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Travel
Expert Stephanie Abrams Sends Eleven Rescued Homeless Children on Vacation
With the Help of Thrifty Car Rental, Woodfin Suites Hotels and Choice
Hotels
Source: PrimeZone Media Network
Publication date: 2004-08-05
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 5, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- San Diego, CA – August
2004 – When travel expert Stephanie Abrams, host of the nationally
syndicated radio talk show, “Travel WITH Stephanie Abrams!”
on the Business Talk Radio Network, offered a prize stay at the Kensington
Park Hotel in San Francisco to a listener lucky enough to be the fifth
caller, Abrams had no idea of the chain of events to follow that would
rally Woodfin Suites Hotels, Thrifty Car Rental, Choice Hotels and other
travel industry suppliers around the prize winner. Libby Wright, who
listens to Abrams show on KJLL AM 1330 in Tucson, Arizona, speaking
to Abrams after the show, explained how thrilled she was to win this
prize because she, “could use a rest” from the demanding
role as Executive Director of The Giving Tree Outreach Program, an organization
that Wright founded whose mission is to rescue homeless children from
the streets of Tucson.
“As Libby began to describe what her organization does,”
Abrams explains,” she told me that she had promised the eleven
children living at Grace Home, a 7 bedroom house the organization operates,
that they would all go to California this summer to stand on a beach
and see the ocean for the first time. She told me that just that April
morning, on the day she won her travel prize on my show, one of the
volunteers at The Giving Tree expressed concern over the commitment
since there seemed to be no chance of raising the funds to send eleven
children and five chaperones from Tucson to California. I told Libby
that I don’t believe in accidents or coincidence and I was certain
she had been ‘lucky caller number five’ for a reason. That
reason was that I could and would make that promise a reality for the
children in her organization’s care,” Abrams states.
Abrams efforts on behalf of the group resulted in Woodfin Suites of
Cypress, California, located only minutes from Disneyland, and Woodfin
Suites of San Diego, each provided 4 suites for 4 nights, a total of
32 room nights, for the group. “That is a company with a heart
as big as their suites!” Abrams states. “I approached them
because they offer all the comforts of home plus a huge daily buffet
breakfast that looks like a banquet and their suites are large enough
to provide spacious comfort. Penny Burich, Woodfin’s Director
of National Sales, also assisted in helping to get the group admissions
to the San Diego Zoo and Animal Park as well,” Abrams explains.
For the one night on the way to California, Abrams negotiated a “super-preferential”
rate for the 4 rooms needed for the group at the Hampton Inn in Blythe,
California and an additional 4 rooms for one night in the Los Angeles
area which Choice Hotels provided complimentary.
When the organization’s 15 passenger van did not pass inspection
for the trip just 10 days before their July 30, 2004 departure, Wright
called Abrams in a panic. “Facing the dilemma of a destination
waiting to welcome them and no way to get there, I contacted Thrifty
Car Rental and within 24 hours Bob Thunnel at their Tulsa headquarters
confirmed 2 seven passenger vans with all charges pre-paid by Thrifty
so that the only thing the group needed to do was put gas in the tanks!
With that and one chaperone taking an additional car, they were almost
all set,” Abrams notes.
What was missing was cash to pay for things like gas, food, admissions,
and other travel expenses they would incur. To cover those costs, Abrams
turned to Renee Werbin, publisher of Travelgirl magazine who made the
introduction to the Morris Family Foundation. With a generous contribution
from them and $500 the organization raised from the Ebay auction of
a 7 night stay for 2 at the Ti-Kaye Village Resort in St. Lucia that
Abrams donated to them, they now had what they needed to make the trip.
“On August 2nd, I got a call from Libby extolling the glories
of the Woodfin Suites in Cypress and telling me that Justin, 10 years
old, didn’t sleep at all the night before. She put Justin on the
phone who explained to me that he was, ‘too excited to sleep because
we are going to the beach today.’ It doesn’t get better
than that!” Abrams states.
As Abrams spread the word of the needs of the children for travel gear,
contributions were sent to Tucson from many suppliers. Hertz sent suntan
lotion, lip balm, water bottles and Hertz bears dressed for the beach.
Club Med sent tee-shirts, Manufacturer’s Direct provided mini-transistor
radios, flashlights, and tee-shirts for each child, and Warren of California,
a San Diego based manufacturer of travel security accessorites sent
leather kiddies fannies packs for each of the children.
“The best part is that I surprised them along the way! I really
needed to meet this very special group of kids and the wonderful people
who care so much about enriching their lives with valuable experiences,”
Abrams concludes.
Contact:
Stephanie Abrams
Abrams Hospitality Marketing
“Travel With Stephanie Abrams!”
201.924.4676
stephanie@sabrams.com
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