Click HERE to see photos of this event.

Thank you Tailgaters! Thanks to you the Big Tailgate at the DeBakey VA campus went off very smoothly last Saturday. Here are a few highlights and items of note:

1. We had exactly 120 volunteers sign-in (that explains where all the caps went) representing numerous organizations including: Mission Bend United Methodist Church, Navasota First Baptist Church, Grandview Fellowship, Grace Church of Sienna, Houston Sunrise Kiwanis, American Heritage Girls Troop #1378, University of Houston AMSA (maybe one of you could remind me what AMSA stands for), US Vets, TaxTech Inc., Johnson Development, and Costello, Inc.

2. A couple of omissions I made in announcing participating organizations last Saturday: Christian Swank with Commercial Sound and Satellite provided the PA system, two large screen TV's, and technicians to set up and take down the equipment. This added a lot to the feel of a tailgate party and provided full sound to the whole parking lot and set up - thank you. I also failed to recognize Houston Sunrise Kiwanis for funding, transporting and handling the water bottle service - I can't remember how many cases of water they provided but it was a lot! We have some left over - maybe 20 cases or so. We also have our sponsors listed on the website - many of our donors have been supporting us since we started 3 years ago.

3. We served at least 1,200 meals - I suspect it was a bit more. We ran out of plates before we ran out of food and had to make a run to get more plates. Then we ran out of food. I didn't get to sample much but I didn't hear any complaints. One of the patients came down as we were packing up the last of the stuff and told us that we were literally the answer to a prayer - she had been craving a steak and potato and she got it!

4. Brian Velez got lots of great pictures and we will get some of those on the website shortly.

5. I don't know yet what we have left for funding but we should have enough to do some additional events - more on that to follow later.

Remember, we are at the DeBakey VA campus on the first Saturday in October every year - I haven't looked at the 2013 calendar yet but I will send you a "save the date" for the 5th Annual Tailgate With a Hero email sometime after the first of the year.

Thank you all again!

Ralph N. Wissel