Tuesday, May 4, 2010

OK I need you to tell me if you think this sounds crazy

OK many of my readers have known me for a long time. I have always been the girl to get in over my head, take more hours than I can work, the max credit hours, help anyone who asks and never say "no." Obviously when I look at my life and where I am right now I realize God really must have all of our lives mapped out. Scary for me to be admitting that out loud to everyone cause some days I feel completely opposite like he must not exist. However, I can't look at all of the experiences caring for children with special needs and then having my own and feel that he knew he had chosen me to be Luke's mommy long ago! I realized very young when I was babysitting for special needs kids at just 14 years old how extremely difficult it can be on a family. Now I live with it and my experiences having Luke have led me to meet some of the most amazing moms on this planet. Everyday (literally every day since we are at ACH every DAMN day!) I see Moms juggling with their special needs kids and their siblings bustling between appointments, working/carrying special equipment, lifting their children out of their wheelchairs and into their cars cause they have no ramp... I could go one and on about the challenges they face and the expenses they incur. I myself want to build the most amazing sensory/playroom for Luke but everything for a special needs child is twice as much as it should be. We have been thinking about building an addition so Luke would have that safe space to play in except if you figure the amount of money I spend on childcare for the other kids to take him to the hospital and not to mention the hospital bills alone, and gluten free foods, I don't think there is enough to make another house payment for the addition! I have been thinking about going back to work but I wasn't sure if it would be possible with as many appointments as Luke has anyways. So I think I have decided to try to occupy my time (insert your laughter) with a new venture and see how it takes off. I was at the hospital today when a mom I have met there approached me to help her in raising money for her son who needed a wheelchair ramp to get in his house. Now this isn't the first time this has happened I believe ever since I started fund raising for Clarabelle people have come out of the woodwork asking me to help them with their needs. I can't say no especially since I realize first hand what it feels like to want to make life easier for your child that you watch struggle to keep up or hold their own. I want to help all of them but I need help to do so. When I raised money for Clarabelle because 4 paws was a non-profit 503 organization big companies were willing to donate because of the tax exemption. So in order to help everyone who has asked me to I need to form a non-profit. So many people donated to help Luke get Clarabelle and what a blessing. As stressful as it was it was exciting and probably the must meaningful thing I ever did. I saw people give of themselves so unselfishly it was amazing. I met one of the most amazing people in the world by fund raising and her name is Suzan otherwise known as Gumball the clown! She is a professional clown who volunteers every Tuesday at the hospital for countless hours. Unfortunately the hospital doesn't pay or support all of the things she gives to the children she is strictly a volunteer. I have see her make a different in many children's lives. She wants badly to start her own clown brigade like the doggy brigade that is there. However in order to establish herself as part of the hospital they told her she needs to raise at least $5,000. She has also asked for my help. I hesitated asking my friends and family to give me $ for another adventure and I couldn't see how without being a nonprofit I could raise that much $. So if I started this nonprofit I could definitely help her raise the money for her great cause. Aside from meeting many people like Gumball, letters poured in after we appeared on TV and to this day I still receive mass offering and recently a present for Luke from an anonymous donor who I sent a Christmas card to. I guess I feel like one of the gifts God gave me was my strong will to accomplish whatever I set my mind to. My parents helped foster that as well always being very supportive. So I know they will support my printing needs (hehe and maybe they can actually write them off!) So I guess what I am asking is if you think I am crazy for wanting to start this venture. So far the only vision I have is to raise money in any way I can to improve the quality of life for any child or adult with any type of disability or illness. Now I know it sounds vague but that's exactly what I want to do. I want to help people when other organizations can't. My nonprofit could be a little bit of extreme makeover home edition where we could built spaces like playrooms and sensory rooms and ramps for wheelchairs and even vans! We could provide people with equipment like Rifton Chairs that insurance won't pay for. Although I am hoping for many private donations and amazing fundraisers I am hoping that some of these great companies would donate their equipment for my cause! OK enough with the rant - I need to know what you guys think and of course if anyone would like to be on my board of directors committee!