Charity Cookout for the Boys & Girls Club

As we raced to finished the house, it was because Bruce Pearl was going for a charity cookout, open house, etc here. The date of June 5th had been set and nothing could be changed......

Two bands, The Cater, premission to use a parking lot off site, trolleys to shuttle the guest, birthday cakes, announcements sent out.......parking attendants, servers, bartenders, flower arrangements, dirty house, missing this and that.....it was a very very fast 3 weeks as we worked in high gear to finish by the morning of the 5th.
Instead of just having an open house or a cookout......Bruce wanted to come and the rest was history.........so let the party begin.

The morning of June 5th there was still a lot of work to be done before 4:30pm when the shuttle buses would start to run from the ski resort down to the house as the first catering truck showed up at 8:00am.

The party rental company was right behind them with 25 tables and 250 folding chairs, he didn't have the stones to back across the bridge so they unloaded them all used a hand dolly.......some people just like doing it the hard way I guess.

A stage was built so Bruce could speak about what the Boys & Girls Club met to him growing up in Boston and having his parents working all the time. Both bands will be rolling in around 2:30pm and we have run a 30 amp power outlet for them so you could hear it downtown......hehe!!!!

The second catering truck showed up to unload all the drinks, snacks, etc...but I had to back the truck across the bridge was the fellow looked at me and said, You're kidding right????.

TIME: 1:32pm as the final item on the punch list is being finished....a 3 inch thick piece of oak cut out in the shape of Tennessee back lite with orange lights. Remember these two as they come into play around 8:30pm during the party.

Meanwhile down in the garage/conference area what are the guys doing.....making arts and craft center pieces. The kids at the Boys & Girls Club had taken empty butter containers painted them, added string to make a basketball net, then made a top to look like a basketball. Three straws with pictures of the kids where then inserted in the center and we were adding the balloons. Of course, my daughter was being a supervisor.....

Final touches were being added as the afternoon wore on, balloons and signs to make it look good.

The chairs were sit against the tables to prevent the wind, if any, from taking the table clothes and blowing them over the mountain. About 4:00, we decided to move the center pieces out on the tables. As we watched the sky for that 30% chance of a thunderstorm.......

Right on time came 1800 pounds of ice and an ice box for storage....it was in the 80's you know...and we do drink a lot of sweet tea around these parts.....

TIME: 3:30pm as the cater started setting up the chow lines......bar-b-que ribs and chicken along with all the southern deep fried fixins you can eat.

TIME: 4:00pm and the tables are all set, center pieces are set out, chairs set and we have a green light to go to launch status.......:)

A 1956 T-bird with 714 miles and a 1929 Hot Rod are the center pieces of the garage area.......we have them roped off so no one can jump in and play with the steering wheels.....

Neon signs and chrome wheels along with murals complete what some call the hottest garage they have ever seen

The last blog updated showed the billiard room being finished, this is how she looked on Tuesday just before it was showtime. YES, that is a Dolly Parton pinball machine and YES, those are Dolly Parton signed guitars among other things....

YES, that is a JoePa bobblehead and a 6 foot Jack statue........

TIME: 4:15pm as the band, The Griffin Brothers, started to do sound checks...check...check....1....2....check....

The President and his staff had setup a table as you entered the house in order to check and make sure you have signed up and gave your donation. There is a set of wrist bands on the table next to the basket. Everyone had a wrist band, blue if you were over 21......red if you were under 21. I had setup this up that everyone could have either wine, beer or the hard stuff, but there would be a three drink limit. We did the promotion and setting everything up and the staff at the Boys and Girls Club handled the donations and paperwork......

TIME: 4:34pm The first trolley arrived...it was full of people wanting to get to the cookout early and talk with BRUCE.....where is BRUCE anyways....now I am sweating bullets as he is running late...because of traffic..

TIME: 4:53pm Bruce walks in the door, seems the parking attendants at the gate house had him sign a few things....no problem I can relax now.

Everyone is ready, everything is done, the ribs are on the grill,the sauce is on the tables.....so where is everyone?

Up on the three floor talking to BRUCE.......on the left is Lisa and her mom, she played for Pat back when Pat was just Pat and not PAT!!!!, if you know what I mean.

Meanwhile down on the first level, the chef is still working on those ribs.....anyone one down there yet?

NO, they are forming a line out on the second floor deck to have a picture taken with BRUCE and then have him sign it. The fellow on the left is Brian, a director at the Boys & Girls Club and he also owns one of those amusement park ride picture taken machine.....so he donated his employees, camera, paper, etc. Anyone who wanted a picture paid $20.00 which all went to the Club....now how cool was that.

