CORTEZ – Swordfish Grill General Manager Bob Slicker and Blessing Bags Project President Betsy Plante celebrated their birthdays by helping others in need.
The Swordfish Grill’s Wednesday, Aug. 12 Happy Hour Extravaganza served as an early birthday party and a fundraiser. Beside the outdoor stage where Tim Chandler performed stood a large box bearing Betsy’s name and another bearing Bob’s. Inside the boxes were more than 125 pairs of new shoes donated that night and over the past seven days.
“We had a competition for who could collect the most pairs of sneakers. Whoever gets the most sneakers gets a pie in the face, so Bob’s telling everybody to put them in my box,” Plante said.
Plante’s box contained the most donated shoes, but in a surprise twist it was Slicker who got a pie in the face courtesy of co-master of ceremonies and Facebook Live mixologist Lily “Beatrice” Banyas.
“Shoes are something the homeless always need and children grow out of so fast,” Plante said.
The adult shoes will be distributed to the homeless and the children’s shoes will be distributed to children later this year as Christmas gifts.
“Our mission is to provide basic critical needs to the homeless and less fortunate,” Plante said. “We have a lot of different people right now that need help because of COVID. We’re seeing people now who used to have jobs and were doing fine. We see families moving in together. I had a family call me that only had two cans of food – one can of beans and one can of SpaghettiOs, that’s all they had.”
One of The Blessing Bags Project’s signature activities is giving youngsters backpacks filled with needed goods, and a stuffed toy for comfort.
“We handed out backpacks today at the Hunger’s End food pantry. We usually do 35-40. Today we did 70 and ran out. A lot of people who never needed help now need help,” Plante said.
For his birthday, Slicker also started a Facebook fundraiser that raised more than $6,400.
“We’re blessed to help The Blessing Bags Project with people donating shoes and money. It’s especially important this year because we had two fundraisers planned that we had to cancel – a golf tournament and our annual Giving Back concert. If you look at the donations, there are some very generous ones, but there’s also a lot of $10, $15 and $20 donations. That shows people care and that’s very heartwarming,” Slicker said.
“I’ve done this in Rhode Island and in New Hampshire. The people in Bradenton, Manatee County and Sarasota County have the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen in my ministry work,” Plante said. “The Swordfish Grill is our biggest cheerleader and the people that come to the Swordfish Grill have been supporting us for years. Because of COVID, we had to cancel our two big fundraisers, but they came through on Facebook, raising more than $6,000.”
Blessed mobility
The giving didn’t stop there. Slicker also donated his used Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo to a Bradenton family who had gone more than a month without a car. Saturday morning, Slicker and Plante delivered the donated vehicle to Michelle and Adam Abelson and their sons Asher and Austin.
“We just happened to have a family whose car died and they have two little boys that need to get to school Monday,” Plante said.
“I’ve had my Jeep for the longest time. It’s a ‘97 with 200,000 miles on it. It still runs great and I didn’t feel right selling it. I wanted more for the car because it’s been so good to me. And I didn’t want to give a family a car with old tires on it, so my Swordfish Grill team collected money for the tires as a gift from them,” Slicker said.
Slicker’s new ride is a low mileage 2009 Honda Ridgeline.
When showing the Abelsons their new vehicle, Slicker said, “I think there’s a skateboard back there,” much to Asher’s delight.
“Thank you so much. I cannot believe it. Nothing like this ever happens,” Michelle said. “It’s just in time for the start of school. God works in mysterious ways and we’ve been praying. If you’ve lived without a car, you know what it’s like trying to get groceries for a family, trying to get to the doctor’s and trying to get to school. This is going to make our lives so much easier.”
When asked where they’d go first, Michelle said, “We might take a ride out to the beach.”
Adam is a maintenance man at the apartment complex where they live and the boys attend school at Oneco Elementary.
“I’m just truly blessed to be provided with this vehicle,” Adam said. “It allows us to get my family to and from the store and my little ones to school. Being out of district, transportation to school was going to be one of the hardest things we had to deal with.”
Learn more about The Blessing Bags Project at the organization’s website.
