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Hello to you all!  Well I had every intention of getting this out to you the week after the tour, but then it was my daughter’s birthday, and then the ice storm and power outages displaced us.  So I thank you for your patience and hope that each of you are staying warm and are back in your homes with power.

First of all, Jennifer Vogler and I want to say thank you so much to each of you that made the home tour happen.  There are so many things that so many people do that it really is a wonderful event to watch unfold!  We are grateful to the homeowners (Sarah Parks & Koon Srisathit, Janice & Michael Menser, Suan Grant, Susie & Gary Jones, Sarah & Trevor Francis, and Sue & Andy Sullivan) who put hours (days, weeks, years :-) into making their homes so beautiful for the tour.  We heard many compliments about your homes; we hope that each of you feel some gratification for your work.  Thank you to the house captains (Cassie & Chad Niemann, Terri White, Mary Schneeberger, Lisa & Jay Escalon, Mary Jane Southwick, Marsha See and JB Schuelein) for all your work in coordinating the volunteers to staff the houses.  You did a great job representing the neighborhood and greeting all of our visitors!

Thank you to Michael Khoury, Lance Whitwell, Jennifer Ryan, and Angelia Webb for hosting and coordinating the cocktail party.  It was a wonderful evening with great friends, food & drinks!  And it made close to $3000 for the neighborhood!

Some of the behind the scenes activities need acknowledgment too!  Chris Cook provided all the layout/design of the print materials, which required many late night e-mails!  Thank you to Dana & Mike Templeton for donating the luminarias.  And, thanks to Dana T., Dana & Harry Meister for assembling and distributing them.  Even though the weather wasn’t cooperative, they still were a nice touch.  Karen Zimmer has spent countless hours on the postcard database and is helping us recreate one.  Bob Hardy researched the tour home histories.  Todd Davis & Loralee Laird made sure we had a lively & fun refreshment stop.  Claudia Conner, Loralee, and Pam Vinyard (Jennifer Vogler’s mom) baked hundreds of cookies that Vinyard Foods donated.  Cassie Niemann did an outstanding job doing the PR/marketing of the event.  There are so many more of you that donated your time to staff the houses and helped in ways that we may not know.  You all have our sincere gratitude.

We also want to extend our gratitude to our sponsors:  AT&T, Bank of Oklahoma, Chase Bank, St. Anthony, Design Resources, Western Lawn, Homeland, Crescent Market, Raina & Stan Pelofsky, and Marsha & Carson See.  Their support is vital to the success of the tour.  And it is wonderful to have their partnership in the many beautification projects that our neighborhood undertakes.

Redbud Floral in Norman, Brandt’s, Granada, Floral & Hardy, and Dulaney Florists each provided beautiful floral decorations to the tour homes and OKC Florists donated the flowers at the cocktail party.  Food donors did a fabulous job by providing delicious food at the cocktail party.  Paseo Grill, Tom & Jerry’s, Trattoria Il Centro, Bin 73, Prairie Gypsies, Cheever’s, Vinyard Foods, & Cusack Meats were on the menu.  And, Dick Sias provided the incredible Joullian wine for the cocktail party!

If you get the chance, please let these businesses/individuals know how grateful we are for their continued support.  Because together we raised about $15,500 ($1000 more than budgeted :-) for Mesta Park Neighborhood Association!

Kudos to all of you!