Thanks to all of our community parnters who supported us with booth, table and promotional sponsorships as well – the Emmis family of stations (93WIBC, 1070 The Fan, B105 and Hank FM), WTHR-13, Complete Office Supply, Adrian Orchards, Two Men and a Truck, Huntington Bank, ComedySportz, Cartridge Specialists INK, Graphicon, Unique Home Solutions, the American Legion, Avon, HVAF and Indy Custom Cornhole. Bandwagon put on a great show, too!

And thanks to our community for coming out and putting those lunch dollars to work for a good cause! If you’d like to learn more (or buy one of those great t-shirts) about our programs that support our neighbors struggling with homelessness and abuse, go to HomelessnessBites.org

Each December, WIBC 93 fm hosts a three-day live fundraising event to benefit The Salvation Army. The 16th Annual Radiothon has a blue hue this year and will feature our co-chairs, Indianapolis Colts’ Tom Zupancic and WIBC/ESPN 1070′s Joe Staysniak. The ‘marathon of giving’ begins at 6 am on Friday, December 3 and ends just before the Colts kick it off with the Dalls Cowboys on Sunday, December 5, 2010.

Radiothon weekend is a lot of fun with Colts-themed prizes and touching stories of the men, women and children whose lives have been changed. But, it’s also a crucial part of funding the programs that provide financial and grocery assistance to struggling families, shelter for the homeless, refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence, after-school and summer opportunities for metro Indy children, and support for Hoosiers after natural disasters.

 So, what about those co-chairs?

‘Zup’ (pictured above, right) is in his 27th season with the Colts, his fifth as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.   Before joining the front office as Director of Business Development in 1998, he served as the Colts’ Strength and Conditioning Coach. A graduate of Indiana Central University, Zupancic also received an honorary doctorate degree from Martin University in 2010. Zupancic was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1998 and given the 1996 Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana’s  highest civilian honor. In 2000, Zupancic was one of the 10 recipients of the Jefferson award for volunteerism. He serves on several boards, including The Salvation Army. Zupancic and his wife have three children and reside in Indianapolis.

‘Big’ Joe (pictured above, left) joined WIBC in 1996 after graduating from Ohio State University and completing a successful NFL career. An offensive lineman, Staysniak was a member of the AFC champion Buffalo Bills,  playing in two Super Bowls before finishing his career with the Indianapolis Colts. Staysniak is part of the WIBC Morning Show team and hosts his own show on ESPN 1070 from 10am-12pm, weekdays.  Staysniak proudly supports Emmis Communications’ community efforts, and has worked with The Salvation Army  on numerous occasions including the annual WIBC Radiothon. He and his family reside in Indianapolis.

Our co-chairs’ paths intersected at the Indianapolis Colts when Zupancic served as Strength and Conditioning Coach during Staysniak’s time as a player. They now host a Colts pre-game show along with Jeffrey Gorman and Wil Wolford, called The Heavyweights. The show, simulcast on 1070 The Fan and 97.1 Hank fm and airing on MyNDY, provides exclusive coverage and interviews about the Colts in the hours leading up to the game.

We’re thrilled to welcome these two Heavyweights as our 2010 WIBC Radiothon Co-Chairs. And we encourage you to join us. [check out the promo video] Corporate sponsorships are available starting at $500! We’re also looking for partners to donate prize packages for pledge incentives and for restaurants to donate meals to feed our volunteers and on-air talent who give their time to take pledges and encourage calls. Find out more at WIBCRadiothon.org or give Kristen a call at 224-1019.

Without the generosity of our partners, we couldn’t do what we do to help our neighbors in need. Thanks to our food sponsors at All-American Picnic for firing up their new locomotive grill (above, picnic guys with our development director Jeff Stanger in front of their hard-working showpiece), GFS for donating all the chips and to Ricker’s am/pm stores for bringing plenty of 2-liters and ice. And we couldn’t forget the ladies who baked all the tempting treats for the Doughnut Girls to offer for donations.

