Wisconsin Timber Rattlers - Make A Wish

On July 26th members of the Midwest Garrison and Midwest Base met up in Appleton WI to help the Timber Rattlers raise some $$ for the WI chapter of Make a Wish.

A mission report from TK321 ....

I am depressed.


I have always judged how much I enjoyed an event by how depressed I am the next day realizing that the magic is all over.
I didn't want yesterday to end.
I knew I would be depressed.

Luis and I had a conversation not too long ago (Blue Harbor) on the dynamics of when our group was young. We couldn't wait to drive and see each other...have fun doing the event....suit down and just hang together and enjoy each other's company for as long as we could until we had to return to reality.
And we would get depressed because it was over.

For me, that magic happened again yesterday.

What a great group of members that assembled yesterday to help a great charity. As we stood on home base watching the fireworks I couldn't have been prouder of anything that I have ever been associated with. Any member could have left by the 4th inning (our official finish time), but to see all of us still there after 5 hours says a lot for the dedication of these members. A few of them still had hours of driving into the morning hours ahead of them!
And in regards of our newest members Zach Wagner and his girlfriend Sara all I can say is that they already understand what we are about. They volunteered to help any way they could and jumped right in with Sara applying tattoo's to the kids and Zach operating R2-D2. And their enthusiasm and enjoyment of being a part of this evening was contagious with everyone involved.

I owe a BIG debt of gratitude to Troy for stepping in to be Vader when another backed out. He was also instrumental in working with Angie (our contact and host) to provide the music / sound effects, and scout and approve our staging area.

5 hours in costume, outside and under the sun. Gratefully there was a nice breeze! But with all the kids and fans (not to mention the surprised people who didn't expect to see royalty, droids and troopers patrolling the entrance grounds!) we all quickly fell into character and took hundreds of fan photo's and signed multitudes of autographs (thanks to the Clone Wars poster promotion!) along with making sure no one entered without proper identification.
Princess Leia (when she wasn't at first base... ) was busy with the royal duties of handing out raffle tickets to the kids who arrived in their own costumes or Star Wars clothing.
Quincy and Aimee were summoned to the field for a quick golf contest. Quincy was lucky to even hit the ball, and Aimee is ready for the Master's. I got to hold the flag (which is because I haven't held a club since high school...)
Darth Vader ascended the pitchers mound to throw a first pitch. Not having a baseball with him he "summoned" for one to the amusement of the fans! (Yes! he made it though it was a little to the right)

Angie and the T-Rat's were amazing. We had a great and convenient place to change, snacks, food and beverages, hotel rooms for those electing to stay, and even "adult beverages" after the event was finished.
To top it off, she kept aplogizing for not doing more and for what she felt was "neglect" on her part! ohmygawd!!!!! We have never been so "spoiled by neglect!"
(we did give her an autographed stormtrooper figure for her office)

My humble appreciation to...
Princess Dee
Dana / Cleopatramwi
Geoff TK4813
Aimee TB101
Tom John TK118
Frank TK9156
JohnQTK 5122
Quincy (TK?)
Zach / Cloudstrife7
Sara
Troy (and R2-D2)
It is my hope that should Make*A*Wish ask us to participate in their 25 Year Anniversary In Wisconsin (coming next year) you will all join us in your respective roles BECAUSE YOU WERE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!


Ever since I did my first SpiderMan event for the T-Rats I was bragging about how we do charity events and our Garrison over in Michigan was having a tremendous success with the Whitecaps and that the T-Rats should consider us doing it over here. 2 years later I was approached by Angie to help coordinate this event and was excited at the prospect of showing off the MWG (and Rebel Legion) to such a large venue.

As we stood on the home base last night in front of the sold out crowd, watching the camera flashes and hearing the applause for all of us, I couldn't have been prouder of us and what we are capable (and have the honor!) of doing. We can help others. Is there anything more noble? And we can take pride in knowing that because of our efforts an ill child (or three) will have their wish granted.
We make costumes, we wear costumes, we have fun in costumes AND we unselfishly helped to make a difference. We did good.

And I am depressed, but it is such a good feeling to have right now!



Oh, and the Force was with the T-Rats as they easily won the game!
 

A thank you letter from the Timber Rattlers...

"Hi Robb,

If you wouldn't mind forwarding this note along to the other members in attendance on Saturday, I would great appreciate it!

I would just like to extend a very sincere and grateful THANK YOU to everyone who went out of their way (travel, music, coordination, brainstorming, etc.) to help us make Star Wars Night 2008 possible. And it was a huge success, especially being it the first year we’ve done it! We had a tremendous amount of positive feedback from our staff and the fans. And I’ve already heard a lot of “next year we should.......” or “what if we added...... next year?” So, I think there’s a really good chance we will look to hold Star Wars Night once again in 2009 (details to follow!

I am glad that everyone in the group seemed to have a good time at Star Wars Night this past weekend. And I am humbled by the comments regarding our hospitality. Knowing that the 501st and Rebel Legion are generous enough to do this on a volunteer basis, it is up to us to accommodate and “take care” of them in other ways, and hopefully we were able to do a fairly decent job with that.

Preliminary numbers show the jerseys auction raising approximately $1200. So, combined with our flat donation of $1000 (in honor of the 501st and Rebel Legion), I am very excited to state that we will be forwarding about $2200 to Make-A-Wish of Wisconsin as a result of this event!

In the coming days, I will be pulling all the photos (along with proper photographer credit) together on disk and will forward them along to Robb and Troy to disperse and submit as they see fit.

Again, thanks so much to everyone! I can’t say enough about how well you all were received and how well the event went in the eyes of our staff and or fans.


Sincerely,
--
Angie Ceranski
Vice President - Marketing
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers "
 

http://s269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/johnqtk5122/Timber_Rattlers/

Click photos for larger versions

Pre game fun		Group shot
Post game fireworks
			Players with the troops
Note the Rattler on banner with Vader helmet	Youngling with the droids
Vader tosses out first pitch			Young girl talks to R2 D2	Trooper in special Star Wars jersey
				Note the large crowd
Imp forces take over the park	Angie from Timber Rattlers with Vader		Fans get autographs
Game Flyer		Star Wars Jersey layout