This has been a great week! Some weeks, I have to search for a topic for my story. This week, there have been so many it was hard to choose. I have decided to go with the news story that KIDK did on the Foundation and the Crusade Against Cancer. (You can watch the news story on the website under the events tab.)
This started back in December when KIDK did the Pay It Forward story on the Shannon Wilker Foundation Night Out. I will always remember what a special night that was. At one point, I was talking with Todd Kunz and told him about the Crusade Against Cancer fundraiser I was planning to do in June. “Let me know when it gets closer to the date, and maybe we can do a story on it,” he told me.
Between then and now, I met with the Idaho State Police to see about them becoming a supporting partner with the event. I need to thank Marjorie Lusk for making this happen. So last week, I was going to have a follow up meeting with the State Police to go over the details of the race. I sent Todd Kunz an email asking him if he could still do a news story. “Sure. Just let me know when you want to do it,” was his reply. I told him about the meeting with the police and said it would be good to have them be part of the story. He agreed, and we decided to do the news story at the Idaho State Police office. Right before the meeting, I got a text my good friend Richard Johnson telling me to call him ASAP. Richard has The Wild Adventure Corn Maze. I have written earlier stories about the great times I had helping there. I will give you the details of that call a little later.
Officer Blake Higley did a great job letting everyone know why they wanted to give their support to the event and the Foundation. I wanted everyone to know that all of the funds the Foundation receives goes directly to cancer patients to help with gas cards, medical expenses, and lodging. Todd did a great job, and I asked him when he thought it might air. He told me he would try and get it put on that night. I was so happy knowing the fundraiser would get some attention that night on the evening news.
After I got home, Todd sent me an email telling me the story would probably run on Monday night. I thanked him and told him how grateful I was for his help. I soon found out why they waited to run it on Monday night. This brings me back to my phone conversation with Richard. He told me the theme for this year’s corn maze is “Hope for a Cure” and dedicated to the Shannon Wilker Foundation. The reason for the delay was the TV station wanted to run a news story on both. I can’t tell you how surprised I was. I was overcome with gratitude and appreciation.
Now there are a couple of really great things that came from this news story that I will tell you about later. I just really want to thank everyone who has supported me and donated to the Foundation. Not for just the awareness it has brought, but for all the people it has helped. Thank you for helping me keep my Angel Shannon’s memory alive. I will ALWAYS LOVE AND MISS YOU sweetheart.
Next week: The Crusade Against Cancer highlights
P.S. Oh, and my response to Todd Brown for saying I have a face for radio. “Yeah, and your point is…?”