Lighthouse of Oakland Hunger Walk 2011!

Bartelli's Catering was on hand and supplied the delicious food for the event!!

Fraternity brothers from Oakland University came to volunteer their time and ran the booths for the children's games! They were hilarious!!

My beautiful teen sister, Morgan Stocker, and I are sporting our Miss America sweatshirts!! :)

On Saturday May 7th was a warm spring day in West Bloomfield Hills and held at West Bloomfield High School!! My teen sister, Morgan Stocker, and I partcipated at the Hunger Walk that was put together by the Lighthouse of Oakland County! The walk was approximately 4.5 miles through the ajoining field to the high school. A DJ provided entertainment while participants could visit different booths (some were games for small children) and enjoy the free food that was provided for everyone!!  It was wonderful to meet people in the community for this great cause and it will be exciting to see this event grow every year! Morgan and I sincerely appreciated being invited to this event!

Garber Buick CMNH Fundraiser!!

Drew is a tremendous young man full life and is so sweet and genuine!

Miss West Michigan, Kelly Oles, and me!

Our amazing Miss Michigan, Katie LaRoche, addresses the crowd!

Here are all of us that were able to attend the silent auction!

Loving on Drew!! :)

We are silly because *girls just wanna have fun!!*

A Saginaw Spirit player came to autograph his hockey photo for the crowd. Unfortunately I can't tell you his name because I couldn't read his handwriting!!

This is the new logo for the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals!

The lovely Miss Saginaw, Lisa Dexter, and me pose for a pic!! :)

On April 23rd several of the Miss Michigan contestants came together to with the help of our host Alyssa Bedford for a CMNH fundraiser held at the Garber Buick car dealership in Saginaw!! Our special guests were Miss Michigan, Katie LaRouche and Drew, a very special young man, that we have all fallen in love with!! We raised over $2,000 through the silent auction being held throughout the day! Hats off to Alyssa for all of her hard work and putting on this fabulous event! We helped so many children in just this event alone!!

Mr Kettering Pageant!!

This young man was one of the favorites among the audience! He had such a genuine and honest way about him!

These contestants kept the audience (and myself) in stitches!!

1st runner up right here with fantastic answers!

Funny and handsome! An unbeatable combination!! :)

These two were hilarious! He would answer the question while she made all the hand gestures!

Singing 'Orange Colored Sky' as a filler. I had been sick for a week and half with the flu just before this event, but managed to get it out!! Ha Ha!! The audience was so receptive and made me feel loved!! :)

1st runner up!!

Crowning the first ever 'Mr. Kettering' who also was the Homecoming King earlier in the year!!

He loved the boa more than the crown I think!! :)

All the gang! They were terrific and did a great job!! :)

'Mr. Kettering' and his court!!

On Wednesday, April 20th I emceed a wonderful and fun event called Mr Kettering. This was an all male pageant, for seniors only and served as an opportunity to raise money for Juvenile Diabetes organization! These incredible young students raised over $2,000 for this worthy cause!

I was so proud of these guys for getting this event together in a short amount of time! It was like night and day from our rehearsal to the final night and they worked really hard to make the show fun and entertaining!! It was also a great opportunity for me to speak off the cuff with just a few things written out for me to say (like their name and some background information!) The audience was exceptional in regards to their respect that they showed me! They even participated when I tried to make it more interactive while the guys were changing into their next outfit! The contestants girlfriends/friends were also hilarious and were good sports with helping them out and making them look great!!

It was on of my favorite events and it was great to be a part of it and help out where it was needed!! I hope that all of the schools follow suit with Milford High School and Waterford Kettering High School for their passion and outstanding work!! Also thank you to the Milford HS students who wrote to Kettering and recommended me to help with the Kettering pageant, it was great to know that I've been doing a good job as Miss Oakland County and word is getting around :)

Thank you Waterford Kettering HS and best wishes in the future with the Mr Kettering pageants!! :)

CMNH Fundraiser!!

Standing in the entrance at the Family Video (freezing I might add)!!!

