Friday, November 16, 2007

FUN AWESOME WEEKEND

Amazing Weekend for the Millers……….
This is going to be a long post, so get comfy people!!!
First of all let start by saying I work for an amazing company. Most of you know I work for JM Family Enterprises, if your not familiar with the company then Google it. We are in the Forbes List of Best 100 companies to work for and it’s true!!
The Founder of our company, Mr. Jim Moran (I promise you’ll want to Google him for sure) was truly the most amazing man I have ever met and he’s changed so many lives, including my own. He has probably done more for our community than anyone before and has left an amazing legacy behind, which is evident in the Jim Moran Foundation. The mission of The Jim Moran Foundation is to improve the quality of life for the youth and families of Florida through the support of innovative programs and opportunities that meet the ever-changing needs of the community. www.jimmoranfoundation.org
Being part of JM Family gives us so many opportunities ourselves to give back to the community in ways we would never have known before; through volunteering and fund raising events through out our community.
I read so many blogs that talk about helping all the children in other countries that don’t have opportunities and I completely and totally support them, but today I want to talk about some opportunities for some youth that are forgotten in our own backyard. Mr. Moran created the YATC back in 1989 which stands for Youth Automotive Training Center and it has evolved into something amazing. www.yatc.com, check it out. It helps get the kids off the streets that otherwise would end up in a life of poverty and crime.
This weekend was the 21st annual YATC Jim Moran Golf Classic in Orlando, Florida. Which is a fund raising event for the YATC, as this center is run strictly on donations alone. It’s one of the largest golf tournament events around with well over 400 golfers, including many celebrity golfers, Dan Marino, Jason Taylor, Joe Montana, just to name a few. The minimum buy in for this is event is $2,000 and goes up from there, the event includes Two or Three nights depending on your sponsorship at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando, truly one of the most amazing resorts I have been fortunate enough to stay at, all meals, golf tournament at the Grand Cypress Golf Course, auction, raffle prizes, banquet dinners, etc. During this event a brand new Toyota Tundra was given away as well as two Harley Davidson Motorcycles that were all donated for this event.
So that brings you to our Amazing Weekend…..As all of our family and friends know there is no way that Rob & I could afford $2,000 for this event, so instead I donate my time selling tickets and we buy raffle tickets, the tickets were only $10 for the truck and $50 for the Harley’s. We did buy some truck raffle tickets as we do every year. The tickets are sold in all parts of the country and you don’t have to be present to win the truck or a Harley. We did not win, boo hoo, but that’s okay the money goes for an amazing cause. BUT we did get to attend the event on Orlando!!!!
Let me just say how GRATEFUL and THANKFUL we are to have had that opportunity, it was so much fun and to get to see all the great rewards that the YATC provides for these kids was truly inspiring and amazing. Someone I work with was unable to attend the event, so he let us take his spot at the JM Classic, and after attending once, we definitely want to make sure we get to go again next year either by volunteering, as there are so many volunteering opportunities at this event or somehow figuring out how we can come up with an extra $2000 by October next year, that’s how much fun it was and how much we support the YATC!!!!
We arrived Friday night; there was a cocktail welcome reception and registration. We received a tote bag with golf shirts for both of us, golf towels, golf balls, a small cooler, some golf tools, a camera and some other goodies. Our room was amazing, the bed was so comfortable and we were on the 10th floor and could see all of Orlando, it was great. Saturday morning was a huge breakfast buffet and the golf tournament which lasted about 6 hours. Included in our stay at the Grand Cypress were all the amenities at the hotel, golfing, the amazing grotto style pool area with several waterfalls, paddle boats, sail boats, motor boats, water cycles, hammocks on the beach. The resort was amazing. There were little brooks and streams everywhere, I tell you ever place you looked was a Kodak Moment!!! We walked forever around the property. There was even a Wedding Gazebo on the lake and a small western town. Then Saturday night was a silent auction, cocktail reception and Banquet Awards Dinner. It was a GREAT weekend and it didn’t cost us a dime, except for the raffle tickets we purchased and our gas to get to Orlando and back, it was a 3 hour trip. Thanks so much to KFC for this opportunity!!!
Below are some of the pictures I took of the resort…….it’s so amazing. If you ever have the opportunity to stay here, I promise you, you’ll love it. www.grandcypress.hyatt.com
Hammocks on the beach at the resort

The Resort had a little western town behind it...

Me on the swinging bridge over the pool
The Pool area was amazing
Me at the Western village


More of the amazing pool area, all grotto style




We had fun on the Pitch-n-Putt course



Yes, even I was golfing!!!





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This really good, JM family Enterprises offering raffle tickets with amazing prizes to help the kids. I would like to help kids at any time. If anyone won the chance they had great opportunity.