Benefit was held Uncle Sam's Bar and Grill Monday night, generated $650 dollars

Monday evening at Uncle Sam's Bar and Grill, approximately 4-5 dozen people showed up to support the benefit given in behalf of Laurie Meade.

The benefit was intended to help raise funds for Laurie to replace her beloved Blue Jean's Ice Cream Truck, which was stolen out of her driveway the night after Christmas of 2011.

Laurie generated over $100 on her own before the benefit by selling prepaid customized Ice Cream Punch Cards. She also said she had put over $200 of her regular monthly budget into expenses related to promoting the benefit, including ink for her printer, paper, and gas to get around to the businesses that donated to the benefit.

She said that money was from that which normally would have gone toward her cable and power bill, but she was able to get them to work with her and double up those payments the first of next month.

Laurie was overwhelmed with emotion, about the kindness and generosity of the people that were there.

She said there may have been a bigger turnout but someone pointed out to her today, that the date of the benefit was not printed on the top of the flyer about the details.

She told how exhausted she was having worked through the even and most of the night, editing the flyer and newsletter, and promoting and spreading the fliers during the day.

No one pointed out that the only date about the benefit on the flyer was in small print in the box of the articles from Tacoma Weekly printed on the backside of the promotional flyer.

She told about a women and man, a retired couple, who when asked at the door to donate, $1 or more to the benefit cause said, "I don't want to give you a dollar, I want to give Laurie a check!" They then proceed ed to write her a check for $200." She said later that evening during the auction bidding , the same couple spent $70 dollars on one of the items being auctioned. They left shortly after that, the woman joking with Laurie, saying, we better leave now before we lose our house!

Laurie was so appreciative of the kindness and generosity of the small group of people at the benefit.

She handed out copies of her new newsletter/newspaper, The Blue Jeans Ice Cream Times, which has advertisements and an article listing all the companies who donated to support the benefit.

Laurie plans on updating it every few weeks and passing it out off her new ice cream truck once she gets going again, but leaving ads in it from the donors through several issues of the newsletter at no charge to the benefit donating businesses.

She says this is one way she can give back and pay forward the kindness they have bestowed on her and her family.

Laurie also said that there is still a long way to go, but she is hopeful now. It is a start.

She also said she wished someone could schedule a time and event  that could be attended by families with children, as there were many who wanted to show support but couldn't attend because the benefit was at a bar.

 Here is the link if you would like to donate to the  Blue Jean's Ice Cream Truck Donation Fund.

     We are counting on funds now from this website to help reach our goal!

Today there was also a new lead in a maybe siting of the stolen vehicle.

Benefit Promotion Flyer With the Band Details. Print it Out and Post it in Your Neigborhood!

Hi everyone. The flyer is a little late because the guy who runs the band had his laptop stolen. He got it back, thank God, and here it is.

If you are one of my regular customers, please print this out and post it in your neighborhood this weekend.

Thanks,

Laurie

Isn't this an awesome poster. If you see me in my van, It will posted there until I have the keys to my hot little truck in my sweet little hands. :o)

Just finished editing the Blue Jeans Ice Cream Truck Times, 1st Edition!

I have been updating the first issue of the BJICTimes. I am still waiting on promotion pieces from two different sources before I can finish the flyer.

You can read all the details at my Facebook page here.

Below is a sample of the newsletter you can download and print out as a pdf. If you have any experience in creating ads, both classifieds or display ads, please subscribe or friend me on Facebook and let me know, I can sure use some help in that department.

I am inserting some screenshots
of the four pages two.

and the middle pages:

Here is the link to download the current sample.

See ya at the benefit, would love to have your comments.

Laurie

The Dave and Mike Show, TacomaWeekly.com Video about Stolen Blue Jeans Ice Cream Truck

Here is a new interview done tonight, my new lucky "Friday the 13th."  This was done by a very nice pair of men from TacomaWeekly.com. This is a combination Web Show and Newspaper report. After viewing this embed video click through to watch more of their great show segments.




The Blue Jeans Ice Cream Truck Stolen from Dave and Mike Show on Vimeo.
On Christmas evening while Laurie Meade’s family slept, someone stole their Cushman 3 wheel scooter Ice Cream Truck out of their driveway. The Blue Jean Ice Cream Truck was popular around town. The joyful music on her truck has been silenced, and the ice cream kids loved is no longer being sold by Laurie. Let's change that, and help her with the mission to find "The Blue Jeans Ice Cream Truck"


BTW, if you click through to Vimeo, scroll down to the right bottom of the screen, you will find a link where you can download this video. Just right click and save as. Change the name. You can then, save it on to a media card, a usb drive and share it with whoever you like, even people you know who don't watch things on computer.

Be sure and pick up a copy of their newspaper which comes out next Thursday. Thanks again for all of you, caring, praying and supporting my efforts to find and/or help me get this truck replaced/found!
Laurie

Why it wasn't covered on insurance, a lesson learned the hard way.

