Individual Thank You's

There's generally a long lag time between when donations come in and when we get our list of donors. Even after we get our next donor list, I don't think we'll ever know all of the people who helped us along the way.

Below is an incomplete and imperfect thank you list. We're leaving off last names, for privacy reasons. I didn't include duplicate names, so a number of these actually count as multiple people. (And sorry if we missed you for some reason!)

Even taking all of that into account, please note the length of the list below...

Thank you:

Abby
Abigail
Aiden
Aimee
Airionna
Alan
Alex
Alexa
Alexis
Allanair
Allen
Alysen
Alyson
Amanda
Amber
Amy
Andie
Andrew
Angel
Angie
Anna
Anthony
Arie
Asher
Ashlee
Ashley
Ashton
Autumn
Barbara
Becky
Ben
Bennett
Billie
Billy
Blake
Bob
Brady
Brandi
Brandon
Breanna
Brenda
Brian
Bridy
Brill
Britta
Brittnay
Brooke
Bryan
Caitlin
Caleb
Cameron
Casey
Catie
Cecil
Chad
Chelsea
Chelsie
Chloe
Christian
Christianna
Christina
Ciarra
Cierra
Cindy
Clark
Cleveland
Clyde
Codi
Cody
Colton
Conner
Connie
Corbin
Courtney
Craig
Cynthia
Dallas
Dalton
Dana
Daniel
Danielle
Darby
Dave
David
Dawson
Debbie
Derrick
Desiree
Destinee
Devin
Diana
Dollison
Donna
Doria
Drew
Eddie
Edson
EJ
Elaine
Elizabeth
Emilee
Emily
Emma
Eric
Erica
Erin
Ethan
Florence
Fred
Garrett
Gavin
George
Glenn
Gracie
Grant
Gregory
Gunner
Hailee
Hailey
Hanna
Hannah
Hayley
Hazel
Heath
Hillary
Hollie
Hunter
Ian
Indigo
Jack
Jacob
Jadid
Jan
Jane
Janice
Jared
Jarrett
Jarrod
Jasmine
Jeannine
Jeff
Jenna
Jennifer
Jessica
Jetta
Jim
Jimmy
Jo Jo
John
Johnny
Jon
Joseph
Joshua
Josie
Joy
Jozie
Judi
Judith
Judy
Julia
Julie
Justin
Kaiden
Kaile
Kaitlyn
Kala
Kalyna
Kamerynn
Kara
Karen
Karla
Karrington
Karson
Karyn
Katie
Kay
Kayce
Kaylie
Keeley
Keith
Kelli
Kelly
Kelsie
Kendra
Kennelly
Kerri
Kevin
Kimberly
Kirstin
Koker
Korri
KP
Kris
Kristen
Krystal
Kyle
Kylee
Kylie
Kyna
Laney
Laura
Laurel
Lauren
Leah
Leslie
Lewis
Lexe
Liam
Libby
Lillee
Lillian
Linda
Lisa
Lizzie
Logan
Logann
Lori
Luke
Lyndsey
Lynn
Mac
Macey
Mackenzie
Maddie
Madison
Makayla
Makia
Makinley
Marci
Marina
Markie
Martha
Marty
Mary
Maryan
Matt
Matthew
Max
McKenzie
Megan
Meghann
Michaela
MiQuel
Miranda
Mitch
Molly
Morgan
Natalie
Nate
Nathan
Nick
Nicole
Olivia
Parker
Pat
Paul
Paulette
Petyn
Peyton
Portia
Rachelle
Ralph
Rebecca
Regan
Rex
Rhiannon
Richard
Rileah
Riley
Rocky
Rose
Ruth
Ryan
Sally
Sam
Samantha
Sandy
Sara
Savanna
Sawyer
Scott
Seth
Shannon
Sharon
Shawnee
Shelby
Shelly
Sierra
Spencer
Stan
Stephanie
Steve
Susan
Suzy
Sydney
Tamara
Tanner
Taylor
Terry
Tessa
Thomas
Tia
Timothy
Tisha
TJ
Tom
Tori
Tracey
Trent
Trenton
Trey
Trinity
Tristen
Ty
Tylan
Tyler
Wade
Wes
Wesley
Whitney
William
Willie
Xander
Zach
Zachary

--

DONE!

