Night at the Races Huge Success!

Last Saturday we finally held our first fundraiser, A Night at the Races. I've been working non-stop planning for this since July and I couldn't have scripted it any better. Everything went great and we will clear at least $10,000!!!!!! I was thinking we'd make maybe $6,000 so I'm overjoyed with our results.

I want to thank all of my volunteers who really came through for us the past few weeks. Joyce Dawson, owner of Elm Ridge was so awesome in not only donating the hall to me but putting in alot of her time helping me decorate and set up. She was awesome during the event too taking care of all the behind the scenes stuff so I could focus on other things going on. Michelle Glauthier helped me by stamping all of my signs to make them look so nice. She has the same attention to detail that I have so it was neat to have someone as concerned as I was as to how everything should look (same w/ Joyce too). It was really important to me not only to have alot of items for auction and raffle but to have an atmosphere where people felt alot of thought went into the planning. Lisa Laterza's expertise in running a Mardi Gras every year for Victim's Assistance was great especially when it came time to close the silent auction.

The following people volunteered their time for the evening running betting booths, selling tickets and working their hineys off. Michelle Gainer-Howell, Linda Holl, Troy Lindeman, Craig & Cheryl West, Nicole & Tiffany from Precious Parents, Jim & Wendy Ray, Suzanne & John Foughty, Chuck & CrisAnn Work, Mr. Dawson & his nephew (sorry, I forgot his name but they donated back 1/2 of their tips!) and my cousin, Charlie Ries who helped so much giving me advice the past few months and helping Corey with the payout window. He has run many of these for Special Olympics in Barberton over the years. I thank you all so very much for giving back and helping make the evening better than I could have imagined!

I've received such nice feedback from everyone and how much fun they had. That was important to me because I want them to come to our next event. We had $220 donated back from race winners. The guy who ran my races said he had never seen a payback jug with a light and buzzer in his 12 years so I thought that was neat that I impressed him.

The food from Santangelo's was really yummy and Chili's delivered tons of wings, sandwiches and quesadillas. They donated them which was so nice! We put them out at 8:00 & I think they were all gone at 8:15. It was too funny. I had some hungry people there.

There were about 20 silent auction items and 20 baskets for raffle. I was still collecting items Friday afternoon & calling Michelle Glauthier to make one more label at the last minute. It was so crazy getting ready for the evening but so worth it when it was over. I really enjoy event planning anyway so doing this for our charity was so rewarding.

I've already met some wonderfully great people through Jacob's Gift that I probably wouldn't have had we not started the fund. One is Julie Barkey who lives in Canal Fulton. Those of you who know her know what a special lady she is and her husband, Hal is so nice too. Her son, Michael was killed in Iraq in 2004. She has 3 other children and her youngest, Tony is a senior on our Northwest football team. Luke looks up to him so much, literally and figuratively. He's 6'5 and 300lbs! He's a really nice boy & came to a few of Luke's flag games. Luke makes sure to see him after every Varsity game. Julie helped get the word out about Jacob's Gift to the football parents and coaches. I really want to model her when my kiddos are in high school. I appreciate her support so much and am planning on doing an event in the future with her. (After our football team goes to state and things settle down).

We were able to purchase awareness bracelets for Ryan Trewin and they were passed out last week to the kids in grades K-2. I know it meant alot to Jenni and Jose and I was so happy to be able to do this for them. We gave them to the football team and coaches too and some of them showed me Friday after the game they were wearing them which was so awesome. The Trewins are truly one of the nicest families you will ever meet and I feel honored to be able to be a part of getting prayers for Ryan. Check out Jenni's blog off of our home page.

Thanks again to all who attended, sponsored and supported us! Keep watching our website for future events.

Joanna

How things are going......

A lot has happened in the past few weeks. We sponsored our first volunteer event called "Pedal for a Purpose" to benefit Echoing Ridge and buying a bus for them. It was so much fun. I personally thank all of our friends who came especially Lisa who brought Hallie and Shannon and Alan who brought Logan, Lauren & Chloe. Oh, also Remington our little kindergarten player on Corey's flag team. We helped them raise $7,000 towards their goal. I want to thank the 10 Northwest football players who came also. I'm telling you, these are the nicest, most polite high school kids you will ever meet. They have every reason to have inflated egos (we're #1 in the State!) but they are really down to earth. I laughed so hard at Danny Beers #20 chasing little 7 year old cheerleader Hallie with a cooler of water. (He didn't catch her but ran the ball 30 times last night so we know he's a good runner) Luke was hitting the guys with whipped cream pies square in the face from 5 feet away.

Last night we handed out our pom poms at the football game w/ our website on the handle. Thanks so much to Jose, Jenni, Andrew & Ryan, Mrs. Holl, Lisa, Hallie, Mandy, Rich & Michelle G. I also had a board up with all the photos of the players who volunteered at Pedal for a Purpose & our elementary dance the night before. I'll put some up on the site too. We were introduced at halftime and Andrew & Ryan Trewin went out with us also. It was awesome. We were wondering if people were really listening but then when they announced how much we raised for Echoing Ridge, people started clapping so it made me feel so great. Then they asked for prayers and support for Ryan who is battling cancer and is a first grader at the elem school. He really wanted to walk out there & I was so lucky to be able to stand with him. I could feel the love and support from the stands to him. It was so special & made me tear up a little. Mostly because I really had no idea how Jacob's Gift would be received in the community and to be standing there with Ryan after starting all of this in March it was truly better than I could have ever expected. Ryan has his picture taken with all of the cheerleaders and he had the biggest smile on his face. It makes me smile just thinking about it. (Luke & Andrew's little heads were in there too - it was too cute). It makes me so motivated to continue on and do good things with Jacob's Gift.

My first blog post!

Jacob's Gift has launced and we're on our way! How exciting! This began in March of '07 with an idea of reaching out to the wonderful kids in the Northwest School District in memory of Jacob. I had no idea how I was going to do it. As corny as it sounds, I was inspired by an episode of Oprah where a woman volunteered at a shelter for kids. The kids would sleep in their clothes and had no idea what pajamas were. They never had them. She collected tens of thousands of pajamas to donate. I just watched and cried. It was amazing how people gave and helped her with her passion.

Jacob's Gift is my inspiration and I hope to pass this along to all those who will receive it. I really just want to give back and make Jacob's short life mean something even if it's just to me. I look back now on what Corey & I went through when he died and I ask myself how we went did it. People say that all the time, I cannot imagine losing a child. I can't believe I'm one of those few that have. I truly believe Jacob came into my life at that time to teach me lessons that I have come to understand. I sincerely feel I am a different person than I would have been had he not died. I have such an appreciation for life and the people around me.

We hadn't "planned" on having 4 children. We were going to have Jacob, wait three years and have another. I would continue working and we'd be the 2.2 kid statistic and life would be lovely. I was so innocent. We should be that innocent. Babies shouldn't die. They do, and through Precious Parents, I have helped others go through the loss of a child as we were aided when he died.

I will continue to post positive happenings with Jacob's Gift and hope to inspire others as we have been inspired by Jacob. Thanks for reading and being a part of our journey!