Meanwhile back up at the front door, the line is working it's way out the front door as trolleys shuttle back and forth from the ski resort about 2 miles away.

Meanwhile back with BRUCE his line is growing also....as he takes his time to talk with everyone, telling jokes, stories and making the guest feel great.....a true class act.

TIME: 5:30pm and the house is full from the first level to the third floor....people could tour the entire house from the 5th floor down to the wine cellar...and they did. Three bartenders were kept busy pouring 4 kegs of Mountain Lite, 22 large bottle of assorted wine and 6 gallons jugs of Jack.

We had invited everyone, it doesn't to me what your status in life is...we are all the same, so it was no surprise to me when the UPS drivers showed up before going back to their terminal. A picture with Bruce, a plate of ribs and some sweet tea and they were out of there......The rich, the famous or just folks......it doesn't matter.

Of course, what would a Boys and Girls Club cookout be without kids.....most of the guest had their kids there, but most were in their the 20's or 30's. Sid is one of the kids that we help out with....and her mom finished from college back in early May. A true success story of someone with the desire but not the means....working a part time job, raising a rug rat and going to college.

Meanwhile BRUCE is still at it.....SMILE!!!!

Because of someone like BRUCE being at the cookout, we had 3 off duty police officers providing security, handcuffs and armed. I had told them to have a great time, talk to people since they know just about everyone at the cookout...bust on people and so on....but keep an eye out for any problems. A girl had passed out in the bathroom, one of the officers went in and asked if she had diabetes, was pregnant and about 10 more questions and fast as she could answer them, they then sit her on the chair and within 15 minutes she was fine again.....I was busting on her about....are you sure this isn't because of meeting BRUCE....

The two daughter made their way up to BRUCE and was busting on him about couple inside jokes we have with him.......

They had a picture taken and was they were walking away, Ang had been busting on Bruce about Dane Bradshaw and why hadn't brought him along.......he had a silly remark to her.....

Bruce then pulled out his phone and called Dane....handed the phone to Ang and they talked for a few minutes.....Ang is still in cloud 9 over that.

Then Bruce wrote down Dane cell number......and even BRUCE had a wrist band on.....man they are good......

Security was all over the place watching for trouble but we never had any......or rain....both a good thing.

A city counsel meeting on the 5th had some guest coming late....the parking attendants wanted to know if it was OK for the commissioners to park on property or did they have to ride the trolley...........

I never had a chance to get anything to eat....but I'll survive, as the drawing for the raffle and 50/50 were coming up, I did get one final chance to talk to BRUCE. During the first round of the NCAA tournement while having dinner with BRUCE, I was talking about having an open house.....then maybe having a charity cookout....he asked for who and when I said the Boys and Girls Club......he instantly said, "I would be honored to come and attend". He would be honored blew me away.....he is a really down to earth guy.....who loves basketball and teaching kids about life.

The theater room was a big hit, was all the Disney stuff in there......we had the NCAA Softball Tournement on during the cookout. Tennessee was one game up and only had to win this game to win the bags of marbles. They lost in the 10th inning.

Jim on the right and June on the left are the ones behind having a Boys and Girls Club built here in town. Mark is the Exective Director and that is my boss, just 6 days after having surguery for breast cancer.....

TIME: 8:30pm and the raffle drawing for 3 prizes in under way, you had to be present to win.....anyone have 865475.....anyone?

The best thing was that everyone had a good time, got lots to eat, drink, and meet some friends they haven't seen for a while....and people were everywhere relaxing.

OK....no winners.....anyone have 865472........YES we have a winner for the sign in the shape of Tennessee made out of OAK......remember back around lunch time...as they hung the last thing on the punch list......Jennifer ended up winning her own sign.......so we switched it out for a print.

OK......now for the 50/50 cash drawing......anyone have 865473,....YES we have another winner.....but wait it the same person.......OK, WHO fixed this drawing?
They ended up winning both drawing, but donated the $619.00 that would have been there share of the 50/50 back to the Club....now how cool was that.

As the cookout came to a close around 10:00pm......Jackson was able to finally sit down and get a bit to eat......all by himself.....but that's life living in this house......late this coming week we will know how much was raised for the new Boys & Girls Club here in town....right now it looks like somewhere between 20 and 22 thousand.
Thanks BRUCE........God bless you and your family