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!
