Just Plain Good People.

So we have been blessed with some fundraiser opportunities from some just plain good people wanting to help us get Samantha stem cell treatments and therapy to hopefully help her gain strength and be able to walk on her own.  These are people who didn't really know us, or didn't know us at all, they just felt it in their heart to do something for Samantha! First we had a BBQ back on March 10, 2012. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately :( But it was a great turnout and raised $9,000! Wow! Samantha was in several newspapers in our surrounding area. We had a great response from readers , some mailed donations and some took on their own fundraisers to help out Sam. Personal Trainer Frank is holding his own fundraiser at his gym Outtabox Personal Training, you can read about it here . 

Also, she is called "The Cake Lady " by locals who go into a local BP gas station. Wanda read Sam's story in the Denver Weekly also and decided to do what she does best and bake cakes to raise money for Samantha! I received a card in the mail explaining what her plan was. Her original goal was $400, but she kept having interest in her cakes and her final donation was $3050! She raised that in just 5 weeks! So she invited us to BP and had a small celebration on April 20th, and presented us with the check. She had made Samantha the last cake , the 108th! She also wrote a poem for Samantha and had gifts for Sam. The audience included customers, kids from the school across the street, men who stocked the products at the gas station who came in often. She had a big sign up for Sammy and just made a big to-do of everything. It was genuinely a great and overwhelming experience.

Wanda is an amazing person, who had no idea who we were and took it upon herself to help. Believe it or not there really are still some good samaritans around.

The following day, we had a S.P.E.A.K. for Sammy Poker Run.  It was great with loud motorcycles & people who played poker while going to different stops and at the final stop the winner was declared. There was a live auction, raffle, and 50/50 drawing. All of this was organized by Marsha, a woman who really just lives a short distance from me, but we didn't really know each other but only of one another.  However , we grew closer in planning this event for Sammy. It's a good thing she knew what she was doing, because, i knew nothing about poker or how to organize an event like this. I must add there really was a baby in a bar just like Sweet Home Alabama, but it was for a good cause! :)   We started out at East Lincoln Fire Department for registration and ended at Twin Oaks.

This is Nana, one of our volunteers for the poker run. We had
many more who volunteered for this event.

Clint riding Sammy around

The final stop was where we had the silent auction and drawings.

Sammy drew all of the raffle ticket winners and the 50/50 drawing winner.

The auctioneer J.W. and Marsha modeling the Jack Daniels race car hood
waiting for the highest bidder!

We raised close to 5 grand at the poker run event!

Last but not least , we had a Yardale Fundraiser on April 28, which i don't have pics for either, but we had a great turnout for it also! Thanks to everyone who managed all of these fundraisers and took them on. Also, thanks to all of the volunteers!  It means a whole lot to us and we can't wait until we get to get Samantha her treatments. We have gained many new friends and supporters as we begin our journey. We have a few more fundraisers lined up for this summer that i will announce when we get all of the details together.

Thanks for reading.