Medway and Millis January 2018

Page 18 Medway & Millis Local Town Pages www.localtownpages.com January 2018
Generous Community Rises to
the Challenge to “Stuff the Bus”
By: Marjorie Turner Hollman
It all started with an idea.
Ray Auger, My FM’s Mr. Everything,
and host of the Morning
Show on Myfm101.3 &WMRC
1490AM radio, told Tom
McAuliffe, owner and manager
of the stations, that he wanted
to do a special promotion. The
idea? Have a toy collection for
Christmas, and fill the container
provided at the toy collection
spot. Simple concept, it’s been
done before, for a worthy cause.
McAuliffe agreed, and noted,
“We just got a new station vehicle,
a retired ambulance, so I
said, ‘Sure.’ But Ray said, “I was
really thinking about trying to fill
a bus.’”
And thus began the “Stuff
a bus” toy drive that took place
December 2, planned as a 30-
hour marathon toy drive in the
parking lot of Target in Milford.
McAuliffe and Auger started out
at 6 a.m. that Saturday morning,
planning to stay with the bus till
noon Sunday. McAuliffe thought
they might be lucky enough to
get 200-300 toys, but with the
added power of social media, the
toy drive took on a life of its own.
The station obtained an initial
$2,000 in corporate sponsors
for the toy drive, and throughout
the weekend, McAuliffe and/
or Auger went into Target with
money donated from sponsors
Chinese Restaurant
508-376-8868
and had ‘shopping sprees,” which
they broadcast live on their Facebook
page. They continued their
regular programming on the
radio, with quick check ins from
the radio station about how the
drive was doing, but McAuliffe
marveled at the response they
got when they went live on Facebook
for their shopping sprees in
Target.
“Social media was amazing,”
Auger recalled. “The Facebook
live shares went through the
roof—we had fun with it.” He
Pleasureable Dining and
Take Out Service
Open Hours:
Mon - Thurs: 11 - 9:30 p.m.
Fri & Sat: 11- 10:30 p.m
Sunday: Noon - 9:30 p.m.
Online
Ordering
AvAilAble
www.lilachousema.com
continued, “Our whole staff
came down, volunteers showed
up to help us collect and stack the
toys, and to help with the shopping
sprees. I admit I was building
up sympathy (for staying up
all night) but the truth is, we had
a blast. We had hand warmers,
pillows, blankets, and a lot of
people came to see that we were
all right. People brought us food
and we stayed on social media all
night. We got very little sleep. Resellables
of Bellingham brought
down living room furniture and
$5.00
OFF
The Purchase of
$35 or more
(one per table)
Not valid with other offers
Valid thru 1-31-18
34 Milliston Road, (Millston Common), Millis MA 02054
set us up under the stars for the
event. McAuliffe noted “My wife
Megan even came down with
bacon, eggs and an electric fry
pan to make us breakfast, and we
got ready to do it all over again
till noon Sunday.”
During the event MyFM
101.3 continued to encourage
donations, which they broadcast
over social media as Facebook
live shopping sprees. When all
was said and done, Auger figures
they collected about 3,000 toys,
about $60,000 worth of toys,
which were donated to the U.S.
Marines Toys for Tots. Auger
noted, “We had to get Tony
Gallo of Gallo Moving and Storage
to come over to help collect
all the toys. We gave the Marines
a heads up about the success of
the drive, and Lance Corporal
Mike Shea just kept shaking his
head, saying they’d never had
such a response like this.
McAuliffe says they are already
making plans for next year.
“It was one of the most amazing
things we’ve ever done,” he
said shortly after the event, still
somewhat groggy from lack of
sleep. “I’ll catch up on sleep by
January,” he laughed. “We had
planned to stuff the bus with the
toys and join the Milford Santa
Parade but there were just too
many toys, so we took a few of
the stuffed animals and stuck
them in the bus and headed
over to join the parade that Sunday
afternoon. So many people
stopped us along the parade
route to thank us and tell us what
a great thing this was. There are
so many worthy charities out
there. This was like a scene out
of the movie It’s a Wonderful
Life.”
Reflecting on the entire event,
McAuliffe said, “You know, we
don’t do this for the headlines,
but by the time we saw how people
were responding, we wanted
to reach out to be sure people
knew what had happened. The
best thing about owning a local
radio station is that I can do what
feels right. Local radio is still
making a difference.”
Special thanks to...
Target Store Milford
Maureen Moe Hutchins, Kevin
and Vendetti Bus
Resellables for providing our
living quarters
Tony Gallo for transporting the
toys
Lance Corporal Mike Shea of
the U.S. Marine Corps
Town Line Power Equipment
for providing us with a
generator.
Tim Rice for shooting some fun
photos!
Pepperoncini’s Milford for lunch
and dinner!
Thanks to our clean up
volunteers: The Sheas, The
Mauricios, The Reddens, The
Augers, Josh Lioce, Tony Gallo
Thanks to our Shopping
Spree Sponsors...
Asphalt Engineering
Tim Rice Photo
Adam Hicksfrom Depot St.
Tavern
Joshua Lioce
Jose Ferreira
Kelley Cocuzzo Mccauley
Masters Touch Design Build
Old Time Auto Sales, Inc
Rubber Chicken Comics
Milford TV
Bellagente Salon Inc.
Jack Hamilton from Charles
River Bank
Acapulcos Mexican Family
Restaurant & Cantina
The Tradesman
Lularoe Chelsee O’Meara