Paying Tribute to the Anniversary of September 11

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CALIFORNIA- September 3, 2004- On the morning of September 11, 2002, Joe Thrailkill, founder of Sundown Lighting & Electrical, and his wife Debby, VP of Human Resources, called an emergency meeting of all their employees in their Orange County and San Diego offices. After feeding all the employees breakfast, Joe gave an inspirational speech about how much his employees meant to him and how he did not want to treat the anniversary of September 11 as just another work day, but to instead spend the day giving back. He broke the employees up into teams, and with Sundown funds he had them spend their work day purchasing items to fill backpacks for needy children to be distributed by Saddleback Community Outreach in Laguna Hills. Many local stores donated goods when they heard about the project. At the end of the day, the entire Sundown team gathered at Saddleback Community Outreach to deliver over 60 backpacks full of school supplies. The volunteers at Saddleback Community Outreach were touched by the much-needed donations and greatly appreciated Sundowns efforts.

Every September, since the first September 11 anniversary, Sundown has continued the tradition of filling backpacks and donating them to Saddleback Community Outreach, to honor the citizens who suffered on September 11, 2001, and as a tribute to those soldiers who are fighting the war on terror. Thanks to Sundown employees, many vendors have gotten involved and every year the number of backpack donations keeps growing.

Helping the community is nothing new for Sundown, as throughout the year Sundown holds many annual food and gift drives to raise donations. Sundown employees are very generous and go far to donate large heart-filled quantities to make each donation bigger and better than the last. Pollyanna Rondeau, who contributed 561 pounds of food, said: "I am so happy I work for a company that actually schedules time to give back. This is truly the most rewarding experience for me."

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