DK just sent around a note asking for some chilehead support for a close friend of his who was recently in a severe car accident. In a showing of true chilehead nature DK will be auctioning off his yet to be released Gatorman hot sauces in the near future. Watch here for more info, or if you have any ideas to conribute, please be sure to let DK know!
Fellow Chileheads,
I just wanted to let everyone know about a tragic accident involving a friend of mine. Here is a copy of an email I sent to a couple of people Monday (8-13-07) about it.
I arrived at work today (Monday, 8-13-07) and learned that a friend of mine was in a severe car accident this past Saturday (8-11-07). She lost her youngest son in the accident (Dakota), her daughter (Sierra) was injured, and she (Tina) was severely injured and lucky to be alive. I’m driving down to visit her in Columbia tonight (8-13-07) after work. Here’s a couple of local news stories about it.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6919684
http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=52449
I am working on something to do for her that’s hot sauce related. Hopefully I can do something besides just a card or flowers to show support and help her out. I may do something with my Gatorman Hot Sauce bottles that I’ve been toying around with.
My friend is a delivery person for one of the local parts stores here in town. She’s in the shop nearly every day.
I’ll keep you posted on things. Please keep her and her surviving children in your thoughts and prayers.
Thanks
L8R G8R,
DK
I did visit Tina in the hospital last night. I didn’t get to speak to her much as she wasn’t feeling very well. She was sick from a reaction to the pain medication she was given. But here’s what little information I know. Her injuries consist of a broken vertebrae in her lower back, broken ribs, and bruised from head to toe. Her daughter Sierra, whom I did not visit with was resting upstairs. From what I understand, she had one of her feet nearly severed and had to have it reattached. I’m unsure of the prognosis for her injuries at this time, but friends that were there visiting said that she was doing well. Tina’s oldest son Harley was unscathed, he was there last night visiting as well. He was in good spirits and had no concerns except for the well being of his mom and sister.
I didn’t mention anything online Monday (8-13-07) because I wanted to hammer out a few things and figure a way to help out Tina and her family. What I have decided to do will take a few days to organize and put together. Here’s what I want to do.
I have two bottles that I have been planning on doing something special with since they were given to me as a gift for Christmas this past year. Recently, while working on my latest “Gatorman Jerky” project, I decided to do a Gatorman Hot Sauce and thought that these bottles would be a cool way to do the project. So I created a label for the bottles with plans on making a sauce at a later date. The plan was to do a sauce in the same manner as I did the jerky. Small batch in regular woozy bottles and send it out to a few people to try and hopefully enjoy. Then the two bottles I received as gifts were to used in some way that was yet to be undetermined. Something special to help someone out or as a special gift to someone at some point. At this point all I have is the two bottles with labels on them.
I now have a special use for them and plan on finishing them soon. CaJohn has offered to fill the bottles for me, seal and wax them to speed the process of finishing them up. Once that is complete, I will place the bottles on Ebay for sale and donate 100% of the proceeds towards Tina and her family to assist them in this time of loss and healing. I am not looking to profit from this. I only want to do what I can to help. Also, there are plans for another Fire Mountain Krewe label to be unveiled at Zest Fest. This will be the third release of this series. The first being of TBS, proceeds of sales going to Jim Campbell for his Step Up for Charity program. The second at JJ’s of Bwana Bret with proceeds going to Tahiti Joe and Charlotte. the one for ZF CaJohn has offered to donate the proceeds to Tina and her family. So the ball is already rolling. I would like to thank CaJohn for his offer of support in this situation and helping me to get the ball rolling. No matter the outcome of the Gatorman Hot Sauce project, what he has offered so far is way above anything I expected from this. And thanks also to everyone else that have offered their prayers and support.
So, in the meantime, as I get the bottles ready for auction, I would like to ask for everyone to please keep my friend Tina and her family in their thoughts and prayers.
Also, I have uploaded preview pics of the unfinished bottles to my website www.southernfriedg8r.com for viewing. I will update the pics as soon as the bottles are completed.
Thanks,
DK
SouthernFriedG8R
PS: I know that there have been auctions in the past where people (including myself) have donated items to the auction to help. In this case I would like to ask that this not be done. The best way to help out in this case is to bid on the auction. This is meant as a fundraiser for my friend and her family. I am not calling it a “charity’ auction as there are no charities involved. It’s me selling something special to help out a friend in need. Your help is much appreciated but not expected. Bids will be kept private. Thanks in advance for your support.