As of late this afternoon, we are officially DONE with our 4 Paws Fundraising goal.

Due to a flurry of other people finishing their fundraising just ahead of us, the August and September training classes filled up very quickly. There are no tracking-based classes in October or November (they do mobility dogs, seizure dogs, etc. in some other months), we learned that we are the first members of the December 2009 training class. If for some reason, somebody in one of the earlier classes can't make it or has to reschedule, we could be bumped up to the September class.

To all of you out there who made this happen, we're still not tired of saying, "thank you!"

--

Two more big thank-you's

First we need to thank Pickaway County Hands for Disabled for their wonderfully generous donation.



Second, I need to thank my employer, Epsilon, for their amazing generosity.


And stay tuned for some breaking news in the next few days...

--

Some dog bone photos

Here are a couple pictures of the (literally) thousands of paper bones sold at Amelia's school...

Just to give you a sense of scale, you can see a life-sized Amelia cutout partway down the wall.

These pictures don't even include the big dog house, which was larger than the dog pictured above.

They gave us these big posters to bring home. I've been trying to hang them on the walls of our play room, but it's hard to even fit them. The top of the dog's head touches the ceiling, and his feet still drag on the floor.

My favorite part is seeing all the different names. The careful but crooked lines of a kindergartener, the stylized signatures of older kids, the doodles, the nicknames... Some of the bones say "5 bones" or "10 bones" on them, which I'm sure the people cutting them out were thankful for. I heard bones were selling so fast at one point that some of the teachers were getting blisters from cutting them out.

We also need to say Thank You to the Circleville Herald for the lovely story they put on the front page on December 3rd (or check in your "Shoppers Guide" bag if you don't get the paper). If you're a subscriber, you can see the article here.

--

Craft Bazaar report

We saw some old friends and met some new friends. We talked to a lot of wonderful and generous people and raised a good bit money for 4 Paws. We gave away a lot of free dog treats and people treats as a "Thank You" to our school and our community. We got to say "thanks" in person to some of the people who have helped us so much already. We met Joy the wonder-dog, Alexa the wonder-kid, Ciarra the wonder-sister, and Kristen the wonder-mom. We learned that some wheelchairs have lights on the wheels. We had a couple unplanned wardrobe changes, some broken glasses, a couple naps, and some snacks. We bought some goodies, helped at least one other good cause (the Cure Tays-Sachs Foundation), and our own cause was helped by the awesome Girl Scouts at the table next to us. Amelia and Edson got to play in a big inflatable bouncy castle. Owen got to wow people with his cuteness. Mom and Dad got worn out. And everbody had a good time.



--

A quick note

To everybody who has helped us....

--

Over half way and heading for home!

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful little girl from Amelia's school. She's in first grade. She'd been using her own hard earned money to buy paper dog bones at school for Amelia's fundraiser. If you have kids this age, you know they generally don't bring in a lot of income, so when I found out she had bought eleven bones, I was touched. As usual, I couldn't find anything more eloquent to say than "thank you". But I hope that she and all the other kids at school know what a wonderful thing they're doing.

You may have noticed the big jump in our fundraising total since the beginning of the month. We sure did! (And no, that total does not include the school fundraising money yet.)

This whole process has been surprising on a regular basis. In my mind at least, when I saw our fundraising goal of $13,000, I thought getting it done in a year would be pretty good. And here we are past the halfway point after two short months. And we know of some more donations that aren't included in that total yet, but that'll push us a good bit higher.

Even with the economy looking a little worse every day, people are still giving. Generosity is coming from all over. People giving money, giving time, sharing ideas, offering encouragement, spreading the word. We've gotten plenty of donations from friends and family, but also from organizations and groups and churches... from a Walmart store 30 miles away. From an office services business in another state. From people we don't know. In fact, in some cases, we don't even know where the donations came from at all.

What we thought would happen was that we'd send out letters and emails to family, friends, and co-workers, and we'd get an initial surge of donations. Then we'd contact local businesses and hope to get some more. Then donations would plateau, and we'd have to hope for some media coverage and start organizing fundraising events.

