To be honest with
everyone, I really didn't know how the first fundraising for Spina Bifida event
I was putting together was going to go. It's the first fundraising event I have
put on alone (well I wasn't really alone, I had LOTS of help) but getting
things together and started I had no idea what I was doing. I must say that
after the craziness of the week leading up to the event itself I was pleasantly
surprised with the outcome and so thankful to everyone that was there to help
and be part of the day with us!
Leading up to the swim
on Sunday I worked with my family as well as my two wonderful friends, Emily
and Brittney to make sure that we had everything we needed. We decided that along
with the open swim we would also have some snacks and drinks for people who
came, information about Spina Bifida for those who were interested in learning
more, and t-shirts that were graciously donated to us by my longtime friend,
Kyle, who has his own t-shirt company (Shirt Razor, I would recommend them to
anyone, seriously, amazing.) So that people could donate and receive a shirt as
well.
The night before I
loaded up the vehicle with everything I needed because the last thing I wanted
to do was the get a 7 month old ready and then load up a vehicle. I went to
sleep pretty nervous about the outcome of what the next day would bring.
In the morning, Brittney
and my sister Karsyn were there to help me with Carter so we could all get
ready for the big day. (All my mom’s will understand that we had a time we
needed to be ready.) What a surprise, we were early! We decided to have
breakfast and meet up with my family before heading to the pool.
Once we got to the pool
I went inside to speak with Katie, who was the woman who helped put this entire
idea together and works with the Howell Area Aquatic Center. Katie was
phenomenal with the whole thing. She created flyers and they were posted
EVERYWHERE as well as contacting our local radio station who made announcements
about the event, and put out a donation "tank" at the pool lobby for
people who couldn't make it to the event but still wanted to donate. It was
incredibly nice of her to do all of this for an event that the pool donated
their time and space to have. Tables were set up already when we arrived
so all we had to do was unload the car and get everything together. By 12:45 we
were ready for people to show up!
It was a good thing we
were early too because our first family showed up around ten to 1:00 which was
when the event began. Slowly families and individuals became trickling in,
making donations and heading to the pool J
Overall it was an
amazing event. We had about 40-50 families come to support our ‘Embrace the Bif’
fundraiser and between the people who came to help, donate, and support as well
as those who gave on the gofundme page, which is still up and running for you
to donate, we raised about $1200 for MOTT Children’s Hospital! I am so grateful
to all of the people who came out to support us, Carter, and our event. We are
hoping to continue this and have an annual swimming event while working with
the Howell Area Aquatic Center.
We have two more
fundraising events happening over the summer and into the fall. The first is happening
at both the Howell and Brighton Buffalo Wild Wings on July 19th. For
every family that goes into eat at BWW, 20% of the total bill will go towards our
fundraising for MOTT. We are in the works with BWW right now to make the flyers
and will be sharing those as soon as we can.
The final fundraising
event of the 2015 year, which is our largest, is a black tie event at the
Michigan Union in Ann Arbor. We will be holding a formal event, walking dinner,
and silent auction. This is happening on Friday, October 23rd and
formal invitations will be sent out within the next month! I am hoping that
these two final events of the year will help us raise more money for MOTT and
support families of children with SB.
We would love to see you
at our future events and if you cannot make it you can always donate to our
gofundme page.
For those of you who
played a part in our Swimming for Spina Bifida fundraiser, thank you so much!
Without you none of the success we had would have been possible. I hope you
enjoy the pictures from the event (coming soon... technical difficulties) and we will keep you posted on future events
this summer!
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