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!!!

And they lived...

We have talked lately about Kyrie's story.  Sharing it...being a part of it...and doing good because of it. 

This story is not a fairytale.

A little girl...completely healthy...lost her life to cancer.

This story is not a fairytale.

Her parents were given very little information about the cancer that had taken over her little body.

The Doctors said there was nothing more they could do.

She was cared for and loved right up to Heaven.

At that moment...there was no hope.  No happily ever after.

Then there was an idea.

What if...we used Kyrie's story to do good?  What if we used Kyrie's story to make sure this doesn't happen to other families?  What if we selflessly take our pain and use it to prevent someone else's pain?  What if we tell Kyrie's story and encourage people to donate to our cause?

What if...we took every dollar that we earned and turned it into research?  What if we did exactly what we told people we were doing?  What if we create fundraising events to remember Kyrie and to tell her story?  What if we allow others to share their ideas and to help us tell this story?

What if...we make a difference?

This is not a fairytale.  But if it was...we'd want this story to end with...

And They Lived

The happily ever after part is important.  But the key words at the end of our story will be...

And They Lived.  The 11 children that are diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer every, single day.  We want them to live.  So we fight.  We tell the story to make a difference.  We take steps on this journey just hoping that we'll be joined by others that want to walk with us.

Thank you for joining us in this fight against pediatric brain cancer.  Thank you for helping us tell the story.  Thank you for helping us make a difference.  Every single step that we take in this journey is relevant.  Thank you for walking with us.

A very special thank you to Jeff Ellis, Christi Tannahill and the Hawker Beechcraft crew for putting on a spectacular golf tournament that benefited the Kyrie Foundation.  (More information on this to follow)  You made a difference beyond what we could imagine.  THANK YOU!!!

Go Kyrie Go!
Amy

Be Grateful

If there is anything that we are here at the Kyrie Foundation, it is grateful.  Beyond words.

As I think back to all of the fundraisers we've either done or helped with, I can't begin to tell you how very grateful we are. 

We as a board meet and we plan.  We plan and we meet.  We email, text and make constant phone calls checking in with one another. 

Yet, in all of our meetings, never can we predict or plan the success of an event.  Because the success is not measured on dollars raised alone.

No...our success is measured by number of people who are touched by Kyrie's story.  Touched enough to make a difference.  Touched enough to do good in Kyrie's name.  Touched enough to tell others her story.  Touched enough to donate to a worthy cause.  And touched enough to change their lives.

It happens every single time I put on my Kyrie Foundation shirt.  It is amazing to watch people hear the story of Kyrie for the first time.  It is moving to watch people look at Kyrie's picture boards...the ones that sit on the tables at all of our events.  They sit there...reminding us why we fight so hard for the exposure of this story.  We fight because she could not.  We fight for other children who can't fight for themselves.  And every time someone steps up to help...

WE ARE GRATEFUL. 

No matter what. 

The money helps us to do exactly what we set out to do.  That is why we plan and we meet...and we meet and we plan.  The money that is donated goes directly to the cause that we fight for.  But it is so much more than the money.  The money helps with research.  Research helps in finding a cure.  That is what we are here to do.  But it isn't just about the money.  It is about so much more.   

So to all of you who have stepped up to help the Kyrie Foundation...

THANK YOU.

Thank you for the third party fundraisers.  Thank you for volunteering.  Thank you for the exposure.  Thank you for telling the story.  Thank you for believing in this cause. 

THANK YOU...FOR REMEMBERING KYRIE.

Go Kyrie Go! <3
Amy