Current Events
The 3rd Annual Tiger Paw Golf Classic a Huge Success
Tanner and Tanner's Totes would like to express our complete excitement over receiving some of the donations generated from the hard work by the Business School at Clemson University. Over $11,000 was donated by the generous individuals and businesses that support Clemson University and The Tiger Paw Classic. As you can see from some of the pictures, so many students and volunteers were needed to make this wonderful event possible. We would like to thank each and every one. And once again, none of this would be possible without the support of the Clemson/Anderson, SC community and businesses. It's all about the patients. Thanks to all of you we are servicing the children's hospitals in all three major cities of South Carolina.
Florida State Introduces Totes to Tallahassee Memorial
Tanner's childhood friend and high school teammate, James Ramsey, All-American and captain of the Seminole Baseball team, introduced the idea of having all the incoming freshmen student-athletes get an early start on serving the local community. Tanner's Totes was the obvious choice he advised the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. SAAC contacted us and we helped their athletes deliver totes to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. A big THANK YOU to James, SAAC and the student-athletes that participated. It's all about the patients!!
William & Mary Athletes Connect with 3 Hospitals
Sean Aiken, a baseball player at The College of William & Mary and long-time friend of Tanner's, contacted us about spreading our goals toward the eastern Virginia region of Williamsburg and Richmond. It was his idea: his project from start to delivery! All of us were so impressed, and truthfully, proud to work with a man who obviously realizes how to give back to his community and fellow man. Please finish reading the rest of the story in Sean's words. Thank you, Sean!
I had the pleasure of getting to know Tanner and the Smith family from an early age, and while my memories of time spent with Tanner include countless baseball games, watching in awe on the basketball court, or spending summers playing games of pool basketball until our feet were blistered, perhaps what stands out the most in my mind when I think of him is the first Tanner’s Totes drive we ever did. As we are now all college graduates, it seems like forever ago our baseball team was putting together our first drive, but Tanner’s Totes and the manifestation of the core values behind the project have, and always will, stay with me. So, when our SAAC representatives (Student Athlete Advisory Council) at The College of William & Mary were trying to put together a service project for the spring semester, it was clear to me that Tanner’s Totes was going to be the one I pushed for. Luckily, when you have an organization such as Tanner’s Totes, there isn’t much pushing you have to do. I gave a presentation on the organization and why it was started, showed a brief clip from the website, and minutes later had full support from all of our athletic teams.
When all was said and done, we had partnered with three different children’s hospitals in Virginia (VCU Children’s Hospital, Chippenham Hospital, and UVA Children’s Hospital) and had 18 totes filled and ready to be delivered by several of our Tribe athletes. The project got the word out about the organization, got people excited about helping those who received the totes, and instilled a sense of thoughtful reflection in all of us. It hit especially close to home for those who delivered the totes, and although none of the baseball players were able to deliver since we were in season, it held a special worth with us as well as the team that brought Tanner’s Totes to our athletic department.
“Knowing that you can put a smile on a kid’s face that is facing one of the toughest challenges anyone ever has to endure is something that sticks with you forever and the Tanner’s Totes initiative instilled that since of realization in the entire Tribe Athletics community. We are truly fortunate to have been able to help such a worthy and respectable organization.”
Michelle, and Friends, Raise Hope for Totes Internationally
We start the year 2013 with a fantastic story from Zwolle, Netherlands. As many of you know, I have been blessed enough to continue my basketball career here professionally, and with the great basketball blessing, Tanner’s Totes has reached the hearts and minds of the people here in Zwolle.
When I first arrived here, I was taken under the wing of the Huisman family. As we were able to know each other more and more, the conversation of Tanner’s Totes came up in conversation. We talked for a while, but the daughter was left out of the conversation because she has not yet learned fluent English. I suppose when I left, Gert and Judith described my organization to Michelle.
Michelle decided to ask two of her best friends, Melanie Danneleit and Mirthe Evenboer, to help her raise money for Tanner’s Totes. These 11 year old girls decided to sell gingerbread-like cookies at two of the home basketball games. While they sold the homemade treats, videos of Tanner’s Totes were shown to the crowd.
