Happy New Year!

Goodbye, 2011! Hello, 2012.


Last year was a big one for us. A lot of stuff happened, good and bad, but overall, I think the good won out. Rachel was finally accepted as a Paws client, we made a good decision about school for her, we got started on our fundraising for the dog, and found out just how loved Rachel is, and how much support is out there for us. 


Our biggest hope for 2012 is that Rachel get her dog before it's over. She's ready to really begin her independent life. Rachel's 17th birthday is near the end of January, and it would be wonderful for her to know that by her 18th birthday she could be working with her canine partner.


Rachel's Christmas gift from my California Mom was another donation toward her dog fund. We have now officially raised $7900! You might notice that I've made a change to our goal amount. As we've gone along with our fundraising, I've not included the $2500 grant from CHF, as they make their grant available as the last amount of money needed toward the dog. So, I've decided to alter our goal to reflect the amount we need before that grant is made. It sure makes what we've raised so far look a bit a better.;)


So, we wish you all a Happy New Year, and hope that it brings you blessings of love, laughter and happiness, and we thank you again for being there for us, and continuing to support us.


-Kelly

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

Fundraiser Night October 8th!

Finally we have our Baja Fresh fundraiser night planned! Saturday, October 8th is the date, and soon we will have the fliers available for anyone who'd like to join us for dinner.


All you have to do is visit Baja Fresh on Lancaster Drive, in Salem, order your meal, and present our flier. The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation will then receive 15% of the total of all receipts with fliers attached. Julie Hutchison has been incredibly supportive of our efforts to raise funds for Rachel's dog, and we are working closely with both PAWS and CHF to achieve our goal. We will have extra fliers at the restaurant if you forget yours.;)


If you want to be sure you get a flier, please message us here, and I'll make sure you get one, or 20 if you want to help spread them around. All messages are screened before posting, and if you don't want yours posted publicly, just say so.


Also, two more donation letters in the mail today, and an increase of $80 to the thermometer. It's moving more slowly these days, but we're hoping for a good turnout for the fundraiser night, so maybe we'll have a big increase soon.


-Kelly