Born and raised in Whitehaven, PA, I carry a loving memory of my grandfather - a brave veteran who served active duty as a Private First Class during the Korean War. Taught to hold reverent respect for our veterans and elders, My initiative aimed to transform 20% of the proceeds from my stand at the local White Haven birthday festival into Christmas gifts for our local veterans; many of whom sadly face the festive season alone. 

For every tie-dye t-shirt or raffle ticket you would have bought at the festival, you were ensuring a more cheerful Christmas for our bravest. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately 39,276,00 veterans live in Pennsylvania, many of whom experience loneliness over the holiday period. Through our collective contribution from sales of tie-dye shirts and raffles, we had a unique opportunity to add a touch of joy into their lives during this festive season.

Sadly, with the current constraints on events,I had already set up my stand on Friday to be ready to make the tie-dye T-shirts with the kids or whoever else wanted to create a custom T-shirt and have a hand in bringing a smile to one of our locals This coming season. On Saturday, the festival started at 10 and my stand was ready to go But I didn’t get there until noon because I was still waiting on the raffle tickets Purchased from Amazon to show up so as soon as they arrived, I got in the truck and got to the festival to find My whole stand all of my tables and everything I spent the whole evening the night before getting ready Was no longer there, and they had moved it and all of its contents without my knowledge or my approval to the back corner of the boro building parking lot And proceeded to tell me that because I was late, I was not going to be allowed to Be a vendor for The event Now mind you, I already set up paid for My spot for Friday and Saturday and was never Not once told that I wouldn’t be allowed to vend if I wasn’t there right at the opening of the event.

       I had at this point already purchased A whole pallet of white T-shirts costing me over 500$, $200 in expensive top quality cold water dye, Bottles for the dye to be mixed in, raffle tickets, smocks, Soda ash, a Clear Lockable Donation box where the 20% of the sales was going to be collected and added Right into their on the spot to separate the proceeds which the veterans were going to receive as Christmas presents in the coming season, Also purchased a LED light that ran on batteries to put inside the clear box to bring attention to it and hopefully raise the awareness of what I was trying to do, decorated signs showing what I was selling and advertising my cause.

       My stand at the festival could not go ahead as planned. Now, we ask for your support in making this initiative possible through signatures. Each signature represents a show of community support,  of each individual Who would have purchased a $40 Tie-dye T-shirt or a $50 book of raffle tickets which were $5.00 Each raffling off Items that ranged in prices from $100 to $350 which included A large air purifier, Four Lego sets Two sets included in each of two of the raffles, A Ride on Bumper car with LED lights Children’s toy, A Keurig coffee maker With both options for brewing, coffee grounds or k cups, A cantilever For Hauling bicycles and children’s bike, A Basket of cleaning supplies, including a spin mop a Device for changing lightbulbs in high areas with a pole that extended to 18 feet and the attachments for four different lightbulbs for removal and replacement and high areas, Magic erasers, Lightbulbs, and attachment for a spray bottle with a 2 foot hose nozzle as well as a deep muscle massager with five included attachments for aching muscles. I also had A very expensive White cotton 6 x 9 Throw rug, which was going to be laid down on the ground in the area where the kids would be doing the tie-dye Which was going to be rinsed out and washed After the event and then later raffled off online And added to the available funds for the veterans Christmas presents! So if you are a local to the community and would have bought raffle tickets for any of these items or made a custom shirt to Help support The locals who our firsthand responsible for the freedom, we enjoy each and every waking day we have please sign this petition So I could hopefully recover some of the money I would have made For a booth that I had already paid for and was forced to set up and then take down by myself after Paying full price just like everybody else did because I was late to my stand Which no one ever told me would be a problem I paid for the weekend and in my opinion and if it’s your opinion as well if I was late, that’s Money out of my pocket I’m losing I wasn’t hurting anybody else and either way I was never told about this stipulation in my opinion, I was being targeted because someone somewhere had a problem with me, which was obviously personal and had nothing to do whatsoever with this event, and whoever that person is or for whatever reason they have, it shouldn’t have been taken out on the kids who wanted to make the shirts because I had the only stand in the whole place that had any activity for the kids to do and that weren’t just vendors of things that they were selling not to mention the proceeds that would’ve went to the veterans and the presents that they Won’t receive this holiday season because of whatever reason whoever had to do what they did and it’s sickening that they would do it the way that they did and take this away from our local veterans who Went to war for our country so that we could have events like this or do things within our communities 

Let's honor Our Veterans by ensuring they are not forgotten during the holiday season. Sign the petition now; your signature can bring a warm Christmas smile to our local veterans in Whitehaven. Each Signature represent one person who would have gladly paid $40.00 to help support my cause and will later down the line be presented in front of a judge as part of a theft by deception case against the Event coordinator for removing my stuff without my knowledge or approval and be part of the discovery file presentation to the committee and later seen by the judge in efforts to claim the profit I would have made from the event had I not been targeted and unfairly told I could not Vend the event after all the money, effort, time, and supplies  they were well aware I had into This One Single Day I would have been able to receive profit from all the time, money, long hours, and hard work I had already put fourth