Signed autograph cards and photo op!! They are sisters and so sweet! Their dad, I learned, is our mail carrier in our neighborhood!! Too funny!! :)

It is always nice to collect donations for CMNH and to see the smiles of young children giving! It makes them feel good to help others too!

The month of May is dedicated to raising awareness and funds for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) but I got an early start in April by choosing to greet the customers at Family Video in my wonderful hometown of Clarkston while holding a fund raiser of my own. I had the opportunity to network and share information about CMNH and the Miss America Organziation and how they partner together. While I collected funds I also autographed my headshots and distributed them to children and adults alike!!The CMNH is such a worthy cause and I am always humbled when I have the opportunity to volunteer my time for such a terrific organization!!!

 In a short 2 hour period I raised almost $100.00 for which I was so thankful to the people of Clarkston for their generosity! Thank you to my hometown! You guys rock!!

MSU Health Rally!! :)

On Saturday, April 2nd, I traveled to Michigan State, in Lansing, to participate in a Health Rally! It was sort of like a public expo about health issues and put on by first year medical students!
I wore my skelegirl outfit and brought all of the materials I use when giving my presentation to students about Best Bones Forever! I was very blessed to have the official Skele-girl photo poster with me from the Best Bones Forever headquarters! They shipped it to me from Washington, D.C. and it proved to be a huge hit at the rally!! I was so happy to have it with me!! :)
The trifold display I use is a great conversation starter, just like my costume, and it gets people of all ages interested in Osteoporosis education! I had magnets, posters, bone tattoos, and journals on display and they were available to the  public for free! I was humbled to be involved in the Health Rally and  by helping to advertise the BEST BONES FOREVER health campaign made me especially happy!! Volunteering has been a passion of mine since I was very young! I felt like I was in my element and it gave me such joy to spread the word about this important and worthy cause!!! :)

With the official 'Best Bones Forever' Skelegirl that I had sent in from Washington D.C.!!

                          Some of the first year medical students who spoke at this event and made us laugh!! :)

We were dancing! A great weight bearing exercise to keep our bones strong!! :)

I knew this young man, Paul, from the Winter Special Olympics in 2008!! The Cupid Shuffle!

                                                            Best Bones Forever tattoo!! :)

                                                       Liza and me grilling a healthy meal!!

All of the students that made this event happen!!

My 'Best Bones Forever' board!

Liza and me with our table of information about our platforms and the Miss America Organization!!

CMN IHOP Pancake Day!! :)

On Tuesday, March 1st, I had the honor of participating in IHOP's Pancake Day! It is an annual event to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network! I chose to greet all of the patrons at the resturant located on Telegraph Road in Bloomfield Hills!! It was a very busy and special morning as I met with people of all ages who came in to donate money and recieve a delicious free pancake breakfast! I indulged myself and tried a special coffee with raspberry, cocoa, whipped cream and it probably had a million or more calories!!

** Sadly for some reason my photos on my computer were erased and I haven't been able to locate them. This is the only photo I have from my phone. I really wanted to post the photo of me in the kitchen flipping a pancake.

School fundraiser at St. Regina!! :)

While this wasn't an event I feel that it's important to post about! My teen, Morgan Stocker, had a fundraiser at her school on March 11th for her friend Suzie! Suzie had a stroke in 2nd grade and the left side of her body does't get enough muscle stimulation so it's hard for her arm and leg to move properly. Morgan's school was raising money to get her a machine to help stimulate her arm and leg so she can be more mobile in her movements. That night they ended up raising $4,260!!! They did have to pay for the food, decorations, and one of the auction baskets so $3,500 went to Suzie!! How amazing is that for only 3 hours to raise that much money?!! That was over half of what Suzie needed to get her cast! The school, later that week, had a dress down day (since they wear uniforms everyday) and raised an extra $1,000 for her!!

Suzie is such an outstanding girl!! I had the honor to meet her and she was so excited that I was there for her and to help her out which brought tears to my eyes. She, of all people, really deserves to get this money to help her body move the way it should because of how sincere and sweet this girl is!! You could see so much love in the cafeteria for her and it was obvious as to why everyone loved her!!

It was an honor to be there and it was great to see Morgan again and support her in this effort of helping out a classmate!!