From Our Table to Yours: Thanksgiving Video 2019

Ah, the fall. Leaves change, the temperature drops, and flannel trickles into your wardrobe. Many profess their love for this season, but stewardship professionals may love it a little bit more than the rest. Thanksgiving is one of the best times of the year to say thank you to our donor family. By this time, we have closed out the previous fiscal year and reported on its impact through the Annual Report to Donors, Endowment Reports, donor receptions, newsletters, and thank you notes. It’s timely and appropriate to say thanks without an ask or an overly academic message, and instead just a simple thank you.

Our donors will receive many year-end solicitations during the next month. For Stewies, it is our time to make UGA stand out. We think of our donors as family, and our goal is to remind them of this, and contrast it to the heap of mission statements and urgent solicitations that will crowd their communication channels through December.

Donor Relations and DARCOMM have jointly produced several well-received Thanksgiving videos over the years. We’ve stretched our creative legs by including students, staff, drone shots, voiceover, and our beloved Hairy Dawg in these messages. For several of those years, however, we had a bigger dream of producing the ultimate Thanksgiving video—one of multiple UGA icons enjoying a Thanksgiving meal together on North Campus!

We hoped to create a scene that would feel nostalgic while embracing a broad scope of the UGA family. Unfortunately in past years, calendars and priorities didn’t align for the production of that video. This year, we got our chance! Thanks to the savvy videography of DARCOMM, the willingness of 14 students to volunteer their time, and the grunt work of Donor Relations for securing the location, set, and cast, we accomplished something great!

We present to you, From Our Table to Yours.

Cast

Hairy Dawg
Wilkray Biboum, Homecoming King
Southern Britt, Cheerleader
Nick Borkovich, Battle Hymn Soloist
Chip Chambers, Mic Man
Blake Davis, Spike Squad
Raegan Fields, Majorette
Rachel Gomes, Student
Briana Hayes, Miss UGA
Hank Rogers, Cheerleader
Emily Suggs, Color Guard
Kate Tabeling, Drum Major
Caroline Umila, Student
Jada Ware, Cheerleader

Production

Tyler Daniels
Edwin Hammond
Grace Kerner
Zach Armstrong

Coordination

Tony Stringer
Melissa Lee
Jordan Dotson
Calli Choe
Shearron Hamlin
Abby Bryant
Teale Moran
Teresa Kesler
Lauren Schlesinger
Caitlin Lacey