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Greetings Family, The time has come for us to celebrate our Family. The Guy Family Reunion will be July 7-10, 2011. We, the Guy Family are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; and the time is near for us to show forth our praises to God. For we have come a mighty mighty long way in the strength of God. He has called us out of the darkness of slavery and into His marvelous light. And this year Darin and I want to take it back. We want to get back to our roots. So we are so thankful that each and every one of you has given us this opportunity to help orchestrate this great event. We want our reunion to be filled with four days of great, great memories. The last page of this letter will tell you the cost but right now let me tell me you about the details of the event. Let me take you on a journey to the place that you need to be.
It is Wednesday afternoon, July 6th, 2011. The welcome table is laid out. A few snacks are laid over in the corner. Darin and I are going over the last minute details. Phone calls are being made. And we are making sure that all deliveries are on time. Family is arriving and more are on the way. There is a table set up with finger food, with desert, with tea and water, and this is just a simple time of fellowship. Not a required day but just a time to greet the people that have come in a day early.
As the sun shines brightly and the dawning of a new day arrives, it is Thursday morning July 7th 2011. The people that came in on Wednesday are making there way to the dining room for breakfast which is included with the hotel stay. The committee is calling to make sure that the buses for the tour are on the way. And also we have other people calling to make sure that everyone that is supposed to be going on the tour will be at Whispering Woods by 8:00 am for the buses will be pulling out no later than 8:45. Well, here come the buses and we are loading up. We are preparing for the Guy Family Reunion Tour of 2011. The videographer is there, the people have their cameras, and the head count is made. We all load up and we start off for Slave Haven/Underground Railroad Museum – a house that served as a way station for runaway slaves. We stop and we go on our guided tour. We see the many awesome reminders of how it was, and we are reminded of that day that was and that was not so long ago. We see the crawl space where they had to hide. Everyone then after about 1 hour loads back up onto the bus, head count done, off and away we are headed to Beale Street, to walk up and down and see this great Memphis Blues location, and now we have come to W.C. Handy Home, Park and Statue and we take a guided tour of this location. This leg also lasts about an hour. And here we go, we load back up, we take a head count and off to the Civil Rights Museum/Lorraine Motel we go. This is the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. But it is also now the site of a brick with Guy Family Reunion 2011 placed in front of the museum, so that years to come people will know that we stood firmly for all that we believed in. That we embrace our entire heritage. We have a guided tour of both locations and then we load up, we do a head count, but oh the day is not over. We are headed to the Gay Hawk for lunch, buffet down home style southern cooking, with a little bit of soul and a lot of Guy love mixed with it. Our lunch stop will be somewhere between 1pm and 1:30 pm. So please make sure you eat and you feed your children that morning before the tour in order that they will be able to make it till the lunch stop. And now that our bellies are full, old stories have been told, and new ones made, we load back up and we get back on the bus, do a head count and off we are on the second half our tour. We will see the Memphis Pyramid an Egyptian architecture which features a multi-purpose arena. And then the bus will take us along the banks of the Mississippi River that has had a great influence on the city’s trade and commerce. And then we will be taken over to the Slave Trade District the location that some of our ancestors were once sold on the trading block. And then we will take a ride past some of the antebellum houses and see the history of the Union occupation of Memphis. And then we will be taken to Cotton Row where cotton was King and will be told the story of how Southern plantations held the world market. And then we will be shown some of our Historic Churches that played a significant role in shaping this city. And then we will be shown some of our Black Business History from slavery to present. And we will get a chance to ride by Lemoyne Owen Campus and to see where Stax began as the end of our tour. And now we are headed back to arrive at around 5pm back in front of Whispering Woods.
Now we are taken to Thursday afternoon around 5:15. The committee for the skating adventure for the kids are getting their last minute agenda together. The kids will go across the street to Odyssey Skating Ring and they will skate and do the do. There will be Guy Chaperones to watch the kids and all are able to go. We want to see how bad the Guy Family is on the skating rink. The committee for the game room at Whispering Woods, where we will shoot some pool, play some cards, see who is the baddest on the pinball machine, see which family is best at spades and just have a real night of fun playing games of old. And on down the hall we have another committee getting the Guy Lounge ready for a night of Karaoke, a night of dancing, and a night of fellowship and good times. And around the corner we will have a place set up where people that just want look at a little TV, do a little catching up can be found. And of course there will be food.