Thanks to our campaign partners at Two Men and a Truck, our promotional partners at ChaCha, my107.9 and WISH TV-8 and our booth partners from Ivy Tech Community College, Comcast, Avon, The Indianapolis Star, The American Legion, The Indianapolis Colts, The Indiana Pacers, Indy Custom Cornhole and HVAF. Thanks for your support and help entertaining the crowd!

Now that you’ve seen the fun, maybe you feel like you missed out. Well, we’re looking forward to another chance to ‘Bite Back’ this October at Apple Fest on Monument Circle. We’ll have opportunities for booth, promotional, entertainment and food partnerships. Go here to learn more, or call Kristen at 224-1019.

We’re wrapping up the week by having a picnic with a purpose. Join us on Friday, May 14 (10am-2pm) at Veteran’s Memorial Plaza for our 2nd annual ‘Eat Outside the Box’ picnic to end homelessness. We had a really great turnout last year and we’re hoping to continue to spread the word about our Homelessness Bites campaign. You can join the cause in two ways:

1. Become a booth sponsor – A great location and about 400 picnic-goers means prime exposure for our partnering non-profits and businesses. Partnership is super affordable – booth space is just $50! You’re welcome to have displays, giveways and even sell non-food items and you keep the profits! Interested? Call Kristen at 224-1019 and reserve your space today to get in on early promotions.

2. Come out for lunch and take a bite out of homelessness! The central location at Meridian & Michigan is super convenient for the employees of dozens of downtown businesses to just walk over and join us. All-American Picnic Company will be grilling hamburgers in addition to hotdogs. And we’re thrilled to have live music from BandWagon again this year! Lunch and tunes beats leftovers at your desk, right?

The 1,500 kids who spend their nights on the streets of Indy think Homelessness Bites. Do you? We hope you’ll help us Bite Back.

The Comics That Care: Auggie Smith, Mike Polites, Marques Bunn, and Stan Chen.

IUPUI students and the Indianapolis community will be laughing for a good cause next week. The Department of Communication Studies along with the Department’s Communication Club in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI have partnered with the Salvation Army to present Comics That Care, a charity event to benefit Central Indiana’s Homeless Children. The show will be held on Monday, March 8th at 7 p.m. in the Campus Center at IUPUI. To learn more about the event, and how you can get tickets, go here.

We want to be sure to thank our event sponsors. Without the generosity of partners like ours, we wouldn’t have the ability to host an event for you to be a part of. So, thanks to our campaign sponsor – Two Men and a Truck, lunch sponsor – Applebee’s, apple cobbler sponsor – GFS Marketplace, apple sponsor – Adrian Orchards, media partners – WIBC 93/ESPN The Fan 1070/B105.7/HANK 97.1, campaign spokesperson, Mel McMahon, Big Brothers Big Sisters, The American Legion, Dunkin’ Donuts, Comedysportz, Squish Designs, Indy Moms Like Me, the Indiana Pacers and their Fan Van, the Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders, and folks from each of our Salvation Army’s nearby locations. And thanks to Bandwagon for setting the mood with some great tunes that certainly called people from blocks away!

So, thanks for supporting Homelessness Bites and for donating coats to Bob Gregory’s Coats for Kids. Stay tuned to find out how much we raised for programs at our women’s and children’s shelter.

Applebee’s Restaurants will provide the lunch items and, or course, there will be hot apple cobbler and ice cream for dessert.  Orchard fresh apples will once again be provided by Adrian Orchards.

Be sure to check out our sponsors’ booths, especially WIBC 93.1, B105.7, HANK-FM, and 1070 The Fan, four stations from Emmis Communication who are on board to spread the word this year. Not to mention, we may be taking over a little bit more of the circle this year. Things are growing.

Bandwagon will once again rock the lunchtime crowd with their vast repertoire of classic and current top 40 hits.

