I am not very good at blogging! Sorry!

Hello from the front lines at Reed's Relief. There is so much to update on its kind of crazy!
Our first fundraiser went great. We have had a few since and most of them have gone really well. We are new at this and are learning as we go!

We have a couple of upcoming events that can be seen on our calendar at www.reedsrelief.org That's right we now have a website!!! Right before the Tijuana Flats night we had applied to the Create-A-Thon with Vision 3 Marketing. They take 24hours and do a marketing blitz on chosen non-profits and we were one of them!! They were amazing! (as you can see from our website) They designed our brochures, business cards, updated the logo, made an amazing poster, helped us with a slogan "Blanketing Families With Comfort" and wrote a press release. WOW! It was all donated to us. :)

Other very exciting tid-bits to share!
We set up our Pay Pal account so we can now take credit card donations. Bella's Baggies is ready to go once the Flu season is over and siblings are allowed back up in the NICU. We were nominated for a grant from Merck and received it! We won $1000!!!! We were nominated by another NICU mom from CN! (More on this family soon!) I have received a handful of very touching emails from parents who have received our goodies. Kelly, one of the moms is now heading up our Craft committee!!! I love having her and her family on our team! Her husband and two older kiddos are going to be helping as well! I love hearing from families, just knowing we made someone smile feels amazing and makes every thing we do for RR worth it.
Monica (Tony's mom) gave Reed a book for Christmas last year "You Are My Miracle". It is a very sweet book that we read A LOT! So randomly one night I emailed the author and just over a week later got a message back from the publisher that they would like to donate a book. Some people might say "just one?" but to us that is one more than we started with and that one book will bring a smile to one mom and dad who might not have smiled that day, or the day(s) before.

Today I had the pleasure of sitting with a current mom in the NICU. She and her husband have a tiny little guy. He was only 1lb 9oz when he was born. He is now just over 2lbs and fighting hard. They have a very long road ahead of them. Mom's eyes were tired, scared and puffy from the tears. My heart broke, it was like seeing myself all over again. After we talked I was fired up to do more. I know I can't take her pain away but just visiting, a friendly hug and small gifts to know she, her husband and little man are thought of are why we do what we do. She smiled, a lot and even laughed. I am ready to conquer the world and help all of the aching hearts that have a sick baby or child. Ok, so it will take some time but my mission is to bring RR to several hospitals and into even more hearts. I hope you will join in on my journey!! I can't do it alone!

Thank you again for all of your support. We would not be a success with out YOU!

So much to update....

I am WAY behind on updating everyone on the exciting things going on here at Reed's Relief.

First and most important: We have received our 501 (c) (3) status from the IRS!!!! We are OFFICIAL!!!!!! I am glad one of my good friends (Angie) was at my house to share in the excitement and so I didn't have to jump around, scream and do my happy dance alone! This is HUGE for us. Now onto business!

We want to thank Always In Stitches for their very very very generous donation of hats and blankets!!!! I went in to get fabric for the bags (for the parents-btw they are going to be so stinking cute!) and walked out with 23 fleece blankets over 30 crocheted hats and 3 quilts. Never in my dreams did I see that one coming!!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Check out their web site and their store, they have the cutest fabric! http://www.alwaysinstitches1.com

Mark your calendars for JUNE 25th! Reed’s Relief is having our first fund raiser at Tijuana Flats on 96th Street. PLEASE bring in the flyer (the whole thing) for your chance to win one of three $20 gift cards to Tijuana Flats!!! (This also helps them track how many people we bring in-we have to show them we are worth the time and money!)
I hope to see a HUGE turn out!!!! If you have never been to Tijuana Flats it is fantastic. A great place for the whole family, staff is top notch, food is wonderful and the salsa bar is HOT HOT HOT!
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7665/77400517.jpg (this is the flyer for Tijuana Flats)

BIG announcement from Reed's Relief!

Reed’s Relief is very excited to announce our FIRST corporate sponsor! Zengin Media the fastest growing and most innovative digital signage solution available! Offering a unique channel strategy along with more traditional digital signage methods, Zengin Media provides the flexibility and technology to fit your digital signage needs. They are graciously giving a percentage of their proceeds to Reed’s Relief. We are so honored to have them on board with us and to know they want to help us in making a difference in the lives of the parents and children of the Intensive Care Unit.

Check them out at www.zenginmedia.com

Thank you to Zengin Media for your support!

Needed:

We are in need of the following items:

Single Layer Fleece Blanket
Cotton Hat
Knit/crochet/quilted Blanket
Knit/crochet/quilted Hat
Journals/notebooks
Taggie style Blankets
Burp cloths (with cute designs/ribbon etc)
Frames with Mats (frame size 8x10)
Infant Books
Childrens Books
Adult Books (no smut please!)
Reed's Rabbit (email for the pattern)
Pens

If you are interested in donating anything on the list please contact us at reedsrelief@gmail.com We appreciate any help you can give!

Thank you

Welcome to Reed's Relief

Hello!!

I want to give you a run down on how we are going to use this site. As most of you know we have decided to start a Non-Profit organization to provide comfort and relief to the families and children in ICU. Due to the public nature of the Internet we are going to be removing last names and personal information. Our email address is reedsrelief@gmail.com if you would like to contact us.

Until we are up and running this will be where all information is going to be posted! We are currently talking to a couple of companies about websites and email systems.
If you have any suggestions on fundraising or would like to host your own fundraiser for Reed's Relief please email us. Because of you our organization is going to be successful!

Please note we have submitted our application to the IRS for our 501 (c) (3) status, it is our understanding that now that it is being processed any donations received will be considered deductible once we are approved. If you do make a donation we will send you a receipt once we get our application/status approved. (this process can take apx.6 months)

We are on Facebook under Causes: Reed's Relief

OK...here we go!!!

BREAKING NEWS FROM REED'S RELIEF!

Today was a HUGE day for Reed's Relief. Tony and I met with the hospital to go over all the details, it was all cleared and we are a GO!!!! They love our ideas and can't wait for us to get started! So fire up those sewing machines, knitting needles and crochet hooks, we need hats & blankets!!!! If you are interested in making items for the babies please email us at reedsrelief@gmail.com and we can give you the details. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated! (if you have my personal email you can send it there as well)

Quick update

It has been awhile since we posted an update. The Fed. filing is ready to go. We hit a small snag with the hospital and are just waiting on the details but are confident all will work out fine. The issue is we are a not-for-profit helping a for profit. We think that as long as we provide items/services that the hospital will not provide we will be fine. We should be getting the final details very soon and will be sending in the Fed. filing as soon as we get the green light. If there was any chance of this not working we did not want to spend the money for nothing.
On a personal note, Reed is now 6 months old and is amazing. If you know him or were to meet him you would never know he is the reason we are determined to be there for others that have to be admitted to the NICU. We took him up to visit Dr.B and his nurses, while we were standing there a few families came and went, the only thing I could think of was "I want to help you, I want to make this a little easier on you." Soon, we will be able to do that!
More to come when we get the green light. We are anxious to get things rolling. The Board of Directors have been meeting and we have some very exciting ideas for a kick off event and a few smaller fund raisers for the year.

Stay tuned!

*We are not working with the hospital directly. We will be providing goods/services only to the families.

Step one. Check.

It is official! Reed's Relief Inc. is our name and our application with the state has been APPROVED!!!! We are meeting with an accountant this week to get our Fed. filing done. It is going to be a long process. In the meantime we will be doing small fundraisers and preparing for our kick off event. Stay tuned. We are just getting started :)