Collage Dance Collective

My blog postings have slowed down a bit lately.  I've been working on a few projects that I will share with you soon.  Stay tuned. 

My friend Mariangela contacted me today and asked that I share an event that's coming up here in Memphis.  As you know, I'm a big supporter of the arts, including dance, here in Memphis.

The Collage Dance Collective is hosting their annual Jazz Brunch.  The Collage Dance Collective's mission is to inspire the growth of ballet.  The brunch will be held on Sunday, August 25th from 1-4 PM at the Memphis Botanical Gardens.  Music will be provided by Kirk Whalum and food will be provided by Chef Erling Jensen. The cost for tickets is $100 each.  

To order tickets, call Marcellus Harper at 901-800-1873.

To learn more about the Collage Dance Collective, visit their website at http://www.collagedance.org/. 

Memphis To Moore Delivers Gym Equipment

This weekend was quite eventful.  As you probably remember, Karen Wilder Fitness donated $18,000 of gym equipment to Moore Public Schools back in June.

It was such an incredible donation.  My junior high, Highland East, lost their gym in May when the tornadoes came through Moore.  They will be able to use this equipment in the gym when they rebuild it.

Unfortunately, getting the equipment to Moore has been a point of concern.  It's an entire gym's worth of equipment, and I wasn't sure how I would get it to Moore.  The lowest estimate we received from a shipper was for thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, a friend connected me to Big League Movers here in Memphis.  Big League's owner Steve called me a few weeks ago and immediately said, "Sure, we'd like to help." My question was whether or not help meant donate.  Fortunately, Big League was totally on board.

They sent a team of 4 to Karen's fitness studio yesterday to disassemble and load the equipment.  The team worked tirelessly from 8 AM to 2 PM on Sunday.  They made sure that every piece of equipment was labeled, and put all of the small hardware pieces into labeled plastic bags to keep them together.  They also had questions about and concern for the students they were helping in Moore.

After loading the truck, they headed straight to Moore.  Its an 8 hour drive.  They will deliver the gym equipment today at 1 PM to the Moore Public Schools before heading back.  Hopefully, the delivery is much faster since they won't have to disassemble it all again.

Oh, and an important note-- they didn't put the equipment in a truck that was already heading to Moore.  They're making a special trip just to deliver the gym equipment.

I was very impressed with Big League's dedication to helping Moore Public Schools.  Thank you to both Big League and Karen Wilder for making this possible.  If you ever need a mover or a personal trainer, be sure to reach out to these folks - they're wonderful!

Both My Fox Memphis and WMC-TV covered the move. Thank you to both Sarah Bleu and Lauren Squires for their continuous coverage of our progress.  I really appreciate all of your support!

Check out the stories and video below:
Here's the My Fox Memphis coverage.
Here's the WMC-TV coverage.