In the aftermath of this year's devastating hurricanes, I became aware of some of the exceptional humanitarian work that many members of our BBQ Community were doing in Florida, and neighboring states, to help people who were impacted by the storms. In most cases, our bbq brethren themselves were affected by the storms, yet they were among the first responders to contribute their time & resources to help feed hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were left homeless, hungry & confused by nature's wrath. While I completely understand that these acts of kindness are done from the heart, and that no *rewards* are expected ... it just seemed to me that these folks needed to be lifted up & recognized for their kind and unselfish good deeds.

Thus, the idea of the Smoky Angel Spirit Award was born. With a lot of help & en- couragement from Mike @ HawgeyesBBQ, Doug Worgul, and with the outstanding, creative design and artwork of Todd (BuckSpin) ... the idea took shape ... and most importantly, with the financial help from all those of you who pledged funds to this project, it has become a reality.

The "Smoky Angel" is a die cut, antiqued gold hat/lapel pin ... that depicts an offset smoker with a halo around it...and a whisp of smoke curling out of the smokestack, not unlike an angelic apperation. It was designed to be elegant, yet subtle. We want- ed it to have a *timeless* look to it ... not flashy or loud. Todd did an outstanding job of crystalizing all of our collective thoughts into his design, and it is our hope that this lil' Smoky Angel will generate lots of Good Karma awareness...and manifests itself in many future good deeds throughout our BBQ Community.

Everyone who is nominated for a "Smoky Angel" pin will get one. Nobody is going to judge the merits of anyone's nominations, but rather we ask that all nominations are done in *Good Faith* ... and are consistent with the spirit of the award, which is: Acts of Humanitarian/Good Deed/Random Kindness. In order to nominate someone for a "Smoky Angel", all you have to do is tell us ... in a couple of short paragraphs on The BBQ Forum ... who you are nominating, and what they did to merit your nomination. Once you have made your nomination on The BBQ Forum, then just click the button at the top of this page, and let us know the mailing address of the person you have nominated ... and we'll send them their pin.

You may nominate more than one person for a pin, but PLEASE, only nominate one at a time. All addresses will be kept strictly confidential, and not used for any other purpose other than to mail the pins to recipients of the award................John Eddy

Phone: 877-841-7192