Back on June 5/6th, 2010 tornadoes devastated our area, right down the road from where I grew up! Although it was several miles from where I now live I feel horrible knowing that people I grew up with, teachers I had, friends, and family were affected tremendously. Some lost their lives, some lost everything they owned, some lost family members, some lost all of the above and some were fortunate enough to escape by just having to replace roofs, windows, doors, contents, etc...IF YOU CALL THAT FORTUNATE!
Anyway, I held a huge fundraiser to raise money to help put a SMILE back in the hearts of some families that were affected by these horrible storms! My friend and I held a huge Garage and Bake Sale and raised about $6000.00. It was AMAZING!
Once the hard work was all over it was then time for me to start contacting the people who lost so much! What a joy and a true blessing this has all been for me!
Throughout many of my conversations I learned so much...and decided that replacing roofs, doors, windows, etc would be great but in most cases the insurance companies were taking care of things like that. So...here I sat with this money that was raised for the families...what would I do with it all? Well, I'll tell you! As I mentioned, I learned so much during all my conversations...I learned that one family was so busy that they actually schedule in a "Family Date Night" once a week just to go out to dinner and make sure that they are all staying in touch and up to date with what's going on. Unfortunately, they had not been able to do this since the storms because they really haven't been financially able to. I also learned that one families two children lost all their toys, another family was struggling to buy groceries. Oh, and one family was planning a Birthday Party for their daughters who were finally allowed to invite THEIR friends and not just family members. They were planning to have a luau at the pond in their back yard. So, after hearing all this information, anyone who knows me knows that my mind was working overtime to figure out what I should do!
Well...I'll tell you...
Bought tons of gift cards to various restaurants to send one family to dinner at least once a month for an entire year!
Took another family's two children on a shopping spree where they were allowed to fill up their carts with TOYS, TOYS and more TOYS!
Bought grocery gift cards for another family that should last them about six months.
...and...
Planned a Surprise Luau Birthday Party for the birthday girls! It's at a private beach and the family also gets two nights accommodations at the resort! Food is catered from Famous Daves BBQ and the invitations were handmade by ME! Talk about a FUN job! This was awesome!
Here are a couple of photos to show you
exactly what the invitations looked like...
OH, AND YES THEY WERE MAILED JUST AS THEY ARE! NO ENVELOPE NEEDED! The post office loved them! Hope the recipients are surprised and get a chuckle out of them too when they open the mailbox and find them inside...
What do you think?
So, some of the money has been spent but still not completely done! I will continue on my mission fulfilling small dreams of these families that have been through so much by putting "THE FUN STUFF" back in to their lives!
Hugs for now!