And as the sun rises on Friday, July 8th we find the Bouncers being delivered, we see the slide being set up. We see the grills being set up. We see the fishing committee making sure that there is enough bait, we make sure that we have short poles, long poles and in between. And over to the side we see the fellows setting up the horseshoes and over to the other side we see the game committee getting the jump ropes together, getting the hula hoops ready. And then as we look over we see the tables being decorated, we see the warmers being set up. We see the people bringing in the spaghetti, the corn, the potato salad, and all the fixings for our great southern style Guy Family Reunion Picnic. We also see everybody signing up for the Show. And as we look over to the other table we see everybody signing up for the softball tournament. And we see the horse and buggy being made ready for the hay ride. Now the food is cooking, the fishing is going on and there are some jumping rope, a few hoola hooping. We see the ice cream making committee trying to figure out what to do also. But most of all the family is together and as one. The time has come to bless the food and we are all eating and around 1pm the whistle blows and it is time for the talent to take the stage for the Guy Show, all are winners and all are welcome to participate. And now we have been entertained by some of the best, our own entertainers. And now comes the time to see who can hit a ball. The first two families flip the coin; one goes in the field the other goes to the plate to bat and off we go from around 4pm until 6pm seeing who knows what to do with softball. And now the cleaning committee comes and does their thing. While the movie committee moves on over to the place where we will be having Movie Night. The movies have not been decided on but we will have a room set aside for the smaller kids to watch cartoons and movies that are appropriate for their age. So come and go with me back into the building where we were last night.
Friday night. The popcorn is hot, the nachos are ready, the pickles are sweet and sour, and the drinks are cool. The people have been seated and the first movie begins to show. We will be showing at least two movies and we hope to do three if time allows. And for those that do not want to go to the movies, we have the Guy Lounge open, we have the Guy Game Room open and we have a quiet place set aside for just family fellowship.
Alarm clocks going off, wake up calls being made and now it is big day Saturday July 10, 2011. Let us come together to eat and discuss the date and time for our next reunion to be held in 2013. Breakfast will be buffet, and there will be an omelet station along with a waffle station. Coffee is being served, juice is being drunk and much food is being eaten and much much love is being shared. Time for breakfast will be announced in next letter. But it will probably begin promptly at 9 and be over by no later than 12:30 for we will all have to prepare for our gala event that will be at 5pm on tonight. This will mostly be a time of getting to know each other.
In-between Breakfast and the Banquet. We will still have the bouncers and the slide set up. The ponds will be still out there for whoever may want to fish a little more. The Guy game room will still be set up and the Guy Lounge will be open. There are two pools and there is a basketball court. So there will be plenty to do during this down time. We have not planned any events for this time frame.
Now we come to our Gala Event. The Guy Family Reunion Banquet of 2011. Darin and I will not discuss too much of this event. We want this to be an element of surprise but I guarantee you that it will be great. We have things that we are working on and we will be filling you in as time comes along. As you know though it will start out with our children opening the show. So make sure that you are on time, so that your child can participate in the opening part. The reunion will start promptly at 6:00pm and we ask that you arrive at 5:30 in order that everyone will be seated and we can start on time. And will last until around 9. After 9 we will get the party started and we will have a dance off, we will have soul train line, and we will have a line dance going on. At this time the Guy Game room will reopen at 9 and the Guy Lounge will also reopen at 9.
Oh and don’t leave yet for Sunday is here and we are going to worship as never before. We are going to praise and we are going to have a mighty mighty good time. We have 3 speakers tag teaming in the name of the Lord again, we have praise dancers, and this year we will be adding the Guy Choir. And afterwards we will have a farewell brunch.
And for those of you that are not leaving until Monday morning, we have some stuff for you to do also. We have the Guy Lounge open, we have the Guy Game Room open, and we are in the process of getting together a bus to take anyone to Tunica that would like to go on Sunday night.
So I hope that you have seen the big picture, because what has been said is not even half of the fun that we are going to have. You see I stand firmly on the belief that the Guy Family is the bestest family ever. And I stand firm that we are firmly rooted in God. That we are close knit, woven together and standing strong.
