6.

Is it possible that 6 years have flown by?

Last week, I discovered a few photos from six years ago this time. What a feeling of joy to see this tiny pink bundle named Kyrie! Jordan and Lacie look so young in these photos. I can see time now when I look through these images. Sometimes that feels okay, sometimes not.

In each breath today, gratitude for her existence. Such deep gratitude that she brought all of you here into this crusade to save children. Gratitude for growth, for fortitude, for courage. Gratitude that this is not the end. Gratitude that love never dies.

Let's celebrate 6 together. I hope you'll come September 17 to celebrate this journey with us.

Happy 6th birthday, sweet baby Kyrie! You are still the gift with each birthday that arrives—the gift to your parents, your family, your community and your friends all over the world who are fighting brain cancer. Know that we miss you so much. We hope that furry, little Moe, made it to you last week in time for your birthday today. He missed you a lot, too. We love you always.

Sponsors make it possible!

Our Twilight Walkers and our sponsors mean the world to us. It takes a lot of effort, time and ideas to make something like this happen every year. We are 100% volunteer; this is what we all do because we care enough about really, truly making a difference. And the thing is ... we are. We are doing something and that is a 1,000,000% more than doing nothing. We've just sped up the research and shaved time off the wait for a cure. You, your friends, your family, your co-workers, your businesses—you've made the world a better place.

Bishop Carroll High School

To have such a beautiful facility so centrally located is a true blessing for this event and for the foundation. Thank you, BCHS, for making this annual event possible!!

It's really important for companies that turn into corporations to keep a sense of humanity. Pratt certainly does that each year with their much-need sponsorships!

One of the most difficult tasks for any event is getting the word out. We are so grateful to KZSN for their help to spread the word!

We love Bill! He's a wonderful person who has been a true gift to the Twilight Walk each year. If you need someone talented and kind to make the most of your party music, Bill is the one!

We are deeply indebted to Kruse Corp. and the talented Danny Schneider for the stunning Kyrie Foundation grill. Think of them as you dig into a burger or hotdog that night!

We're so happy to have Materials Girls Quilt Shoppe as a new 2011 official sponsor! There is love and creativity put into every stitch of this fabulous fabric venue.

So happy to have Wire-Rite in our camp! And we've heard other business appreciate their good work as well.

Pepsi has made it possible to hydrate hundred and hundreds of Kyrie Foundation supporters over the years. And, of course, the great run we had last fall for the Pepsi Refresh Project!

We've received so many compliments on our volunteers' grillin' skillz, but we're happy to share the love with Cargill, the business that makes it possible to grill anything at all!

This year will be the year I will finally get my time in the massage therapy chair! A round of applause for all the muscles that will be relaxed thanks to Heritage College massage therapy students.

With energy costs climbing and climbing, it's good to know that there's a good company that can help ... and they also care enough to help children and families by sponsoring this year's walk!

New this year! The great people Firefly yoga studio helped sponsor this year's walk and selected the Kyrie Foundation as the beneficiary of their fundraising runway event!

Kirk & Becky Rundle Family

How humbled we are when a family sponsors an event to help other families. A true testament to support and togetherness, huge thanks Rundle family!

What a consistent source of support Art's & Mary's has been to the Kyrie Foundation! We love that these crunchy tater chips are all natural, so when you have a choice for a family snack, this is the one!

 Wonderful thanks to the Brad Woody Agency of American Family Insurance! We, too, believe that families need to be protected from calamity. Thank you, Brad Woody Agency!

Fantastic new sponsor this year! Keeping things cool in the summer and warm in the winter, just how families should be. Thanks, Midwest Mechanical!

If you're looking for a nice place to take a rest, look no further than the Mattress Hub! Supporting the Twilight Walk for years now, we are thrilled to have them as a sponsor this year.

 Once again Rubbermaid has generously donated items that make family life more organized ... and easy to clean! We are so grateful to have them sponsor the Twilight Walk in ways that we could never do by ourselves.

From farm families to your family, we are grateful to Farmland for supplying grillables for the big event. Thank you so much, Farmland!

What wonderful event supplies and a super-fantastic gift package donated by Coleman! We are so grateful for their generosity.

We love it that such a popular place for family fun support keeping families together. Big thanks to West Acres for supporting healthy little brains!

It's so exciting when businesses "get it," when they realize what it is that we're trying to do and help in whatever why they can. Thank you, Best Buy, for your generosity this year!

Jayhawk Oil Supply

We love it when Kansans help Kansans! A big thank you to Jayhawk Oil Supply for their generous sponsorship this year. A true example of why this is called The Heartland.

Asset Insurance Consultants

So grateful to Asset Insurance Consultants, a brand new sponsor for 2011! We agree that all that has value needs extra-special care.

Justin McClure TV

We are profoundly grateful to Justin McClure and his benevolent team for their time and talent donated to make the Kyrie Foundation's first-ever commercial, debuting the night of the Twilight Walk!

And the goodness keeps a'comin'!

So a couple of weeks ago, the readers of CardMaker magazine responded to their September issue Readers Reach Out, and the handmade cards started to roll in. Each day, the postman found creative ways to fit bundles of special cards in the mailbox. Soon the dining room table started looking like this:

And now we have a SLEW of handmade cards to give to families this year!!! Again, we are profoundly moved by this outpouring of support. To know that we are not alone in this fight, this work, this journey, it just means so much. Thank you, CardMaker and your incredible readers!

It's a great Monday to tell someone about the Twilight Walk!

So in about a month, I hope that you and a couple of your favorite people will join me at Bishop Carroll High School for the 4th annual Kyrie Foundation Twilight Walk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you sign up today, you'll register on a page that looks similar to this:

We have been so truly blessed this year to have had so many people offer to help out, say "yes" to sponsorship and decide to take the fundraising challenge. Each year as this event draws near, I think about my favorite part of the event. It's the moment when the balloons are drifting away in the sky, shrinking before our eye, and the music strikes a cadence that begins the first lap. I am awestruck and gobsmacked at the sight of so many people decided to spend their Saturday evening helping families they've never met, hopefully fighting a disease they've never had to see. Amazing to me.

We're going to post later this week about some of the exciting stuff that has been developing for this year's walk, but today, today, we'd love for you to invite just one other person to join you that night. The more the merrier, and the faster we get to a cure!

Let the count up begin

This seems a bit backwards, I realize.  But I thought it quite clever when thinking about what we as the Kyrie Foundation are trying to do. 

We have a goal.  We are trying to raise money to fund research to cure the number one cancer killer in children. 

Anyone who has children...
Anyone who loves children...
Anyone who has ever been touched by the life of a child...

This should mean something to you.

Pediatric Brain cancer takes the lives of more and more children each year.  The first time we walked for Kyrie...we walked nine laps.  We walked nine laps to represent the nine children that were diagnosed each day in the United States with this awful disease. 

Last year...we walked ten laps.

This money...that funds the research...that will hopefully cure this disease is more important now than it has ever been.  Children cannot fight for themselves.  We have to do this for them.  Families in the thick of their struggles cannot fight this alone.  We have to do our part to help them. 

So instead of counting down the 44 days that we have left until the 4th Annual Twilight Walk begins...we are going to count up.

We are going to count up with each dollar that is donated.  We have a website that allows you to make a pledge.  You don't have to get out of your chair.  You don't have to leave your house.  You just make your donation and count up with us. 

And know that with each click of your mouse...with every letter that is typed...you ARE making a difference in the lives of these children...and in the lives of their families.

So what say you? 

http://kyriefoundation.dojiggy.com/

Share this website with your family and friends and watch as one person leads to another that leads to another.  You'll quickly see that together...we can make a difference!

We can do this...together. 

Go Kyrie Go!

Amy

Wowwie-wow-wow!

An emphatic "THANK YOU" to all of the incredible Card Maker Magazine readers who have responded SO generously to their Fall 2011 issue of Readers Reach Out column.

The Kyrie Foundation was fortunate enough to be included in this issue's column, and consequently, we now have beeee-autifully handmade thank you cards to give our hospital families to use for their own needs.

Can you believe this!!!!???!!

We are in awe over the packages that are pouring in from Alabama, Oregon, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Virginia, West Virginia, Iowa, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, Florida, Tennessee ... INCREDIBLE!

When a family is in need, so often does the community of friends and family respond with casseroles, child care, visits, lawn care, prayers, donations—you name it. And in turn, families want to acknowledge those acts of kindness with thank you notes, but are often confined to the hospital. You, dear Card Maker readers, have completed this do-good circle by offering something so special held within the fold of each card. You have supplied something meaningful in order to convey what kindnesses have meant to them. They will give what you gave. Isn't that miraculous?

So, again, thank you so much for this extra-special way of supporting the cause and offering your talent with such generosity. AMAZING!

Behind the Scenes

Planning for the big 2011 Twilight Walk is well underway! Things are shaping up to be even bigger and better than ever!

And if you or your company would like to become a 2011 Twilight Walk sponsor at the bronze, silver or gold level, please contact Jordan Thome, jordan@kyriefoundation.org.

If you'd like to donate an item to the 2011 Twilight Walk silent auction, please contact Amy Nelson, amy@kyriefoundation.org.

If you'd like to volunteer to help us at the event, please contact Wendy Wilkinson, wendy@kyriefoundation.org.

So exciting to see how the cure will happen. It starts with you and me just deciding to DO SOMETHING!!!