Nearly 400 years ago some brave souls set out on a rickety ship called the Mayflower, crossing "the pond" in search of a new life in America.  Somehow their brave voyage, and their thankfulness to establish the first lasting colony in the New World connected this voyage with our observance of Thanksgiving. 
 
Today, some brave souls have "borrowed" the Thanksgiving tradition along with the Mayflower voyage and the Pilgrims' determination, to connect it all together to create a food and fundraising event called Fill the Mayflower.  This is all in the spirit of being thankful that we live in America and enjoy freedom -and we give thanks to our military and their families who sacrifice to protect that freedom.
 
This Mayflower probably won't float - and is donated graciously by Buehler Mayflower each year.  Homefront Heroes "pilgrims" man (and woman) the ship, working to fill it up with non-perishable food stuffs, and gather cash donations, all to ensure our military neighbors in the Denver metro area can enjoy a happy Thanksgiving and Blessed Christmas, no matter how the economic winds blow. 

Thanks to everyone who struggled against cold and wind (and more wind) at the Sam's Club to Fill the Mayflower October 26-30, 2012.  We were even mentioned in Make a Difference Day coverage this year as an approved and recognized grass roots effort to make a difference.  While we didn't fill the Mayflower, we did everything we could to make a tangible and positive difference for local military families in our community this holiday season.  We raised a little over $2000 cash during the drive, and over 4 full pallets of good food this year (no 5 year old cans of sardines like one year).  Since we didn't Fill the Mayflower, you can still donate by either mailing a check or hitting the donate now button on our website.  Thank you for your help to Fill the Mayflower and Make a Difference for military families who sacrifice so much for our country!

 
Special thanks goes to Buehler Mayflower for donating the trailer again this year, Victory Packaging for the donation of boxes, Sam's Club in the Stapleton area for letting us "dock the ship" there, and KKFN - The FAN for great radio promotion before the event! A big shout out to all our volunteers from Buckley AFB, Nora and Nancy and Rick (part of the Homefront Heroes board and family), Bill Ferguson (at the helm of the ship), and the Derby family and Army veteran, Laurie Hiatt. We are also thankful for the support of three churches this year: Grace Fellowship of Lakewood, King of Glory Lutheran Church in Arvada, and New Life Fellowship in Denver.