In two games, they raised a total of 902 euros. The conversion at this time to dollars is 1,173. I was speechless to say the least. This news was presented to me before one of our games, but another surprise was in store. At the end of the game, I was told to come to center court where I met Cees Lubbers, a man very involved with our team and the community. He came on the court to announce he would double the money the girls raised. So at the end of the day, 1804 euros (2,347 dollars) were raised.
It was amazing to see such young girls take initiative to help others during the holiday season. A servant heart is what these girls truly have. Thanks to them, Cees for his big, unexpected gift, and of course all of you, Tanner’s Totes has now become international!
Happy New Year
Area Schools Raise Needed Funds | Fellowship Christian Academy
Students of Mrs. Prudy Hughes Pre-1st class at Fellowship Christian School participated in filling "Tubes for Totes". Even though the M&Ms are sweet enough, the students received a special treat for bringing tubes in filled with quarters. Tanner happened to be on break from the Netherlands and surprised the class. Awestruck boys and girls enjoyed the surprise visit from the founder. However, from what we heard, Tanner had the most fun!
Area Schools Raise Needed Funds | Camp Creek Elementary
In February of 2013, the student council, with help from the students at Camp creek Elementary, in Lilbiurn, GA raised $1700 for Tanner's Totes. Kim Britt, and her daughter, Hope. brought our non-profit to the school's attention. All jumped on board with support in buying paper hearts for Valentine's week. There was even a competition between classrooms. All of this effort and excitement pushed the fundraiser to a major success.
Area Schools Raise Needed Funds | King's Ridge Christian School
The fourth grade classes, led by Emma and Rachel Smith, also organized a bake sale to sweeten the "Tubes for Totes" fundraiser. After all was said and done, the 4th graders brought in over $1200. Finding loose change and baking goodies are great ways to help kids in long-term care. Way to go King's Ridge 4th Graders!!!
Maybe your class or organization can take similar steps to help us, help these patients.
Future Netherlands National Team Focus on Tanner’s Totes First!!
Dear Tanner,
Until the end of May we collecting money for Tanners Totes. So by that time I send you an e-mail how we can donate the money. I will add the tshirt amount then. The boys are very keen in collecting money, and I try also to do my best! The boys collecting empty returnable bottles and get money for that and they do chores for their parents. May first I will make a biketrip from 120 km (74 miles) and collecting money with that. I am very curious about how much money we raise. I know there are many writing mistakes in this e-mail, my english is not very good, but you know we try to do our best and we like it very much!
Kind regards,
Marleen
"From small beginnings, come great reward!" This young basketball team became a major donor for Tanner's Totes. The count is over E1,000 or $1290
4th Annual Tiger Paw Golf Classic
Tanner and Tanner's Totes would like to say that we are overwhelmed with the love and support the Clemson Community has shown us. Without this generous donation hundreds of children, not only in the southeast, but across the nation, would go through the worst time of their life without a Tanner's Tote to bring some cheer and hope. This time of year always brings tears to our eyes, because we know that our Clemson Family has our backs once again. Thank you. And the patients thank you.
A special thanks goes out to the sponsors of the tournament. Dunkin Donuts, Chipotle, and Moe's for providing food for the hungry golfers. Sonepar for sponsoring the course. And of course Boscobel Golf and Country Club for clearing a day each year for this event.
All of this would not be possible with out the innovation, imagination and hard work by all the student volunteers from the Marketing Class at Clemson's School of Business. We are thrilled that we have been chosen each year to be the beneficiary of this hard work. A special thanks goes to Patrick Chamberlain who led this group of students to this successful Tiger Paw Classic. We hope you deem us worthy of this wonderful event in the future.
Totes R Us Warehouse
Tanner's Totes has many awesome friends. A couple of them are Susan Ruiz, a board member, and her husband, Ivan. He owns a company called Georgia Brace and Spine. He and his employees take care of injured patients throughout the southeast by providing the needed orthopedic braces to support the healing process. Georgia Brace and Spine has graciously extended an offer to provide Tanner's Totes with needed warehouse space. The picture shows just a portion of the space donated to us.
The warehouse allows us to buy in larger, bulk orders. This gives us access to better pricing when buying items for the tote bags and gives us space for larger groups when filling tote bags. Now groups of 6-8 people can come for a couple of hours and fill a bunch of tote bags. What a great way to do a community service project for your scout troop, church small group, sports team or whatever group you are involved with.