Memorial Day Parade 2009


The 2009 Memorial Day Parade in Walled Lake was incredible! The generosity of the crowd was even more overwhelming than last year. So many people wanted to give their donation to Cash man himself that it was all I could to to run from side to side, back and forth, giving kids high-fives and collecting donations.

The economy is tough here, yet this year people donated about $600 during the parade, and a few hundred more after the parade for a total of a little over $1000. But better than that, the message of donating cash instead of cans continues to spread and change people's donation practices.

Memorial Day Parade 2008


The 2008 Memorial Day Parade in Walled Lake was the first time Cash Man was seen in public. Our local food pantry, Hospitality House, always participates in the parade. In the past we would raise public awareness during the parade by carrying a banner, dressing up in life-size can costumes, pushing grocery carts, etc.

This year Cash Man and his minions (carrying the signs) walked in the parade. The goal was simply to educate people and get them thinking about donating cash instead of cans in the future.

But the response from the crowd was absolutely stunning.

People spontaneously starting handing us money! They came out from the sides of the parade - kids, adults - to hand us bills. So many people were handing us money we were slowing down the parade. People were even cheering for each other as they donated. One kid on a bike asked me "do you take change?" And he gave me all the change in his pocket. Many parents put money in their kid's hands and walked them out to donate it - passing on a lesson in generosity.

We were completely taken by surprise by this outpouring of generosity - and actually unprepared - we had no containers so we had to stuff the money in our pockets and our pockets were jammed.

By the end of the parade we collected about $350 for the food pantry.

What an amazing and touching experience this was. We felt blessed just to be part of it.