Love for the Children Tour

June 28, 2013

Okay, so I figured it’s about time to post this first excerpt from the “Love for the Children Tour” journal. First things first; let me introduce you to the motor coach and her residents. The 38’ rolling billboard is a Thor Challenger motor coach and from now on will be referred to as “Nila” which she has lovingly been named. Nila arrived in Bangor, Maine in January, 2013. Almost immediately she underwent an exterior transformation, not because she wasn’t already beautiful but because her role is to raise awareness and donations for the Shriners Hospitals for Children® through the Daughters of the Nile Foundation. www.donfdn.org. She was completely wrapped with photos of beautiful children’s faces and text to reflect her purpose. Nila will be accompanied on the tour by resident driver Noble Harold Polley, navigator/chief cook and bottle washer Supreme Attendant Bev Polley, Supreme Queen of the Supreme Temple Daughters of the Nile Margaret Ann Risk and a sweet black lab named Mollie.

The tour actually began on June 3, 2013 when Nila left Bangor, Maine to make her way to the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. Nila entered the Gaylord on June 13th, where she remained on display in the Daughters of the Nile marketplace through June19th; and what a sensation she caused!! Many Nile and Shrine members stopped by to either take her picture or to have their photo taken in front of Nila. How proud she was!!

 

The 2100 mile trek was completed in 4.5 days with overnight stops in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas. At a Shell station near Waynesboro Virginia where we fueled up one morning, a gentleman came over and introduced himself as a Shriner and was curious as to why Nila was decked out as she was. After giving him a short explanation of the tour, he snapped a photo of Harold and me with Nila and said he would have the photo put in his Shrine unit newsletter. This is what the tour is all about!

On the evening of June 27^{th, the} day before she left Keller for Imperial Council Session in Indianapolis, Indiana, Nila was blessed by the priest at Bill and Margaret Ann’s Episcopal Church.

 

 

So this brings us to today, June 28, 2013. We hit the road by 5:15 am, headed northeast, up through East Texas, into and through Arkansas and stopped for the night in Sikeston, MO. A long day but we’re that much closer to Indianapolis, Indiana.

To make a tax exempt donation to the Daughters of the Nile Foundation in the name of the “Love for the Children Tour”, please visit www.donfdn.org. This is the pathway which leads to helping the children of the Shriners Hospitals for Children®!