Tuesday was a huge day at the Mansion as the Fireball Run made a stop at the Mansion on their journey through Tupelo.

What is the the Fireball Run? It is a cross country motoring event of nearly 65 teams of business and community leaders around the country who are driving a 3,500 mile route from Baton Rouge, LA to Grand Rapids, MI to play an "Amazing Race" style adventure game.

The national charity benefactor for this event is the Child Rescue Network, a Florida based non-profit organization. Each Fireball team is assigned a different missing child for whom the team must draw as much attention to as possible by speaking within the communities and distributing as many posters as they can along the 3,500 mile trek. Each car has their child's picture and stats on their car for additional exposure. Last year, the Fireball Run helped find a couple of dozen children.

Of course, the cars are the biggest attractions. Several 80's themed movie cars are featured in this year's race, including: KITT from Knight Rider, the Time Car from Back to the Future II, the Smokey & the Bandit Firebird and the General Lee from Dukes of Hazard. Other high performance cars that roared onto our campus included: Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Ferraris, BMW's, Vipers, Corvettes, and Jaguars.

When J. J. Sanchez, the event organizer, first approached our community leaders several months ago about making Tupelo one of their stops, the Convention and Visitors Bureau recommended that they plan to visit the Mansion and make it a highlight of the race. We were introduced to J. J. and he was very impressed with his tour of the campus and our work among the children. I remember him sitting in my office and talking about how moved he was by what he saw and felt.

A few days later, I received the following email from him:  "Returning from such a great time in Tupelo, I would like to incorporate the Tupelo Children’s Mansion into the transcontinental rally. I believe our visit to meet the kids and give them a firsthand introduction to some of America's most fantastic vehicles, driven by some of America's most successful entrepreneurs, will benefit both parties. I want to compliment you as so many others already have, on such a great program. I wasn’t sure what to expect, however, as non-profits can go either way; the person in charge is either 'real' and mission oriented, or they are 'money' focused. I was impressed by your kindness and passion. We would like to make the Children’s Mansion an honorary supporter of the event as well, and bring your ministry some national attention."

As the participants arrived in Tupelo on Tuesday, they were escorted by police up Main Street to the Mansion, where they were enthusiastically welcomed by the children and staff. Lunch was catered in our dining hall by Old Venice Pizza Company. The drivers were deeply touched as they interacted with the children and a number of them left generous donations with the promise of more to come. Only those invited could participate in the Fireball Run and had to qualify by being a business owner, C-Class executive, person of independent wealth, majority stock holder, celebrity, or elected official. It is our understanding that one of the drivers is a billionaire. Certainly, the Fireball Run provided a wonderful opportunity to introduce the Mansion to the rich and famous.

Burton Gaar, our Director of Corporate Relations and Special Projects, did a fantastic job coordinating the Fireball Run's visit to the Mansion. As you can imagine, hosting this event took a lot of careful planning. Burton even created a special Mansion decal that had been applied to each car. He also wrote a cute song for the Fireball Run that will remind the drivers of their visit to the Mansion. As they arrived, they were each given a fact sheet about the ministry and a CD with the recorded song on it.

To hear the Fireball song and see a video clip of the event from our special Mansion Events Web site, click here...

http://www.aspireonemedia.com/mediaPlayer/playerHome.asp?cid=132

To view a couple of related articles in the Daily Journal, click on the following links:

http://www.djournal.com/pages/archive.asp?ID=279884&pub=1&div=News
http://www.djournal.com/pages/archive.asp?ID=279807&pub=1&div=Lifestyles