Sunday, February 9, 2014

Jaxsen's Fundraiser at the Epiphany Church

Soon after we shared the news of Jaxsen's Leukemia with all of our friends and family, one of my good friends, Kelly Montgomery, told us that she wanted to organize a fundraiser for Jaxsen to help us raise money for his medical bills. We graciously accepted her offer and by the next morning, things were already rolling! 

Her church, Epiphany Lutheran The God is Love Church, agreed to let us use their recreation hall for the fundraiser, free of charge. Kelly's mother, Cindy Fields, agreed to sponsor the event. Before long, we had a DJ and face painter who both agreed to donate their time to the fundraiser. The face painter, Fantasy Artz, even agreed to collect donations for her work, and then give us 100% of the profits. A local company gave us a moon bounce at a discounted price, and friends and family all agreed to donate food or drinks to the event. Each day, we received more and more donations from local businesses for both the raffle and the silent auction. 

My cousin Amber drove down from New Jersey the day before the fundraiser and spent the night so that she could help us prepare for the event. She was a huge help in wrapping baskets for the silent auction, setting up tables, blowing up balloons, and most importantly... keeping me sane! We arrived at the fundraiser on February 9th about an hour before it started and quickly got to work setting it up. Nick, my dad, stepmom, brother, sister, and Kelly's whole family were already there and hard at work.


Right at 3pm, people started flooding in the doors. We didn't even know half the people who came to the event! They were just kind strangers who wanted to support a good cause. We were amazed at the amount of family and friends who came to the event.  I got to see some of my old coworkers, bosses, babysitting families, neighbors, friends of friends, family members from all over, Jax's teachers, and friends from elementary school, middle school, high school, and college. I think it's safe to say that no one has a better support system than Jax!


We spent the majority of the fundraiser catching up with our loved ones. While Nick and I were socializing, my brother, Mike, was making sure everything was running smoothly with the silent auction, my dad, Pat, was selling raffle tickets, my stepmom, Juvy, was collecting and selling tickets at the main door, and my friend's daughter, Izzy, was putting her Girl Scout skills to the test by selling homemade Leukemia ribbon keychains that Nick made.


About an hour and a half into the event, Jaxsen made his grand entrance. He was driven to the hall and ushered in by Nana and Aunt Gail. He wasn't able to attend the entire fundraiser because he couldn't be around large crowds for an extended period of time due to his compromised immune system. As soon as he walked into the hall, he started receiving hugs, handshakes, and high fives from all of his friends and family members. The only thing that Jaxsen was interested in, however, was the meatballs! He had been off the steroids for a few days, so he wasn't as hungry as he once was, but he definitely still had an enormous appetite!


After Jax finished eating, we glanced outside and were surprised to see that it was snowing quite a bit. It was snowing very lightly at the beginning of the fundraiser, but what started as a slight dusting on the ground quickly turned into a few inches. We were worried about the safety of our guests, so we immediately decided to announce the winners of the raffle and silent auction so that everyone could start heading home before the roads got even worse.


Nick, Jaxsen, Amber, and I made our way to the front stage to announce the winners. Nick said a quick hello to everyone and thanked them all for attending the fundraiser. Amber then took over the mic so that Nick, Jax, and I could focus on the raffle. We had Jaxsen choose the winning raffle ticket out of each little basket, which he then gave to Amber so she could announce it. Jaxsen quickly lost interest in this though and decided to run off stage in the middle of the announcements. What a stinker! Thankfully Uncle Mike was there to keep an eye on him while Nick and I were on stage. 


After we were finished announcing the winners, everyone started packing up their belongings and heading out. The snow was really starting to come down and they wanted to get home before it got any worse. We were sad to have to end the fundraiser early, but we wanted our guests to get home safely, so we quickly said our goodbyes and starting cleaning up. Overall, we had a great turnout at the fundraiser and we were thrilled to see a mix of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Jax was surrounded by so much love and kindness that day and we couldn't be more appreciative of everyone's support!
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