Monday, October 31, 2011

Big News!

In today's mail was the copy of a letter, sent to my California Mom, acknowledging her incredible donation of $1,000.00!! This is huge, and we are so grateful.:)


So far, we have earned, or had donated, over 10% of the needed monies, and if we include the grant from CHF, we've got about 20%. Seems like a long way to go yet, but we know we'll get there.


Rachel did end up having 2 more seizures since my last update, but they were smaller than most, and this month's 5 is a lot less than the 11 in September. We continue to hope someday she won't have to worry about them anymore, but in the meantime we look forward to Rachel having her Paws companion to help keep her safe.


Please continue sending good thoughts, prayers and positive energy our way. Every day I hope to get some news from Paws about Rachel's dog.


-Kelly

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Donations & General Update

I love it when I can come in here, and give an update that we've received donations. Today we've increased the thermometer by another $99.90, which includes the check from Baja Fresh!


I am also aware of another two donations that I don't have final confirmation for, so won't include them until I do.


We have some wonderful friends who have been brainstorming with us on ways to increase funds, and Rachel has been coming up with a few ideas, too. I am a very amateur knitter, and she's wanting me to do a couple of simple projects that we could maybe sell on my Bonanza.com page, so we'll see what comes of that.


I haven't located our copy of our original application with Paws, but I'm pretty sure that it's been about 2 years now since the initial application. It feels like we've been doing this forever, even though we've only been in fundraising mode since late July. We have a long road yet, and I'm trying to have patience with the process.


We made a small medication increase this month, and Rachel has had fewer seizures than she did last month, which is fantastic. September saw 11, and so far October has seen 3, but there are still several days left, and who knows what will happen next.


She's plugging along in school, and is more independent in her study, but still struggles with impulsivity, and then feels terrible when she doesn't do well. We're working hard on learning to take good notes, something she never seems to have been taught in her regular schools. Along with writing in cursive, note-taking seems to be a lost art.:/


Thanks for checking in with us. I look forward to updating again soon, and sending that thermometer up some more.


-Kelly

Friday, October 21, 2011

Baja Fresh Fundraiser Total Is In

I haven't forgotten about this blog, I promise! I keep thinking that I need to make a post, but haven't had much to share, and then Brett's dad came down from Canada for a visit, and we were happily busy with him for 5 days.


Here's a photo of Rachel with her Grandpa Gil...



I just returned from Baja Fresh, with the check from the fundraising night we had. I want to thank everyone who was able to help out by coming out to eat, and we are grateful to Baja Fresh for hosting the event. We netted $40, which I have to admit is quite a bit less than I had hoped for, but more than we had yesterday.

We will continue to look for fundraising opportunities, and ask you to share any good ideas. As always, Thank You for being there for us, and for your good wishes.

-Kelly

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Big Donation Day!

Rachel and I had some errands to run today, so we took a side trip to Everything Pawsible so we could check on our canister there. We got to say hello to Melody, talk baby talk with the daycare doggies, and ogle the merchandise we hope to buy for Rachel's future dog. We also were pleased to net another $6 out of the canister. Melody says she's not tired of it being there yet, so it stays.:)


By the time we returned home the mail had come, and in it was an envelope from PAWS! Two more donation letters, this time from a couple of my cousins, and their donations totaled $200! My cousin Niki challenged the family to meet her incredibly generous $100 donation, and cousin Lori did it. I can't thank them enough for this gift.<3


So, we have broken the $2500 mark in a big way, and I don't yet know what the Baja Fresh day brought in, but hope to very soon. You can count on me to be putting it up here ASAP.


-Kelly

Saturday, October 8, 2011

The Big Baja Fresh Day Is Here!-Edited

Today is the day, and we are so excited! Really hoping for a good turn out, so if you're hungry, come by, say hello, and get some really great food, too.


This is what I'm wearing today, so you'll know me when you see me...we'll be there for the lunch hour for sure, and hopefully for the dinner hour, too. Please stop and say hello, so we can thank you for coming out.:)




ETA-We had a fabulous lunch, and were very pleased to see that about 10 flyers got used while we were there, though we didn't see anyone we knew, and nobody approached us. Brett got in a bit of trouble for handing out flyers outside the store. I told him that would happen, but he's so motivated to get the fundraising moving, I can't be annoyed with him. We took a couple of stacks of them to local businesses, and then went home.

Unfortunately, we did not go back at the dinner hour. I've been fighting what feels like a cold for a couple of days now, and my RA doesn't like it, and Rachel had some school work that she really needed to concentrate on. We decided to stay home instead. 

If you are one of the folks who came out to support Rachel, we can't thank you enough, and we're sorry that we missed you. Baja Fresh is a busy, loud place on weekends, and Rachel doesn't always do well with that. As soon as I know what our tally is, I will post it here. Thanks again!

-Kelly

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Baja Fresh & Joe Mocha

Hello Friends!


Don't forget about our Baja Fresh Fundraiser this coming Saturday, October 8th, at the Salem, Oregon location. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and family there, and plan to be there ourselves at both the lunch and dinner hours, so be sure and stop by for some great food, and to hang out and chat for a bit.


If we've never met, but you're coming in to support our efforts, be sure and look for the pink Chelsea Hutchison Foundation pins we'll be wearing, and come say hello! We'd love to meet you, and thank you in person for your support.


I'd also like to say 'Thanks' to Kelly and our friends at Joe Mocha, here in Salem. They have agreed to share our blog info, and support us in that way. Joe Mocha is our favorite local coffee and snacks place in Salem. Kelly has fresh and unique foods available, in addition to fantastic coffees and other drinks. We've been enjoying their offerings for almost 10 years.


I'm also very pleased to share that we've increased the thermometer by another $60 today, and we are inching ever closer to the $2500 mark! Thanks again, everyone.


-Kelly

Monday, October 3, 2011

Donations & Visitations

The thermometer is $30 warmer today, and a little birdie told me that I should soon see another lovely boost, so I'm very much looking forward to that.:)


Rachel continues to work hard at school, and deal with the seizures in between. She is one of the most positive people I know, and always tries to see the silver lining, but seizure days can make keeping a positive outlook difficult.


We are looking forward to a visit from Brett's father next week, so I may be even less talkative than I am now for a few days. Believe me, if we get notice of donations, I will take the time to update.


-Kelly

Saturday, October 1, 2011

We Love Local Media!

A huge Thank You to Salem-News.com for sharing our fundraiser info! Please visit their site, and stay up-to-date on what's happening in Salem, the country and around the world.

While you're there, go ahead and print off the Baja Fresh flyer. We can't wait to see all of our friends on the 8th.;)

-Kelly