Now Darin and I need your help. We know that all you are planning on coming and look forward to meeting with each of you. But deposits have to be paid, trophies have to be ordered. Materials and other things need to be brought. Fishing poles, bats, hoola hoops, have to be ordered. So in order for us to keep the prices as they are below this is what we need. And I am counting on my family to be close knit, to be woven together, and to stand strong in everything. For those of you that did not come to the first meeting, we did an exercise where we just took all the change, and there were around 62 people including children and with just change we took up over $100.00. Well here is what we need.
We need for everybody that is planning to come to send in something towards your payment. If you can send it all, great but we need something. We have worked hard to get all this together and we need to make some deposits soon. So what I am asking for is three things, you choose which one or ones that you will be able to do.
1) need payment in full asap or
2) Need installment payments example if at least 250 people that are coming send in at least 10.00 upon receipt of this letter we will have at least $2,500.00 to start with. and
3) We are asking for at least 50 people to partner with us to pay anywhere from 5 to no limit extra a month towards the overhead starting in June and to make these extra payments through May, 2011. For you see we are just like other families, we have people that are on fixed income, have no income so some of us will have to take up the slack for these, for you never know what shoe will be on your foot next time. We are taking installment payments. So please send in something as soon as you are able. Darin will keep up with how much you have paid. And if you do not have anything to send in right now, we at least need a head count. For our prices are determined by how many people.
Also please call me, Pam at 901/210-8393 if you are planning to stay at the hotel, or call Darin at 901/283-1177. For we the prices at the hotel are also determined by how many rooms. I see us filling up all 260 rooms easy. And if I can know for sure that this will happen I will be able to go back in and renogiate the price.
Also we will be doing a Guy Cook Book. So please get your recipes in by no later than April 30, 2011 in order that we may be able to include them in the cookbook.
Event - Guy Family Reunion
Date – July 7-11, 2011
Place – Whispering Woods Hotel and Conference Center
11200 East Goodman Road
Olive Branch, MS 38654
Cost – Infants (0-2) Free
Children (3-5) $ 10.00
Children (6-12) 25.00
Teens (13-19) 50.00
Adult (20-74) 100.00
Senior (75-79) 50.00
Senior (80+) 25.00
The above pricing will include Both Meet and Greets (Thursday night and Friday night); Skate Night; Picnic; Movie night; Saturday Business Breakfast; Banquet; and Church Services and Farewell brunch.
T-Shirts Costs: Children’s - $ 8.00 sizes are s, m, l
Adults - 12.50 sizes are s, m, l, xl
Adults - 14.00 sizes are xx and above
Hotel Accommodations – Fairfield Inn & Suites
7044 Hacks Cross Road
Olive Branch, MS 38654
Costs of Rooms are $89.00 per night. There are Double Beds, King Beds. If we can fill our committment rooms will be reduced to $79.00 per night. Breakfast included in price. We will keep you posted. Also if I can fill hotel I will be able to renogiate.
Tour Arrangements – Heritage Tours Inc
Costs are as follows: 0-3 free
4-11 $36.00
12-17 37.00
Adults 48.00
There will be a lunch stop and more information on lunch stop will be included in next letter. Also I will be able to renegotiate on these prices according to how many buses we book.
WE ARE A CLOSE KNIT, WOVEN TOGETHER FAMILY OF STRENTH LET US SHOW OURSELVES ACCORDING. DEADLINE FOR PAYMENT OF ALL MONIES WILL BE MAY 31ST 2011. BUT PLEASE DON’T WAIT TIL THEN TO START PAYING. DARIN AND I LOVE YOU AND WE ARE DEPENDING ON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU. Thank you.
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The African American Civil War Memorial, at the corner of Vermont Avenue and U Street NW in Washington, D.C., commemorates the service of 209,145 African-American soldiers and sailors who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. The sculpture The Spirit of Freedom, by Ed Hamilton of Louisville, Kentucky, was commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and completed in 1997. The memorial includes panels with the names of those who served in the war. The associated museum, located two blocks west of the memorial in the historic and traditionally African-American U Street neighborhood, opened to the public in January 1999. Its mission is to enable visitors, researchers, and descendants of the United States Colored Troops to better understand the story of these troops.[citation needed] To this end, it displays photographs, newspaper articles, and replicas of period clothing, and uniforms and weaponry of the Civil War. The African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation Registry documents the family trees of more than 2,000 descendants of those who have served with USCT and invites descendants to register. Visitors can search for relatives who have registered in the Descendants Registry. African American Civil War Memorial & Museum |
