Boise, Idaho,
22
November
2017
|
10:04 AM
America/Chicago

Bratsgiving Wish Granted in Boise

Local VFW Post Benefits from Community Member's Wish

We understand it’s currently the season of turkeys, holiday lights and gift-giving.

But here at Johnsonville, August 16 is a special food holiday that we also get excited about celebrating. It’s officially National Bratwurst Day, which we've re-named as Bratsgiving – a holiday to celebrate brats, good times and good deeds. On some holidays, wishes are made. So each Bratsgiving, Johnsonville asks consumers throughout the country what their Bratsgiving wish might be.

Our customers are supporting our unique holiday as well, including Albertsons Companies. With them, Johnsonville sorted through thousands of Bratsgiving wishes – and on Veteran’s Day weekend, we made a wish come true for a Boise resident.

Mr. Jim Miller was the chosen wish winner. In his “pay if forward” spirit, he wanted to celebrate his local heroes: the veteran members of Capitol City VFW Post 63.

Mr. Miller is not a veteran but has many friends who frequent this local VFW post, which has more than 15 members who served in WWII and recently lost a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. This Boise post is also Idaho’s largest VFW post and the country’s second oldest. “It’s my Bratsgiving wish to host a ‘Cele-brats-ion’ to specially honor these members and others,” Mr. Miller wrote in his wish entry. “These are folks who answered the call and stepped forward when needed, doing so without a lot of hype and personal hoopla.”

For Jim's Bratsgiving wish, he wanted to thank them with a Johnsonville cookout during the dedication of their newly constructed outdoor pavilion. So, Johnsonville members from the company’s marketing and sales teams helped make this happen, along with members of Albertsons Companies Intermountain Division. More than 150 veterans and active military members, spouses and local dignitaries joined in the post’s pavilion dedication and the celebratory cookout afterwards.

“It was a wonderful experience personally, but for us as a brand, to be able to thank these people as only we knew how, with our customers helping us, made it all the better,” said Marc Bennett, a Johnsonville shopper marketing member.

Other Bratsgiving Wish Winners

Another 2017 Bratsgiving Wish winner was Rick C. from Florida. His wish was to host a Bratsgiving cookout for his neighbors, coworkers and members of a non-profit he volunteers for. He’s been using his Bratsgiving prize throughout the fall, sharing the great taste of Johnsonville and good times with his family and friends.

In the Kalamazoo area, Johnsonville and Meijer granted one of their shoppers’ wishes, by treating the Comstock Township Fire & Rescue to a cookout and remembering one of their fallen firefighters who was killed in the line of duty. You can view their touching story here.