Renee Pledge is a parapro for Ms. Simpson’s special needs class. She wrote a letter to Mojo In The Morning’s Breaking and Entering Christmas wish asking for a pizza party for the kids and maybe some presents. Well, we took that letter and ran with it.
We had volunteers work all day Sunday to pack Kroger bags, wrap gifts, unload pallets of toys and make their little stage look like the North Pole!
The Principal and Superintendent were the only ones who really knew MOST of what was going to happen, as far as surprising all 74 staff members, well even they didn’t know about that!
We started with a magician, Ryan Christopher, to satiate the crowd while we all got into places around the the room, our Mojo logo gear was covered by jackets. As soon as Mojo took the stage we took our coats off, put our our elf hats on and were ready to go. We revealed our first surprise for Renee’s class, a pizza party courtesy of Papa Romano’s, just what she asked for.
Then Mojo mentioned her class each made a list of 2 items they wanted for Christmas, each child got what they asked for -there was a variety, from princess dresses to Nintendo Switches the 11 students got their wishes granted (shhhhhhh, we told them to keep the gifts wrapped until Christmas), they will have a very special Christmas morning. Kroger also gave all 11 students a $100 gift card.
From there we let the school in on our secret - we are going to surprise EVERYONE!
First hats and gloves for all 244 students.
Then bags of food from Kroger who donated TONS of pasta, sauce, granola bars, and cereal to name just a few of the items. EACH child got to take a bag of food home.
Then we explained how we reached out to our friends at the Pistons who sent over Hooper, the Pistons dancers AND tickets for the WHOLE school to see the team play on March 10th against the Chicago Bulls. Busses will be provided by Trinity Transportation AND ALL of the kids and adults from the school will get to eat at District Detroit before the game thanks to Matthew Prost General Manager of Delaware North and Little Caesars Arena!
Then, the BIG surprise, “Who is jingling the bells on stage,” Mojo asked. The curtains opened to reveal SANTA and TONS of toys thanks to the RSL Medical Marketing team and their donation to Mojo’s Breaking and Entering.
The kids got to sit in Santa’s lap, then pick out toys purchased at Five Below, we had two giants pallets filled, enough for each child to pick out at least 3 toys each. They got to top it off with popcorn from the Detroit Popcorn Company.
Everyone was very emotional, the kids were beyond excited, that staff was in awe, THEN the big surprise...all 74 staff members are getting $500 each! That is $37,000, the most Mojo in the Morning’s Breaking and Entering has EVER donated at one time.
Producer Rachel has always dreamed of producing an “Oprah” moment where everyone can collectively share in something so wonderful and she got that moment.
Last we topped it off with princesses and characters from Fairtytale Entertainment. Every time we have an event involving children I call them. First, Elsa gets an even bigger reaction than Santa does. Then they are AMAZING performers, AND they take photos and play with the kids while they wait to see Santa.
We are so happy we were able to pick this school, it was the perfect size filled with the most perfect students and staff. Everyone was appreciative and we hope everyone feels special. Our goal as not just a morning radio show but as members of the community and a charity is to create experiences even beyond the imagination; We believe we all accomplished that.
We are so thankful to ALL of our donors from 2018, from the kids that saved their money to donate $300 to us all the way up to The Believe Foundation, Emagine Entertainment, Mother Waddles Car Donation, Hush Haunted Attraction, Wahlburgers Restaurants, Feldman Chevrolet, Jets Pizza plus more and the listeners from all around the world who donated through mojoswish.org - we were able to go bigger than EVER before.
If anyone wants to donate so we can continue to go bigger next year, we accept donations at mojoswish.org.
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