I had a friend at one of my favorite forums ask me how long I had to wait on the insurance. I replied and this is what I ended up writing. So I cut it and decided to post it here, because it is more appropriate here than there. (I can direct her here to answer her question in length.)

I thought that since it was parked in my driveway it would be covered on my renters property insurance. I thought wrong.

I have had it in my yard covered with a tarp in winters past with no problem.  This year it wasn't covered.

When I strapped it up tight last year the seat mildewed, and I replace it this summer. I had gotten scotch gaurd but hadn't treated it  yet, and it had been there so long, no one ever bothered it. I didn't ever imagine someone would steal it from me.

Someone has explained to me since it was stolen, about something called comprehensive, non running or something, but since it is so old (its a 1992) I don't even know if it could have been covered that way.

When I drive it to sell ice cream, I had full coverage but that runs over $200 a month and I can't afford it all year on the non driving month's fixed budget.

The first year I had it I lived in a larger home and it was in the garage. The insurance agent did tell me if the house were to burn down or something it would have been covered, I don't know now if that would have been correct or not.

The second year, I rented out one of those commercial garage spaces, they call them MaxiSpace here, they have electricity, so it was my "ice cream shop." I kept my freezers over there as well.  It ran me almost $300 a month.

I couldn't afford that all year round, especially with the seasonal insurance as well.

It is an up and down business. You never know what the weather is going to be like, on a given day, or even a given season. Last spring, we didn't have much of a spring here at all. You never know which neighborhoods are going to be good or not, and how much competition you run into.

The last few years have been tough, not only because people are holding on to their money a little tighter, but lots of unemployed people, think "oh this would be easy and slap stickers on there vans."

Us seasoned ice cream people call them "the sunny day fly by nighters," lol. Most of them do it for one season and realize it is way more work then they realized. It doesn't matter though, in most neighborhoods, even if I had lots of regulars, who loved me, ice cream is a first come, first to get a sale business. Although I have had some regulars who have bought from me, even when some other truck has just come by, just because they really like me, that is customer loyalty. :)

Some people probably wonder why I do it at all.

Tommorrow I am going to do another video explaining that in detail. But to make a long story short. I have fibromyalgia and I suffer from severe depression among other problems, too. I take lots of medicine it is hard for me to get going in the morning.

It is an afternoon job. I set my own hours. It helps me keep money in my pocket all the time. It gives me so much joy when I am behind the wheel. I had a stereo on the inside with two little speakers, and listened to my "own" music, while I played the ice cream music outside.

I always played really upbeat, inspirational motivational music. I could be depressed and have to "force myself" to get going and it would only take me maybe 3 or 4 blocks and 2 or 3 customers, and I was happy and flying high. A natural happy high. 

It was medicine for my soul.

I adore the young children, they are so sweet, they always make me smile and I love being outdoors.

The guy who stole my truck, stole much more than the monetary value of my truck. He stole my joy, appreciation and love of what I did, and the tool and power that I had to do that on a daily basis.

In the news, I know this story isn't bad, compared to all the other horrible things we hear each day. To a lot of people, the 6,000 I paid for it may not be a huge amount of money.

But I can count on less than the fingers of 1 hand the times in my life I have ever spent that much on 1 thing, all three times it was a vehicle, and the time I bought my ice cream truck was the only time I paid it all at once.

(It was when I got the back pay after fighting 13 years to get my disability payments, then waiting almost two to actually see the money, once I knew I won).

The other two times, I spent just a little more than that, were two times in my life when I got a brand new car. A honda back in the 79 which I paid 6200 for and
I don't remember how much I paid for a Chevy Sprint I had in the 86.

I know you got a way longer answer than you bargained for, but since I am planning on doing this video tommorrow, explaining all this out is sorta therapy for my soul on the whole issue. Now all I need is a teleprompter. LOL>

I have to do another one, because the David Rose from Q13 is doing a segment on Washington's Most Wanted on saturday night, and I want him to use something other than the "raw emotion and too close to my face" video that is on YouTube right now.

I also want people to realize, "the joy" that I got every minute I was behind the wheel in that truck. I want them to hear me explain that, what I just explained above in my own words.

I created a design for a sweatshirt or tshirt.

It seems like lots of businesses especially corporate ones have policies about putting up flyers. So I created a design to print out an eye catching poster, that I am going to make into a transfer for a sweatshirt.

I will be adding a file that you can print out that has business card, and index card sizes of the important websites and the CrimeStoppers information.

 It is extra large and made at a high resolution, I apologize if it caused the page to load slow, but those are needed to get a good printout.

Here is the same image without the border in case you want to spruce it up with your own comments.

I plan on printing out a bunch of these and handing them out to anyone who comments on my sweatshirt. You could do the same if  you live here in Pierce County to help me out. Or just print out the buisness or index card info and give them out to people you know.


Again, thanks for all your help.

 God Bless you all..
Laurie