Prizing Update

I've finally added some new prizes to the list and hope to add a few more within the next week. A wonderful friend of Tomato Nation donated a pair of knitted, beaded fingerless gloves which I'm very excited about and I made some bracelets for 7 very lucky winners, that look like this:

See all the new additions here in the prizing page.

George Mark House fact of the day #1

Today marks the official start of this little contest of mine. I just want to take a moment and thank everyone whose participated so far. Right now, the official total stands at $25. If you want to make me do the truffle shuffle and FILM it (I mean, I do the truffle shuffle a lot, there's never been videotape proof though), we're shooting for 1,000, so get those jars going and scrounge that loose change!

In the mean time, I thought I'd post little facts and tidbits about George Mark House that make it great, unique and center worth your money and energy.

Fact #1

George Mark House is the only palliative pediatric care house in the nation that helps children with life-limiting illnesses. There are upwards of 40 houses like George Mark House in the U.K, but there's only one in the United States and that's George Mark House. And right now it's doors are closed, so the US doesn't even have that. We have a responsibility to kids like my son to ensure that they do have something like this available. Let's think of the kids.

Piggy Bank Prizing and Administration Notes

There seems to be some really great momentum to this little contest of mine, I just want to outline some rules and regulations for the Contest. I’d like to officially start the contest on September 1st, lasting the whole month of September, but if you’ve already donated, don’t worry about it. Just send me the receipt of your donation to George Mark and that is your entry into the contest.

The contest will end at Midnight on September 30th. Make sure you’ve sent me your donations/receipts before that date to be entered into the contest. I’m more than willing to take donations myself and send them to George Mark but to make sure you get the tax exemption for the donation, you’re better off donating to George Mark itself. You can donate right on their website and they should provide an e-mail confirmation. Just send that to me via my e-mail address (tyliagardner at hotmail dot com). If you’re having trouble donating/getting a confirmation, let me know and I’ll see what I can’t work out.

I’ll select winners at random once the contest concludes and you’ll be notified by e-mail as to your prize. I’ll start e-mail notification on October 5th, so keep your eyes peeled to your e-mails.

If you’ve donated to George Mark but don’t want to be part of the contest itself, at least send me an e-mail and keep me informed of the donation. I’m keeping a tally of how much we raise. If we can raise $1,000 by the end of the month, I’ll reenact Chunk’s Monologue from the Goonies (You know the one I'm talking about!). $2,000 and I’ll add Chunk’s Truffle Shuffle to the list. If we go higher, I’ll add to that but it will be TBD. And if we are somehow able to earn 5,000, I’ll go for broke.

And again, if you don’t want to donate to George Mark itself, feel free to donate a prize. Any prize, or little token of your thoughtfulness that we can give out would be much appreciated. Knitted hats, quilts, the promise of baked goods, anything would be appreciated. I’ll take any kind of little prize or giveaway.

Much more important to me though is just getting the word out. Please post this on your blog, facebook page, twitter account, or any other social networking site you use. Please e-mail anyone you can think of. I want as many people as possible to know about George Mark House and the good it does for families who have children with life-limiting illnesses. A goal George Mark House has for itself is that they’d like to see several houses like it spring up in metropolitan areas around the country, but they can’t do that if they can’t open their doors and keep them open. So just tell people about George Mark House and the service it provides.

O.k., I’m off my soap box. Now, on with the important stuff.


Prizes

The prizes I have going on right now are:

A rosary using my grandmother’s beads made by me
A homemade necklace made to the winner’s liking
A homemade pair or earrings made to the winner’s liking
A homemade bracelet made to the winner’s liking
A piece of broken jewelry repaired – just send it to me and I’ll try my best and fix it.

One of seven U HOPE bracelets, made by me - The Bracelets all have leather string with letter beads spelling out U HOPE, with a unique blue bead between the U and HOPE. U was my son's first initial. The blue bead represents his beautiful blue eyes. HOPE is something we should all have in our lives. See pictures attached at end of post. I've attached seven pictures but one of those bad boys is earmarked for Sars, and as soon as she tells me which one she wants, I'll take it's picture off the website. [Ed. Notes; Sars has claimed one and now its taken off the website. Thanks for everything Sars!]

A batch of my mother’s wonderful homemade sugar cookies

One pair of lovely knitted and beaded fingerless gloves in red courtesy of Resa S. The gloves will be knitted similar to the ones pictured here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goblinqueenie/3293652183/in/set-72157604047712581/ See also the tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/25fdd7v

That’s all for now, but there will be more to come. There might be a homemade baby quilt from my mother and a jar of my aunt Claire’s famous Nana Jam added to the prizing. And trust me, you’re going to want the Nana Jam. Made from the finest vine ripened wild raspberries my uncle Merle can pick and sweetened to perfection by my Aunt Clair, it is gold in a jar. I’ve seen blood feuds started over her Nana Jam. I’ve heard curses muttered under breaths and the worst stink eye administered to those lucky enough to receive a jar, so be on the lookout for that. I may also get some gift cards to sweeten the deal. Again, let me know if you want to add to the prizing or have anything to add. Keep it glued here for any contest or fundraising efforts. I hope this really gets some momentum going.

Without further ado, here's the picture of the bracelets I mentioned.

Sister Bernice's Rosary

In the two years that Ukiah was put on this earth, he's given me the opportunity to meet some truly interesting and amazing people. There are people that I consider good friends that I would have never met if it wasn't for Ukiah. One such person is Sister Bernice. She is the chaplain at Children's Hospital Oakland and she has known us since the very beginning of Ukiah's life. She was in Ukiah's life from his first day and was one of the first people I called the day after we lost Ukiah. She was kind enough to lead the service at Ukiah's celebration of life and she's just been the kindest soul we could have ever hoped to meet. She's been there at every hospital visit with kind words and gentle hugs and she has offered that she will continue to be there even now that Ukiah is gone. She's one of those special people and I'll never forget her.

She also reminds me of my grandmother. Maybe it's the hugs she gives, or her steadfast faith and strength amidst all the adversity she encounters and sees. It's hard for me to say for sure. It was partially because of my grandmother and partially because she had proven herself to be someone we could rely on but I decided to give her one of my rosaries. I ran it passed my mother first, and because she had met Sister Bernice, my mother heartily agreed that it was a good idea.

After the service I pulled Sister Bernice aside and told her the family's story. I told her about my grandmother and the impact she had on my life. I told her about my uncles and the tragedy we endured. I told her the important role my grandmother played in getting us to survive the tragedy. I told her about my Aunt Jan and the role the rosary played at the end of her life. I told her how I was attempting to make one for every member of my family. I told her all this and gave her the rosary. I told her that after everything, she was officially family. She held it tightly in her hands and told me she'd treasure it forever. She said it was ever more perfect that I'd given her the blue one. Blue was her favorite color after all.

Thanks to Ukiah, this wonderful woman came into my life, and because of Ukiah, I'll never forget her. She's family now and because she now has one of the rosaries, now she knows it.