Today, we shared some NEW Christmas music for 2015.
Check out these great NEW albums by some of your favorite artists.
Chris Tomlin – Adore, Christmas Songs of Worship (Live)
Rend Collective – Campfire Christmas Vol.
Laura Story – God With Us
MercyMe – MercyMe It’s Christmas

Here are the favorite Christmas songs from The Morning Thing
co-hosts:
(Make sure to click on each link to see a video for each song)
Aubrey Bailey – Oh Holy Night by Barlow Girl
Wesley Boston – Silent Night by Kim Walker Smith of Jesus Culture
Jenna Potts – It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Michael W. Smith
Marcy Rinehart – Give This Christmas Away by Matthew West/Amy Grant

Today on The Morning Thing we recapped the Food for the Hungry broadcast that took place over the weekend.

Click HERE to hear comments from crew members and volunteers as the broadcast wrapped up Saturday night. We were all celebrating an amazing day!

The totals from Saturday were amazing! $190,000 and 65 truckloads of food were collected! More specific totals and lots of pictures coming soon.

It was a busy morning on The Morning Thing today. We had the chance to talk with Lisa Mazzari, Food for the Hungry Drive Coordinator, and Brandon and Gigi Gonzalez-Cottrell, The Salvation Army of Knox County, and Joy Harris, Executive Director of Interchurch. They shared their final thoughts on why Food for the Hungry is so important to our community

To hear the whole conversation click HERE

We would love to see you come out and join WNZR for the 34^th annual Food for the Hungry Drive tomorrow, Saturday, December 12^th. We will broadcast from City Hall from 9am to 5pm providing updates on the total and all activities. The Big Blue Crew wants YOUR help in supporting Interchurch Social Services and the Salvation Army.

The top ten food items needed are canned meat (chicken, tuna), beef stew/hearty soups, canned pasta, boxed dinners (Hamburger Helper), peanut butter, spaghetti/spaghetti sauce, cereal (hot and cold), baked beans/kidney/chili beans, noodles/instant rice/potatoes, canned fruits and vegetables.

For more information check out the Food for the Hungry website HERE!

Food For The Hungry – Working together to care for our neighbors.

Food For The Hungry benefits the Salvation Army and Interchurch Social Services of Knox County.

Interchurch has branches in Centerburg, Fredericktown and Danville.
We had a chance to talk with the Branch Managers in those areas: Diane Bennett from Centerburg, Sue Wadian from Danville and Katie Frazier from Fredericktown.

Click HERE to hear the conversation about need and how donations are making a difference.

You can make a donation NOW online. Click HERE.

You can also stop at one of the collection points open on Saturday 12/12:
Click HERE for a list of 25 collections points and our top 10 list of items needed at the food pantries.

Food For The Hungry – Working together to care for our neighbors!

Click HERE to hear from members of the Shopping Cart Derby Teams!

Support WNZR in The Food for the Hungry Media Shopping Cart Derby, Saturday, December 12^th!

The 13^th annual Media Shopping Cart Derby is Saturday, December 12^th and THIS year will be different. We have a NEW Twist!

Our 4 media teams will return with cart pushers from the Mount Vernon News, Time Warner Cable, WNZR and 93.7 Super Q/News Talk Sport Radio 1300 WMVO.

Our 4 teams will start from the 4 corners of Mount Vernon:

The Mount Vernon News will have the SOUTH ROUTE, starting at the Knox County Career Center.
Time Warner Cable will have the WEST ROUTE, starting on Harcourt Road across from Ross Motors.
WNZR will have the NORTH ROUTE, starting at Dr. Price’s Vet Clinic on Mansfield Road.
WMVO/WQIO will have the EAST ROUTE, starting at Edgewood Road and working down East High Street.
All teams will meet at the Public Square in front of City Hall.

What is different? We are THROWING OUT the trophies.

The teams will start at 1:06pm and work to hit every house and business on their routes, picking up donations of food and dollars.

What is the NEW TWIST? Our 4 shopping cart teams will compete in the Food For The Hungry GAMES in front of City Hall around 2:15pm.

The teams will compete in 3 events: Fast Pack, Pedal Cart Pull and Food Bank Check Out.
You will definitely WANT to SEE the Food For The Hungry Games. It will be challenging. It will be fun. It will be a memory for everyone.

The WNZR team is Kelsey Bryte and Faith Orecchio! Their route is the North end of Mount Vernon. The team will be starting on Dr. Price’s Vet Clinic on Mansfield Road, travel down Mansfield Road, to North Main Street and then to the Public Square.

Meet them on their route and give a donation to help Food for the Hungry. Or drop off your donation at the station. Then, make sure that you are routing on Kelsey and Faith in the Food For The Hungry Games at 2:15pm.

The NEW and IMPROVED Shopping Cart Derby is Saturday, December 12^th.

There are SO many ways that you can donate to the annual Food For The Hungry campaign.

Click HERE to see a calendar of events.

The Morning Thing talked with John Chidester from the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County about their Food for Fines campaign.
Click HERE to find out how you can donate food and take care of your fines at the library.

The Morning Thing team also talked with Todd Parsons from WRP CPAs about the various ways to give to Food For The Hungry.
Click HERE to find out how this accounting firm is involved and how you can donate NOW.

Do your part and make a donation NOW. Join WNZR and help us reach the 2015 goal of $185,000 and 50 truckloads of food.

Today, we focused on auctions that benefit Food For The Hungry.

Click HERE to hear Diane Bennett, Interchurch Social Services Branch Manager from Centerburg, talk about the silent auction going on in Centerburg.

Click HERE to hear Sue Wadian, Interchurch Social Services Branch Manager from Danville, talk about the silent auction going on in Danville.

Click HERE to hear Diane and Sue share thank yous and talk about the impact that the auction bids have on their ministry.

We also shared information on TWO auctions with the Knox County Career Center. John Feltman stopped by to share the exciting news about the online auction of lab certificates and the live auction of gift baskets.
Click HERE to hear the conversation.

If you would like to bid NOW, call John at 740-507-5386 or click HERE to place your bid.

Today, The Morning Thing shared stories about our favorite Christmas ornaments. It is interesting that we all seem to be connected to great Christmas entertainment through these ornaments. We hope that you can start an ornament tradition with your family this year.
Click HERE to hear our Morning Thing Fave 5 for this week!

Here are pictures of some of our favorite ornaments:

We also shared the December Presidential Update with MVNU President, Dr. Henry Spaulding.

Click HERE to hear the conversation about what is happening at 800 Martinsburg Road in Mount Vernon.

One of the hardest tasks during the Christmas season can be finding the right gift for someone, especially someone who you might not know very well. Maybe it’s a coworker or your boss, maybe it’s your child’s teacher, maybe it’s even a relative- whoever it is, you don’t want to get them an impersonal gift card but what can you do that shows a little effort?

The fix is simple- bake them something delicious! That’s right, put a little effort into a nice holiday food gift. There are all kind of options- from the sweet to the salty; from the solid to the snack. And maybe you don’t need the gift help, but if you have a Christmas party that you need to provide for maybe you could use some help finding a good alternative to another plate of Christmas cookies. Whatever your reason, you can find a whole bunch of ideas here. And maybe if you want someone to test out the recipe on before you give it away you can find a radio DJ to help you out… hint hint.