BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS. SERIOUSLY!

Yesterday in our home and garage we had a lot of friends and neighbors stop by for a “not a garage sale”.  Garage sales are not allowed in our gated community and since we are not rule breakers (usually), we tried to come up with a clever way to rid ourselves of way too much stuff.  Because there are two families in our community who really could use a financial boost, we put out the word that we wanted to do a fundraiser.  For a donation of $25 those attending could take home some treasures.  The bad news is we still have a lot of treasures that no one wanted.  But there is still hope because some of  the givers who could not attend yesterday’s meeting still have the opportunity to stop by and take home a prize. 

The good news is amazing.  Contributions brought in $2,414.  This was the easiest fundraiser; and all who attended, we believe would agree, thought it a lot of fun.  This week we will be presenting each family a check for $1,207 which should be of some help in paying for the expenses the Burd family recently incurred at the passing of the wonderful young husband/dad who had been in intensive nursing care for 3-1/2 years following a debilitating stroke. The other check for $1,207 will be presented to the family of 15 year old Christian Fox who continues to require intensive in home therapy to learn to walk and talk again. 

Words cannot begin to describe the joy and gratitude we feel for the wonderful support received doing this fun and wacky fundraiser.  It cost us nothing but time and energy.  The generous  hearts of so many are what brought about such incredible results.  We thank God for them and for those who could not attend but prayed for this event.  It is such a blessing to live here, and we love knowing we are surrounded by such caring people!!!

Now we must go back to the drawing board and come up with ways to rid our garage of excess items.  There is an awesome shop in Anthem called Rusty’s Angels that supports senior dogs at their Sanctuary. Because of their limited retail space, they can only accept smaller new and gently used items.  There is also the Salvation Army and their website assures us we can schedule them to do a pick up which will  be great for larger items. We hope this information helps you in thinking about freeing yourselves of “stuff”.  We often think of the verse from Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for  yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up  for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Stay tuned for photos and updates, and have a blessed week!