sorting jQuery created list and or lists

I have some jQuery that creates unordered lists as needed by the user. The list is then sent to the action page where a nested cfloop inserts the form values into a ul. I need these lists to be sorted alphabetically so the user doesnt have to do it. No matter what I've tried, I cant seem to get this working. Maybe I'm placing my sort function in the wrong place or wrong page entirely. Here is my form. http://pastebin.com/UPVGdjUn Here is my action page nested loops. http://pastebin.com/EsHFyYRS And here is my sort fucntion. http://pastebin.com/8zM86TRL Thanks again for all the help!

Update. Ok I've managed finally to sort the lists! I reworked my action.cfm just a bit. Now instead of looping through a collection of ul, THEN looping through an array of <li>, the outer loop just loops through the Vendors as headings. Then the inner loop loops through the ul. So now when my lists are displayed back, they are in alphabetical order. However, the issue now is I cant seem to get the lists saved IN that order throughout my application.