Bratsgiving Wish Granted to Seattle Family
On Saturday, Sept. 26, Johnsonville granted a Seattle family's Bratsgiving wish by bringing its 65-foot Big Taste Grill to their neighborhood and hosted a community brat fry from 11 am to 3 pm at the Northlake Christian Church parking lot (19029 North Road, Bothell, Wash.). Free Johnsonville Brats and drinks donated by Safeway-Albertsons were on the menu, along with a splash of community bonding.
The spirit of Bratsgiving continues, as Johnsonville granted a Seattle family’s holiday wish.
Chris and Laura Pearson were among the 400+ people who submitted their Bratsgiving Wish – a tradition started by this sausage company after it began celebrating the official food holiday known as National Bratwurst Day each August 16th. It’s only fitting for Johnsonville to affectionately refer to it now as “Bratsgiving Day.”
So Johnsonville asked consumers to share their Bratsgiving wish on the company’s website or Facebook page by August 16. The Pearson’s wish was to “get our neighborhood together in the park for a good old-fashioned neighborhood BBQ and get to know each other. Having local police and fire crews attend would be awesome as well. With all the bad press these days it would be nice to recognize we are all one team and one community. #BratsgivingBringsNeighborsTogether.”
“I’m a son of a police officer and have a few really good friends in law enforcement,” said Chris. “We really respect people who dedicate their lives to helping the community, so we’d love the opportunity to get to know the local first responders and our neighbors better."
About 1,300 community members, friends, co-workers, neighbors and emergency responders came out for the event, displaying a sense of community spirit and thanking the Pearsons for sharing their winning wish with them. A local Eagle Scout group assisted Johnsonville grilling and serving the brats throughout the event.
When the Johnsonville Big Taste Grill visits communities nationwide, it not only serves flavorful sausages, but also raises money each weekend for a local charity in that local community. So we asked the Pearsons if they’d like to choose an organization that could benefit from any donations collected at the event. Their choice was to collect funds to support the wildfire relief efforts organized by the Community Foundation of North Central Washington. Chris’s employer, Pella Corporation, planned to start the event off with a $1,000 donation to the foundation. By the end of the event, more than $2,200 was raised by the community attendees, and with Pella's donation, more than $4,000 was raised for the wildfire relief efforts.
To see the Bratsgiving 2015 Wish photo album, visit our Facebook page: