Beanie Donation

With the Celebration and then the Tractor Cruise, I am behind in posting donations. We truly appreciate all the donations we receive. So if you have given and I haven't posted anything about your donation or sent a thank you yet, forgive me. I will be getting them all caught up soon, promise.

Krista Barcus donated her beanie baby collection to the Foundation. Thank you Krista! We love getting beanie babies since they have lived in curios and Rubbermaid's and never been played with. Plus, what a wonderful thing to do with something you have outgrown, lost interest in, or ran out of room for.

Organ Donation Survey

Donate Life surveyed 5100 adults online and here's what they found out ~



* 51 percent of Americans wish to donate all or some of their organs and tissue.

* 26 percent are undecided.

* 58 percent wrongly believe that a person can recover from brain death. (not saying miracles don't happen)

* 51 percent incorrectly believe that a doctor might not try as hard to save their lives if they know they wish to be an organ donor

* 44 percent mistakenly think there is a black market in the US to buy or sell organs for transplant

* 23 percent of the undecided do not think that their organs or tissue would be able to be used for transplant.



Every day, 18 people lose their battle due to a lack of organs.



Donate Life!!

Donation Report Card

A national report card prepared by Donate Life America shows an increase of 9 million donor designations over the last 18 months, bringing the total number of registered donors in the United States to nearly 80 million. Even with this great success, there is still a shortage of donors and much work to be done. There are now over 100,000 people in the United States awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant. A million more suffer from blindness, medical conditions, or devastating injuries that can be successfully treated with donated corneas or tissue.

Last year over 28,000 lives were saved through organ donation. More than one million life-enhancing tissue transplants were performed, offering the recipients a new chance at healthy, productive, and normal lives.

I know you have heard me say this before, but please register to be a donor. Last year 2,205 donors in the US had registered prior to their death. Since on average more than 3 organs are able to be used, an estimated 7,000 lives were saved through the registry. Tissue donor registered last year prior to their death amounted to 8,239. Tissues from one donor can improve 50 lives, meaning that 400,000 people were helped. There were also 12,168 eye donors registered prior to their death last year, giving sight to over 20,000 people.

I was happy to read that Missouri is among the top 20 states with registered donors. Out of the 4,161,957 licensed drivers in the state, 2,438,965 have designated themselves as donors. This is 56.7%!!

~Further statistics can be found on donatelife.net ~

Tractor Cruise 2009

Over 200 participants drove tractors in this year's tractor cruise to help three children's charities, with the Foundation being one of them. We attended and helped served supper to the cruisers.

Here is a link to the article in the paper about the cruise ~ http://www.maryvilledailyforum.com/homepage/x737337598

And here is a picture of the quilt that auctioned for over $700!

Thanks again Heart of America Tractor Cruise for choosing the Foundation to ride for!

Celebration Success ~ Thanks to the Blue Crew

Showing my love to the "blue crew" today because without all of you guys, we could not pull off something as wonderful as the Celebration! We didn't capture everyone on film (some lucked out and avoided the camera or were using it all day), but the thanks go to everyone that helped! So without further ado, here are some of our unsung "blue crew" from the day.

Celebration Sunscreen Station

The Halley family was kind enough to provide a sunscreen station at the Celebration in memory of Brian Halley, who lost his battle with melonoma. The station not only provided sunscreen for kids and adults, but also information on detecting skin cancer. There were lots of people that used the sunscreen (including myself) throughout the day. Thank you to the Halley family for doing this service to help educate others and prevent the spread of skin cancer.

