March 25
This is where it all began! We started with making just 30 pb&js - no chips, granola bar, or any other accompaniment.
April 5
Our first drop with bags. Our mom had the idea to write "FTP" on every bag with a heart - an idea that stuck! We had bags filled with a PB&J, cookie, orange, and a bag of chips.
April 12
Our drop on Easter! We made 200 sandwiches, and we had a race to see who could do it the fastest, which I won. We could not have thought of a better way to spend the day serving others!
April 25
The Sunday we hit 1000 meals! At the time, this was the coolest and craziest accomplishment. Crazy to think how times have changed!
May 10
Our mom was kind enough to let us make her day - Mother's Day - about FTP. We did a huge drop to our people, all of whom wished her a happy Mother's Day. If I have learned anything from my work with FTP, it is the importance of living to serve others. Especially then, I realized how great the impact is of taking a moment that could be for yourself, and using it to help others.
May 23
We started to receive donations from companies in and around Dallas. We received 150 pizzas from Bola Pizza, 150 bundtinis from Nothing Bundt Cakes, and weekly donations from JD's Chippery, Bird Bakery, and Leila Bakery!
May 28
We made CBS news and John Krazinski's "Some Good News"!
May 29
Madi Nelson (@heymadinelson), a local Dallas blogger and owner of Shop Talulah, not only let us use her warehouse for a food drive, but she also utilized her wide base of followers to help us spread the word. With her help, we collected so many great goodies for our people!
June 18
We had a previous engagement, so Evie Trent and her family took on the ask of breakfast and snack bags. This was one of the first times we had had someone do something like this for us, and it really showed us that others find our cause just as important as we do.
July 15
We scored a great donation from GoGo SqueeZ, and we had a great drop - complete with little messages of encouragement on each box.
July 22
In preparation for our annual trip to Florida, we knocked out 750 bags so that Family Gateway would not be left hanging. We gathered up a few friends, ordered pizza, and got the bags done in no time!
August 5
We made it into our first magazine and on NBC in the same week! From these two campaigns, we received more donations then we knew what to do with!
September 2
We became Brawny Giants, meaning we were able to recieve both financial and paper goods support from Brawny!
September 17
We started doing snack bags with Bishop Lynch during school time. Because of this, we have been able to knock out 300 bags in 30 minutes or less - this has been so much help!
October 7
We were named one of the tope 12 most influential people in Dallas by ModernLuxe. We were on the list next to people like Dirk - not only were we beyond flattered, but we are still amazed to be considered one of Dallas' most influential!
October 29
We collected over 150 costumes for the kids at Family Gateway, as well as over 200 pounds of candy that we were able to pass out to all the kids.
November 12
Luke Laczkowski organized all of his friends at St. Johns to help out. They did AMAZING!
December 21
We gathered tons of stocking stuffers to fill shoeboxes. With Jenna Colbert and her coworkers helped, we were able to wrap them all up and send them off!