Apple Fest is just one part of The Salvation Army’s Homelessness Bites campaign.  1,300 1,500 of Indy’s homeless are children with an average age of 9.  For these kids, homelessness bites.  You can bite back by joining us (and making your friends, family, co-workers, and more come, too) at Apple Fest.

To those of you who participated in our annual Christmas toy drive – whether you donated a toy, hosted a collection site at your business or gave of your time to help moms and dads shop for gifts at the Toy Shop  – THANK YOU! More than 13,000 toys were collected and purchased this season through our Angel Tree and WISH Tree collection drive – you gave more than $15,000 outside Lucas Oil Stadium, online and by mail.

It’s a huge undertaking to serve that many families. Over 100 volunteers as well as on-air personalities from WISH-TV helped parents shop at our annual distribution day – our Toy Shop at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. And thanks to our friends at WARM 93.9 for keeping the tunes coming for those waiting to shop. That little extra Christmas cheer went a long way!

The need was great. While last year, about 700 families applied for the program, nearly 30% more moms and dads needed a little help making Christmas merry and bright for their families this year. We weren’t sure we could serve all who applied, but due to a healthy dose of divine intervention, generous mentions on-air by our media partners and some good old Hoosier generosity, this year was our most successful Toy Shop to date!

Of course, we couldn’t do what we do without our partners, so thanks to the folks at WISH-TV, the Indianapolis Colts, our Angel Tree and WISH Tree partners, our volunteers, and the thousands of Hoosiers who donated. When you sit around the tree opening your gifts next week, you can feel good knowing that your donations helped make it a Merry Christmas for 900 families. Now that’s “Doing the Most Good”!

Some of our very own Indianapolis Colts Cheerleaders kicked off the event this morning at 6am. We also expect our 2008 Radiothon Chair (and Indiana Basketball legend) Quinn Buckner to ring and meet and greet at 10am. Our friends from Dunkin’ Donuts are sponsoring lunch for our celebrities and volunteers and will have their Cup and Donut mascots passing out some gift cards. After lunch, the Pacers mascots – Boomer and Bowser, and the Pacemates will join us. The mascot fun continues with Blue – Indianapolis Colts Mascot, Truckie from Two Men and a Truck and IUPUI Mascot Jawz. The Salvation Army Brass Ensemble & Donut Girls will take the afternoon shift. On-air personalities from WISH-TV8 will also join us throughout the day.

Yesterday, Eric Halvorson challenged 100,000 Hoosiers to each give $5.50 a week til Christmas to help us meet our Tree of Lights goal this year. Today’s a perfect day to come over and start by giving to those who have none.

But, no worries – if you can’t make it to Celebrity bellringing, you’ll have the opportunity to give at over 140 locations throughout the city through December 24th. And, of course, if you’re interested in volunteering this season by ringing a bell at a red kettle location, or by hosting your own on-line red kettle, go to indykettle.org or give Elizabeth a call at 224-1010.

A familiar sound greeted Walmart shoppers yesterday – the ringing of Salvation Army bells. Walmart kicked off the Christmas season a little early as they celebrated the opening of their new Walmart Christmas Shops. And to add to the festivities, they invited us to join them by ringing bells at each store across America. 

Each year, Walmart kicks off the season by announcing their partnership with The Salvation Army. So this past Thursday, the Walmart Foundation presented a $1.25 million check to Salvation Army National Commander, Commissioner Isreal Gaither at Walmart’s historic store #1 in Roger’s Arkansas.  The donation will be equally divided among Salvation Army units across the United States to help meet the basic needs of those hit hardest by our nation’s recent economic events.

Here in Indiana, our season starts on November 20 at our Tree of Lights campaign tree lighting ceremony on our front lawn. Once again, we are proud to partner with Walmart as our tree sponsor. And, after the tree is lit, you’ll see red kettles outside Walmart stores here in Indy and throughout Indiana.

To find out more about The Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights Campaign, visit IndyKettle.org. And if you’d like to help your neighbors in need by volunteering to ring a bell this Christmas, call Elizabeth at 224-1010.