ear Editor: 3 to 5 Preschool wishes to thank everyone who supported our spring Big Rig fundraiser on Saturday, April 11. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day weather-wise. The Mt. Edgecumbe High School parking lot was the perfect place for the 38 large and small rigs/vehicles displayed there to look at or climb on or in. The site was fantastic especially for those who took the opportunity to go up on the Absolute Tree Care cherry picker. A special thank you goes to Jared Hazel, Aaron D and Eric Ward for letting participants go up high in the air! What an amazing experience for many.
We truly appreciate our corporate sponsors – Sitka Swirls, Hames Corporation, Pacific Services, Thai Alaska Kitchen, and to Arrowhead Transfer, Sitka Bottling Company, Prewitt Enterprises, Hard Rock Construction, Jessie’s Uptown Dogs, Sitka Elks Lodge 1662, Petro Marine Services, Sitka Emblem Club 142 and Tongass Federal Credit Union for being our event supporters with their generous donations.
Thanks to Secon for donating the orange hats that many took to wear, to the Emblem Club and Sitka Rotary Club for letting us borrow the canopies, and to Public Works who gave us the cones to place around the area for safety. It was nice to have Fern from Alaska Coach Tours sit in the bus and let people eat their food inside.
Thelton Rear, who works for Petro, stayed all day and even got a sunburn! The new Police Chief Mike Hall with Rich Meunier enjoyed meeting lots of people during our event and giving out police badge stickers to kids. Firefighters, Justin, Ash, and Mike showed the many parts of the ladder fire truck. Congratulations goes to Jeff Hole who won the free raffle for a ride on the ladder truck. Thank you to the Sitka Fire Department for making the raffle possible each year.
We loved the vendors for their contribution in providing food and treats during our event. So many bought hotdogs from Jessie’s Uptown Dogs. Those who came late missed out on food sold by the Thai Alaska Kitchen. The Donut Lady definitely had a tasty variety of treats and with the nice weather many walked away with ice cream from Sitka Swirls.
The volunteers and those individuals who stayed all day were glad to be able to get drinks donated by Sitka Bottling Company in the volunteer tent along with the donated treats from the Donut Lady. Thank you to Aaryn Licari and Lisa Ystad for making the sliders for the volunteers as well.
Our 3 to 5 Preschool was so pleased to have MEHS’s National Honor Society, and their Rising Ed group along with SHS’s National Honor Society plus many other students who volunteered as SAFETY VIPs to make sure kids were safe going up and down the rigs if they needed help.
A special thanks goes to the Hirai family and Dan and Karen Jones for their help in making the event go smoothly from start to finish! We definitely want to thank the Daily Sitka Sentinel for adding the articles and photos in the newspaper advertising our event.
This Big Rig Fundraiser was probably the BEST spring fundraiser ever. We can’t say thanks enough to all the businesses, organizations and individuals who helped in making it such a success and to all the Sitkans who came out to make it so very special and memorable.
3 to 5 Preschool staff, board, parents and preschoolers
