunderstorms, pouring down rain, and the first low temperatures of the season (highs in the 50s that day).  We decided to cancel the actual tournament play due to the weather, but we all still went out to JC's office with our baked goods, hot chocolate and all the other things above.

When we got there, it cleared up but was still very cloudy and cold.  JC set up our corn hole boards, so people could play for fun.

The kids had a good time just running around and playing together.

We had boxes set up to collect food donations out at JC's office that day, but since the tournament was officially cancelled and not everyone came, his office staff was nice enough to also help collect food for the 2 weeks on either side of the tournament weekend.


Once all the food was in, the kids counted it


And got it all boxed up.

280 pieces of non-perishable food items were collected!!!

We also counted all the cash and checks donated by our generous friends...

$775 donated!!!

On Friday, October 19th, we took the boys to The Clemmons Food Pantry so that they could hand deliver the food and money.  The boys unloaded all the boxes from our car and took everything inside.  It was a sobering experience for them to see the actual boxes of food that had been sorted and waiting on families to collect.  

I am very proud of these boys in that they want to continue to help others.  I am very hopeful that this is a life lesson that will stick with them and help mold the men they will someday become!