'Cause it's a good cause

I just sent off my order form for this t-shirt from The Parker Reese Foundation (PRF):



Jes and Ashley lost their precious Parker to CDH and started a foundation in her honor. In three short years they have done amazing things, one of which is having a whole house/property for CDH families to live while they have a baby in the NICU at Duke or UNC Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Parker's House is free of charge for families needing to use the facility and provides families a real home to stay in during a very stressful time. For $16 these t-shirts pay for one night--what a deal. I got one for me and one for Leah; her picture hangs at Parker's House. We were grateful to have the Rainbow House to stay at during our stay at Children's in Omaha, but it was not a "real" house like Parker's House. How awesome would it be to have a facility like Parker's House near every hospital serving CDH babies. My hope is to wear it in some 5K races I want to run so the people behind me can read about CDH. (Hopefully there will be people behind me--ha! I run pretty slow) The deadline for ordering is May 31st and for more info contact Jes at info@theparkerreesefoundation.com. Now if I can get my act together, Leah will be featured at the website listed on the t-shirts. Jes asked me a long time ago--time to get crackin'!

Another great CDH cause is Connor's Books. Connor McLuckie was born 9 years ago on May 15th and lived only 14 hours. His family collects and donates books to a local hospital in his honor every year. Soon after Leah was born I sent in a small donation of books and have every year after. If you remember, Emma's birthday is also May 15th so I always think of Connor as well on that day. Connor has two living sisters (one named Emma) and now has twin baby brothers born earlier this year. We once again sent in books this year, but the real hope for Connor's Books next year is to become a non profit organization. This takes a lot of paperwork and money, so they are trying to reach that goal for Connor's 10th birthday in 2010. His sisters' Girl Scout groups also helped in collecting books this year and they got over 3000 books--WOW!



One more activity I hope to do this summer is Letters for CDH. It is a mass mail campaign to spread awareness of CDH. Maybe you will see some of these CDH kids show up on Oprah or Ellen someday! The person behind the idea is adorable Carter's mom, who happened to be one of the first families who stayed at Parker's House.