Memphis Supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals With Free BBQ!

I'm getting so much more frequent with my updates! That means one of two things, I have zero time on my hands or there's a lot of stuff happening. In all honesty, there's a TON of stuff happening as of late! With today's beautiful weather came a beautiful celebration of the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals in the Shubert Alley, home to the 2010 TONY Award winning Best New Musical: Memphis. The Memphis family held a free barbecue open to the public in the alley between The Shubert Theater and Juniors from 12-2pm and they absolutely packed the alley full of fans and supporters of this wonderful cause. For those of you who don't know who the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals are or what they do, here's a little bit of info straight from their site: 

"History
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has grown dramatically since its founding in 1983 from a televised fundraiser in a small studio to one of the North America's leading children’s charities.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals was founded with two simple goals

1. Help as many children as possible by raising funds for children’s hospitals.
2. Keep funds in the community in which they were raised to help local children.

The organization was founded by Marie Osmond and her family, John Schneider, Mick Shannon and Joe Lake.

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals most recognizable symbol and greatest fundraising tool is its red and yellow Miracle Balloon icon.

As of 2011, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $4.3 billion—most of which is donated a dollar or two at a time."

So when you're in the grocery store and someone asks you to donate to the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals and you see the little red and yellow paper balloons, now you know who you're donating to! 

The event was absolutely flawless, members of the cast and crew of Memphis were collecting donations, selling Memphis paraphernalia, one of which is my favorite; the little purple rubber bracelets (similar to the livestrong bracelets) which read "Memphis Lives In Me" were $3 a piece and the total of those purchases is being donated to relief efforts in Memphis, Tennessee and to the victims of the deadly tornadoes that struck there not long ago. There were also people raffling off a chance to win a new Cadillac and a chance to win two tickets to the TONY Awards next weekend. And what would the Memphis barbecue be without free food...because they had that too! A&P and Food Emporium donated all of the food at the BBQ to help benefit such a great cause. And it wouldn't have been a Memphis event if the crowd didn't shout HOCKADOO in unison, and they did, after singing Happy Birthday to producer Randy Adams! I've never heard so many people scream HOCKADOO at the same time! I was slightly taken aback by it, not going to lie!

Attendees were also treated to a performance by two extremely talented members of the cast. Ashley Blanchet and Bryan Fenkart brought Memphis outside for the afternoon, and wow-ed the people in the crowd with a few songs from the play as well as a "Memphis Megamix." Some of the songs performed included "Music Of My Soul" "Colored Woman" "Underground" "Memphis Lives In Me" and of course the always popular "Steal Your Rock N' Roll". By the end of the performance Bryan and Ashley had the crowd clapping and singing along to "Steal Your Rock N' Roll" which is something that if it hadn't happened I would have suspected something to be up. 

If you'd like more information on anything that I talked about in here, you can find it at the following places: 


www.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org
On Twitter: @CMNhospitals
www.memphisthemusical.com
On Twitter: @MemphisBroadway


Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Spend some time in the sun and have a cocktail, because I'll be doing just that! And as always, I'm lurking around twitter somewhere @Gabbymags


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p.s. here's some pictures of the performance!