What's actually happened is the opposite. Word has spread. The idea has snowballed. More and more people are getting involved, and the number of donations has increased over time.

We're not really getting big chunks of money from corpoorations or grants or wealthy benefactors. Almost all of our money has come in increments of $20, $50, or $100 - or in paper dog bones by the hundreds.

I hope to get some pictures to share soon.

--

Another Thank You

Our friend Casey of Fields of View Photography is donating all proceeds from the sale of the two photos below to 4 Paws for Ability on behalf of Amelia. You can purchase them here if you're interested. She's also inspired a fundraiser in the online group Big Damn Crafters.





THANK YOU!

--

Our daughter the celebrity

Kids rule. (And so do their parents.)

Last week we went over to the YMCA to collect some money being donated for Amelia. It was so touching to see a couple dozen kids come out together, with their banner and their smiles, to give us the money they themselves had collected. So far. They decided to keep their fundraiser going until we reach our goal.

The kids were apparently eager to meet Amelia, so after some group photos, they surrounded her like she was Miley Cyrus or something. She just smiled and turned around to look at all of them, not sure what to make of it. We were so appreciative of the work these kids had done, and they seemed really proud to have helped. And well they should be.

Then tonight I went over to the school with Amelia and Edson for parent-teacher conferences while Lori stayed home with sick baby Owen.

As mentioned previously, Westfall Elementary also set up a fundraiser for Amelia. Edson came home from kindergarten the Friday before last and said "Amelia was on TV at school today." Apparently they had her appear on their closed-circuit morning school "news broadcast," explaining to the kids about the fundraiser. They also sent home a flyer with all the students, telling them to save their quarters. They made a huge drawing of a dog, and for 50 cents, kids could buy paper dog bones and stick them on the dog picture.

Tonight I got to see the famous dog picture. It's about four feet high and six feet long. And completely covered in bones. They are overlapping and spilling out around the edges. They told me it took just two days to fill. So they added a huge dog house, probably six feet by seven feet. Also completely covered. And a huge dog dish. And a huge ball. Covered. They even traced Amelia herself and made a big cutout of her, with a flowered shirt and a photocopied head, holding some bones in her hand. So adorable. They told me they won't cover her up though. :-)

And that's not all. Everybody I ran into had something more to share. Amelia's preschool teacher showed me a note from one of the parents of a classmate. This little preschooler had donated his entire allowance to help Amelia. Another teacher told me they were thinking of expanding the fundraiser to the middle school. Someone else told me the total was over $1400 in just one week. Another teacher commented that some students were asking really great questions and having really good discussions about things like disabilities and service dogs as a result.

The preschool teacher in the room across the hall from Amelia's was telling me that kids are starting to recognize her around the school, saying "hi" and interacting with her. As if to confirm her comments, just after that, a little girl, probably four, came up to her and said, "Hi Amelia! Do you want to play with me?" We heard several parents walking past saying, "Is that Amelia" or kids saying, "There she is!" And greetings everywhere we turned. I remember when I was in elementary school, the special needs kids were often shunned, mocked, teased, or even feared. It was amazing to see such a contrast.

I don't know if any YMCA participants or Westfall Elementary students or parents or teachers are reading this, but if you are, THANK YOU! I couldn't even properly express my gratitude to all these people tonight for fear of getting choked up. After we left, I couldn't wait the ten minutes it would take to drive home, so I called Lori from the parking lot. Only it didn't make for a very coherent story, because I could barely get the words out.

--

THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who has helped us on this journey. Every time I try to say something eloquent about how much it means to us, the words come up short.

Out of respect for privacy, we won't thank individual donors here, but you know who you are.

We'd also like to thank the following companies, organizations, and groups:
(Updated regularly)

Helping Hands Pediatrics

Pickaway Hands for Disabled

Grace Church of Circleville

Fields of View Photography

Big Damn Crafters

Westfall Elementary School


YMCA of Central Ohio and Pickaway County YMCA


Westfall Elementary Parent Teacher Community


Your Office Annex


Acock Associates Architects

--