2017-2018 A Successful Year!

After a successful volunteer event at the Bristol Half Marathon and Relay in August, WVS members were excited to start raising money for our charities - Wounded Warrior Project® and Fisher House™.  The school year began with WVS officers participating in the Simsbury High School Activities fair. WVS manned an informational booth to encourage incoming freshman to join our club and support our efforts. Many students signed up on the spot. Our very first official fundraising event was a bake sale at Fitzgerald’s Grocery Store in September. WVS members provided an incredible amount of baked goods which were sold throughout the day. We even had a special mascot, a 6lb Yorkshire Terrier named Crush, who helped raise money! We must admit, the puppy was a fan favorite! 

Veterans Day, November 11th was a very special day for WVS. WVS helped organize and participated in the early morning school ceremony to honor veteran facility members. WVS also provided special gifts and cards for each veteran faculty member. WVS officer Keara Dennehy also spoke on behalf of Mr. Bashelor, a military veteran and admired teacher who recently passed from cancer. That same evening, WVS organized and hosted the first ever Friends of Fisher House CT Veterans Day Fundraising Dinner benefitting Fisher House™. After countless hours of planning, coordinating details with school officials, selling tickets, inviting local military veterans, securing raffle donations, obtaining sponsorships, decorating and more, WVS hosted an incredibly successful event through the efforts of WVS officers, members, Simsbury high school community and local towns. The Simsbury High School groups, No Fella A cappella and Symptoma Band performed at the event, as well as local singer/songwriter Peter Janizzu. The most important speaker of the night was Kevin Creed, founder of Friends of Fisher House of CT who thanked everyone for their support and clearly shared his passion for supporting Fisher House™. The delicious dinner was provided by the local caterer, Kanes Catering. Simsbury High School teacher Chef Lestrud and the Simsbury High School Culinary Classes provided the desserts, along with a Fisher House decorated cake donated by Big Y. The local Starbucks Coffee supplied the coffee and fixings for all the guests. The night ended with announcing the raffle winners. One lucky attendee won the big prize - 2 tickets to see the Broadway play, Wicked in NYC. 

WVS continued to find creative ways to raise money for our charities. At one of the last home football games, WVS hosted the ‘Best Seat in the House’ fundraiser. WVS members sold raffle tickets before the football game then a winner was chosen at the start of the game. The lucky winner and 4 guests sat on a comfy sofa right at the end zone! Also, free hot chocolate and cookies were provided to the winner and guests. 

In the winter, WVS held bake sale fundraisers at the Simsbury Travel Basketball Club games. We provided delicious treats to Simsbury and opposing team basketball players in grades 1-8 and their fans! 

Finally, WVS hosted the Annual Simsbury Memorial Day Bake Sale benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project®. The Simsbury ABC House advisor and Simsbury High School faculty member, Mr. Scott Nielson was so kind to let WVS host the bake sale on the front lawn of the ABC House, along the parade route! WVS raised money for the Wounded Warrior Project® and supported the community members marching in the parade. For the 8th year in a row, this was another successful bake sale event fundraising for this amazing charity!