A Different Countdown

I have posted two comments on last Friday's post (the 12th) for all to read. These comments state "Countdown until Ryan Sundermann is released from prison.......3 years! Whoohoo!" I am sure his family will be glad to have him released from behind prison bars so that they may once again be a family and do family things. I am sure they wish they had him there for holidays, special occasions, and just in normal everyday life. We, the victims of his crime, would love to have our Abby back home with us too. We wish we could have some sort of "countdown" until we could hug our little girl again. We are not as lucky as Ryan Sundermann's family. Our time without our Abrielle is determined by God and not by the justice system. When we talk to our daughter, we cannot hear her voice. We cannot hear her laugh, cry, or even breathe. When I want to to hold my little girl, I cannot. The only way I can touch her hand is by the mold CMH made us. I can only run my fingers through her hair by the locks that were saved for us before the funeral. When we go to visit our daughter, we can not physically see her. Instead we see the impression in the grass from where she lies beneath. The only way I can see her beautiful smiling face is by looking at pictures. In 3 years we will still be missing our Abrielle in Heaven, that will not have changed. We will miss our little girl until we are able to see her again.

I would also like to make it known that we want this blog to focus on the Foundation ~ the good things that it is doing, the kids it is helping, the needs it is fulfilling, and the lives being touched. We want this blog to honor our daughter's spirit and memory. We want good to come from this tragedy that has happened to our family. We will sometimes share heartache and tears on this blog with you in the hopes that maybe it will help others understand the pain of losing a child and in the hopes it helps ease our own suffering. We do not (and have never wanted) this blog to focus on Ryan Sundermann. So, to those who seem to think otherwise, please stop causing the gash in my heart to bleed even more than it normally does. Instead, join us in making good come from this.

Tractor Cruise Reminder

The Heart of America Tractor Cruise will be Saturday, June 20th, leaving from the NWMSU Outdoor Pavilion. The cruise route takes the tractors through Pickering, Gaynor, Sheridan, Parnell, and Ravenwood before returning back to Maryville. There will be a BBQ after the cruise (about 4:30) and everyone is invited out. We will be there helping to serve as a thank you for choosing the Foundation as one of the charities to ride for.

Celebration Success ~ Fun & Games

The Celebration was also packed full of fun and games for everyone. Here are a few pictures of some of those.

Ring toss~

Shooting Alley~

Milk Bottle Toss~

the super popular dunk tank~

and many more!

Thank you to Fireman Phil for bringing out the firetruck and the house. The kids love putting out the "flames" with the hose!

Everyone mark your calendars now for next year ~ June 6, 2010!

Celebration Success ~ On the Stage

This year the Celebration had a variety of performances on the stage. First up were the girls from Maryville Dance Academy.

They were followed by Ben Sporleder. I had never heard Ben play before and all I can say is wow. A teenager helping us could hear the music from his game and asked if he was playing that for real because he thought it sounded like we were playing a cd. Great job Ben and thanks!

Wings of Love was next on the stage. Yvonne and her talented birds sure impressed the audience.

Then we were treated to Rachel Sporleder's singing talents. She sang a few of Abby's favorite songs too, which was great! Thanks Rachel, you are super talented!

Lastly, the crowds were treated to a sneak peek at the Nodaway County Community Theater's upcoming performance of "Annie Get Your Gun." I know I jumped when they shot off the prop gun! This play looks like it will be fun to see, so try and make time to catch it at the Roxy starting Thursday night. Thank you everyone in the performance for taking the time to share some scenes with us!

Celebration Success!

First and foremost, I need to say THANK YOU to everyone that attended and helped at the second annual Celebration of Children on Sunday! Without all of you, we couldn't not honor our little girl's memory in such a way.

The event was a success and the prayers for great weather were answered! I do apologize for Country Critters petting zoo not being there, but as they were loading the animals to prepare to attend the event, their daughter that was helping them had a stroke. Let's keep their family in our prayers and we will see them next year.

With so much happening at the Celebration, I am going to break my posts up and share different things with you during the week.

First up, all the fun things you could do with your wristbands ~

ferris wheel~

Obstacle Course~

Horse Rides~

Bounce House~

Eliminator~

Mini Golf~ (Sorry no pictures)

The wristbands brought with them unlimited play on these rides and games. Some kids would get off and run to the back of the line to go again! What fun!