My Epic Weekend In Pictures Stuff The Bus Huge Success!

This will be based more on pictures and memories than my words. It's like I can hear my parents saying "thank goodness," LOL. Can you believe that today November 25th is my 11th anniversary of being here in New Jersey? That's right. My first ever day here as Program Director and Afternoon Host on 102.3 WSUS was on my 32nd Birthday. My birthday will always be my anniversary of my very first day here in New Jersey. I moved here 11 years ago solely for growing my career, not knowing a single person here. I figured that I would probably only be here for a year or two anyway before likely relocating to another market. I never imagined the countless friends and memories I would make in my time here! When your birthday is on November 25th, once every 6 years or so your birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day. I joke that before Facebook, that's how everyone remembered my birthday week. Everyone would say "Happy Birthday ish, we know it's sometime this week at some point?" Thank you for all of your humbling Happy Birthday wishes and thoughts. I'm definitely a very lucky person! Time to make this Birthday week count. Bring on 43 ugh okay it still pains me to say that out loud

It was a remarkable weekend! Every weekend before Thanksgiving is our annual Stuff The Bus Food Drive. This event is important for so many people on various levels, the ultimate important thing is that many people are being helped thanks to the support and generosity from this weekend. Yes, I know my grammar was awful in that last sentence. I pray none of my former English teachers / professors are reading my Epic Weekend In Pictures. We're a little bit fried after working wall to wall all weekend. Next day off will be this Thursday, Thanksgiving when I'm driving up to Mansfield, Massachusetts to see my family. I'm very excited for this and cannot wait! After reminding us that this is a far more important mission than just fun, huge statistics...okay here they are and you helped us CRUSH IT!!!!!

Below is a note from Joan Brusseo from The Sussex County Division Of Social Services Food Pantry. Everything we collect stays local right here in Sussex County. Remember, because Joan and her team know when and where to buy in bulk, for every one dollar we collect, they can purchase over 5 pounds of food! We all know what one dollar bill looks like, and we all know what five pounds looks like, especially after Thanksgiving dinner weekend!!!

All 5 buses were FULL

410 turkeys

67 Hams

54 Lasagnas

$6575 in donations/gift cards

All of these totals were way above last year. There is a MASSIVE amount of food in our garage and pantry right now. This is by far the best we have done since prior to COVID.

I love getting to see so many friends old and new all weekend long. When I started at Provident Bank in Sparta, it just felt like we were getting the band back together again. Keith, Lyndsay, Lydia and more. We have so many fun Stuff The Bus stories and memories together over the years. That easily had to be our biggest kick off with Provident Bank in our time with them. We stuffed that bus Friday night, despite the cold, windy weather. Their branches, customers, and employees all went above and beyond in helping us.

Saturday I was at Shoprite Of Sussex with our station 106.3 The Bear The Tri-State's #1 For New Country. I can't believe this Sunday December 1st will be the 2nd anniversary of us launching 106.3 The Bear, bringing Country music back to Sussex County and on 106.3 for the first time in over 20 years! It's been so much fun watching my baby grow. Yes, the irony of me running a station called "The Bear," after my now 11 years here dodging bears is not lost on me at all. Believe it or not, iHeart let me pick both the day that we launched it, and our fun logo too. I explained that if we're a Country station in New Jersey, the logo better be a Black Bear. Not a Grizzly Bear, not a Kodiak Bear, not a Polar Bear. It must be a Black Bear. Our design team even put a cool looking paw print in the point where it says 106.3 as you can probably see in the pictures. Too cool!

I want to leave you with one really special story that I'll never forget from this weekend. I went to Shoprite Franklin after I did my show at Shoprite of Sussex. Right after I left our table, our Street Teamer Tati came running over to me. My first thought was "Oh no what just happened in the 30 seconds after I left our table yikes?" A listener friend came over, named Bridey, and told me that her son heard us talking about Stuff The Bus on the radio and wanted to help. He made them go grocery shopping, and they donated a full carriage to our food drive. Bridey asked if I could give her son a shout out on the radio. I told her I can do more than that, he can be in my Epic Weekend In Pictures. She brought him over to me in front of the bus. I asked him what his name was while thanking him. This cute boy told me his name is Ray. As I introduced myself to him, his jaw dropped. He was so surprised and stunned, I'm telling people you would have thought I WAS SANTA CLAUS!!! That's how excited and stunned he was. I told him I'm not worthy it's just me no worries LOLOL. So many people, especially kids like Ray, are one of the many factors that makes this such a wonderful, unforgettable weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Thank you for putting up with me these past 11 years too. Time to start planning next weekend!