We will certainly round out the year with more events to support our clients and military personnel and their families.  Next up is December 8th when we spend the morning welcoming new folks to Fort Lewis at the monthly Newcomer's Meeting.  Then, that night, we help welcome Santa Claus as we co-sponsor the Tree Lighting Ceremony in front of Fort Lewis's Headquarter's building.  We have another running race to sponsor on Fort Lewis, then we'll finish up by helping sponsor the annual holiday party at Fort Lewis's Fisher House (similar to a Ronald McDonald House).

   The Gingerbread House building event went off without a hitch yesterday at Gilchrist Motors in Tacoma.  Organized by the Fort Lewis Ranger and NW Airlifter newspapers and sponsored by the Children's Museum of Tacoma, Gilchrist and American Party Place, the event was spectacular.  Overall 76 military families (roughly 300 bodies) packed into Gilchrist's showroom to have fun building gingerbread houses.  It was great exposure for Gilchrist, as well as great for all of our clients as we sent each family home with coupons, free admissions and promotional materials from every Swarner PR client.
   It was also a great opportunity for us to partner with the Chilcren's Museum of Tacoma.  They had the opportunity to introduce their services to these young military families.  Already we are in talks with the Museum about doing more in 2010.
   A Story Before Bed also joined us Sunday at the event offering their Internet based reading program for free to the families as well.

A reminder to all Swarner PR clients.  With our Internet site now up, we are looking for "expert" stories from you.  We hope you'll write us articles on the topics in which you are knowledgeable.  The stories are NOT about your business, but rather about the things you know through your business.  At the end of the story, we, of course, include your contact information, etc.

We also want your videos.  See here for an example.

We manned our station at the Turkey Trot on Fort Lewis over the weekend handing out our goodie bags to the participants and fans.  We especially enjoyed passing out our Hoo-Ah! bumper stickers - a collaboration between the Fort Lewis Ranger and AUSA.

Now, we turn our attention to our big Gingerbread House Making Event.  We are nearly full on participants.  It's a great partnership — The Ranger, Gilchrist Motors, American Party Place and the Children's Museum of Tacoma.

Last night capped three nights of packing care packages to Fort Lewis soldiers mostly in Afghanistan.  The Fort Lewis Ranger had a seat on the planning committee for Operation Make A Soldier Smile — and after 4 months of planning, we sent 1,300 care packages down range over three nights of packing parties.  What a fabulous project to be a part of, thanks also to two of our great clients: The PMBA and AUSA.
See the photos here:

We continue to host a half-hour show every Thursday giving military personnel and families the inside scoop on support and discounts available to them in the South Sound.  We are also highlighting our PR clients in ads on the site (at no extra charge).

Thus far we've plugged Epic Reality
Lakewood Ford
The Pet Brigade
Our sponsorship with the BOSS Santa event
Gilchrist Motors
Firestone
AUSA
PMBA
and DR Horton

We'll keep adding as we go.

The Pet Brigade will host free photos at their business on post this coming Wednesday, 11-5 p.m.  They enjoyed the Children's Deployment Fair so much, they wanted to do it again.  So, of course, photographer extraordinaire David Lobban is joining in to help out.  What great people!!

This month, the Fort Lewis Ranger is involved in the Family Scavenger Hunt at Fort Lewis.  We have a sign in one of our boxes on Fort Lewis for families to discover.  National Furniture, DR Horton & Parkland Auto Center each have an ad on the flier.

On Nov. 21 we'll be at the Turkey Trot on Fort Lewis with our bags of goodies.  Followed by the Gingerbread House event on the 29th featuring Gilchrist Motors and, of course, our clients' goody bags.  Then, find us Dec. 8th at the Newcomer's morning.

Our Children's Deployment Fair at Fort Lewis was a huge success - over 475 care packages sent down-range.  The morning was crazy - hundreds or bodies all in Evergreen Elementary receiving photos with Santa, coloring pictures, filling care packages and receiving our clients' great gift bags on the way out the door.

Swarner PR would like to thank the following organizations for their gracious support of the event:

Joint Base Financial Alliance
Pierce Military Business Alliance
AUSA - Fort Lewis Chapter
Korum Motors
CDS Truck Driver Services
City of Puyallup
Hawks Prairie Rotary
Lobban Photography
Clover Park School District
Air Force Association
Great American Casino
American Lake Credit Union
Pet Brigade
USO

Beginning this Thursday, we are launching Joint Base Talk Radio to the masses via the Internet.  We will focus exclusively on deals and support available to the military community in the South Sound by highlighting programs, services and discounts offered locally, nationally, even internationally to our brave men and women of the Armed Forces.  This week we look at two special programs designed for the spouses of the 5th Stryker Brigade, we give a few tips for those attending this weekend's Children's Deployment Fair, we take a sneak peek at a Valentine's event for the spouses of deployed soldiers and airmen, and we present a few Web sites where military families can take advantage of free stuff.