Incredible generosity

One of the reasons I love Vent Haven so much is that it is such a remarkable archive of stories. Performance stories, personal stories, stories of creativity and of creation. Every dummy, every artifact tells a story of a person, whether it be a ventriloquist, a dummy maker, a script writer, etc. The entire museum is the story of our founder. It's always been about people, not things. Today, I'm focusing on two people: Bruce Becker & Leigh Anne Huckaby.

At the 2017 Convention, we kicked off our Capital Funds Campaign with the Adopt A Dummy program. Jeff Dunham took the stage and encouraged everyone to get on board to help Vent Haven reach a very, very lofty goal: to raise $1.3 million for a new facility. We didn't know how the Adopt A Dummy program would go...would people care? Would they adopt one? Enter Bruce and Leigh Anne.

Bruce and Leigh Anne got in the line like so many other people. They came through and adopted three dummies: Aunt Fannie, Freddie Q, and Pinocchio II.

How awesome! They didn't stop there, though. They said that they also wanted to adopt whatever dummies that remained unadopted at the conclusion of the event. Isn't that amazing?! So when we were wrapping things up, eight dummies remained on the photo wall: Mack Old Man, Abe Lincoln, Joe Nemo, Favara boy, Insull pocket figure, Ladd boy, Zeke, and Maclovio. True to their word, Bruce & Leigh Anne adopted them all!

I, like everyone who loves Vent Haven and wants to see it become its best, say a very special and sincere, "THANK YOU!" to Bruce and Leigh Anne. It's people like you, with such generous spirits, that will truly make this project happen. You are very much appreciated.

At the Haven,

Lisa