The Soft Pitch

Yesterday a record 210 people (many from out of town) converged on Scottsdale to play golf and come for dinner to support my families 9th annual venue here in AZ benefiting needy children with toys. Our goal is simple add smiles to kids. It’s our 19th year of doing this in Chi-town.

I would like to believe they all came to support me personally but the reality is our executive team were the magnets. Even in a recession people traveled to AZ to combine biz with pleasure,  the opportunity to meet our leadership team and benefit the needy. If you wonder about our folks this maybe the real difference is their personalities. They know some folks are there to greet them and will ask me is there anyone you want me to meet? Our leaders are just nice people.  Hell one guy who was just laid off at Avnet still came…can u imagine that. I would have ducked my head in the sand or held a grudge…Charlie did not. Classy.

Recession? Let me repeat quite a few folks traveled and gave us great auction items and sponsorships…my favorite was an air conditioner from SunState Mechanical, 12 hotel packages with the help of HelmsBriscoe ( no airfare though bummer), 10 golf packages, jewelry from Tiffanys to home made…home assessories from Vintage Villas, Obama autographed NY times day of election, tech gagets from our customers, and of course signed sports stuff. We even had cultural programs like ballet and symphony and teambuilding at The Challenger Space Center. 128 items in all…wow. Nice people who were volunteers like Karen, Lisa, Tara, Chris and Dawn.

We invited two people to tell us what they do with some of our funding…a young impressive teenager, 15 year old Michael Young who raises money for dogs who help kids get better at The PHX Children’s Hospital and Lyndsey Hughey who creates blankets for the needy…Blankets for Babies.  The dog was the highlight of the night.

Very cool stuff being done…you would like to know more about what we do to support children…go to our new website….maagtoyfoundation.org. Donate if you like so we can send more kids to ball games or to movies or have a bike.  Today my buddy Richard and I will deliver over 300 toys to to the Crisis Nursery….it’s a good feeling to act like Santa.

Yes it’s tough out there but I think Avnet folks are doing their best to the beats the odds and help folks….thanks

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