Another Great Birthday in the Books

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL 2019

Michael's Really Big Cheque, Showing Off A Bracelet and His Certificate

As another birthday came and left I am pleased beyond measure that Michael has had the tenacity and dedication to stick with his goal of raising money for Children's Charities. This year marks 3 years of fundraising by making and selling bracelets. 

Whenever I get bogged down in my daily life; by my commitments to my career and the daily grind of housework, dirty dishes, meal preps and laundry (sooo much laundry! Seriously, does it self-replicate like some sort of cotton amoeba?) Michael is there to remind me that there are people out there who are so much less fortunate.  Each year his emotional maturity surprises me. He has a real depth of character that I feel (unfortunately) is a direct result from all of the heart ache and tragedy he has already had to face in his short life. The three of us live by a motto in our little house: everything in life is a choice. While we can't always dictate what will happen in our lives, we always have the choice to control how we respond. 

Michael's big brother David has only been gone for 2 1/2 years, but it is the 3rd birthday we have had to "celebrate" without him.  This August, which would have been David's 23rd birthday, we brought cupcakes to the police officers and a GIANT cake to the local fire station. Being a diabetic, I don't often taste the treats that we make, but I'm pretty sure that those firefighters had their sweet tooth sated for at least the next five years! And speaking of five years! I did the math... There were so many of you lovely people who contributed to our Go-Fund-Me (the reason that we bring treats to the fire fighters and police officers in the first place), that if we bring a treat every month, we will not be finished "paying it forward" for another five (5) years!  So a round of applause to all of you and a giant **THANK YOU EVERYONE!** Our hears are forever grateful for wonderful friends (near and far) and family like you.  

Blue Hearts for the Police Officers

Special Thank Yous and Easter Eggs

A GIANT BUCKET O' BEADS!!

Large Bucket of Beads from Jennifer Docka Kirton

In my last blog post update, I made an appeal for beads and WOW was that call answered in a BIG way! I am humbled and touched by the generosity of those I'm proud to call friends and family.

The first person to respond was Marsha Williams. The look on Michael's face when he received the package was priceless. We are having a lot of fun figuring out how to use the tools and metal to make different types of bracelets. (More "adult" or grown-up bracelets!)

Next a large box was dropped off. I was not expecting it, so it came as quite a pleasant surprise to see that it was from Michael's Aunt Jenn from the US! I don't mind admitting she had me an ugly crying over the touching letter. I held it together long enough to let Michael open the box and take out the gigantic BUCKET of beads! We'll have enough beads for a thousand bracelets now! (Okay, I may like to exaggerate a bit at times, but it is not an exaggeration about how touched I am by the amazing gifts we have received. We are very blessed to have such amazing people in our lives).

For Family Day we made chocolate chip cookies for our police department. There have been some cuts to our police force unfortunately, which means that our local precinct has been combined with 2 others to make one larger one. Also, it means that the precinct that was responsible for helping us the day that David died, is no longer open to the public. We are now in the process of making a new relationship with the only division that is open to the public in our area. It has been emotionally draining to re-explain what we are doing and why, but now, more than ever, the police force needs our support and our yummy treats too!

Michael's sister drew this lovely picture

This Easter weekend, we also thought it would be good to deliver treats to our police officers. We brought cherry tarts and Easter egg shaped brownies to 55 Division. Having learnt from last time, I tried to make flat foods to slide through the window to the officers at this new division (which wasn't an issue at 54 Division).

In other news, Michael continues in his altruistic endeavours. He has recently been asked by his friend "M" who suffers from selective mutism, to attend his social worker visits with him. I couldn't be more proud or feel more privileged to be Michael's mom.

Easter Egg Brownies

Marsha Williams' Beads

Happy Martin Luther King Day - Michael Helps Kids Turns Two!

Today marks the 2 year anniversary from when Michael decided he wanted to do something - anything - to make a difference in this world. After reading a story about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Michael was inspired to help his fellow humans. He didn't have a firm grasp on what he wanted to do yet. After all, he was six years old.(I'm 44 for crying out loud and I still don't have a firm grasp on what I want to do yet either... um... but I digress.)  As I was saying... Michael just knew that he wanted to help. We kicked around a few ideas. Eventually he decided he wanted to help kids, being that he is a kid, that made sense to me. As we chatted to try to figure out an organization to help I asked him, "okay, but how do we raise the money?" And he came up with the idea of making bracelets and selling them. And the rest is history.


At first, I have to be honest, I thought, "Who is going to actually buy bracelets from us?" I mean, I know I'm of the female persuasion, but I had never actually made a real bracelet before. Admittedly, our early bracelets were not great. But people bought them. And then more people them and then the police got in on the action, and now Michael's teacher and librarian and his classmates have even bought some. Before the school year began we had raised a whopping $200!  T
hat is quite a pretty penny for selling $2 bracelets.

As we continued to discuss different options and ideas, we finally decided to donate the money to Sick Kids... it seemed the best way to reach the most children all at once.  I wanted to make the day special for Michael, so I decided that we would gather up all the cash and bring it down to The Hospital for Sick Children on Michael's 8th birthday. (Then we went to Canada's Wonderland, saw some dinosaurs and ate a lot of ice cream... but again, I digress).

At Sick Kids Michael was given one of those novelty cheques to hold onto. OMG - Michael couldn't have been happier! The cheque was as tall as he was standing up! Also, I didn't realise that we could make a donation to a specific department or campaign at Sick Kids. Michael, being ever so brilliant, decided to donate the money in memory of his big brother David to the Sick Kids VS campaign. This way it will distributed to where the hospital needs it most.

http://www.sickkids.ca/index.html

We are already hard at work making more bracelets and selling them for next year's birthday drop off! We are also thinking of hosting a fundraising party at some point in the Spring.

Hopefully I will update this blog more than once every six months, but I also hope that you will all understand and forgive me if the updates are few and far between. Rest assured, there is always a lot of work going on behind the scenes.