Thanks for the thoughts

...for all of you who have read my post on Sonya, visited the ChipIn page or seen my notes on Facebook about her and have expressed your well wishes...thank you. I plan to head up and see Sonya very soon and I will pass along all of your good energy.

Thank you Deb Huffman for donating! You are a bright star, and you were the first to step up to the plate and put your money where your heart is.

You can read some of the story here or you can watch.
This aired on CBS last week.



It's pretty amazing what people can do, and it's wonderful for Son, Jeff and the kids to have their house! BUT there is so much more struggle ahead. I want these kids, who will grow up in Oldtown, Maine, (loving and hating its smallness at times) to know that they can further their education and dream big dreams even in small towns, even in the face of struggle.

Please help me start their scholarship fund, donate what you can today.

I need your help to help others

This is personal. My younger cousin Sonya has four young children and she has late stage breast cancer.

I grew up hanging out at her childhood home on the lake in Maine during summer vacations. Down stairs you'd find us drinking Tab and singing to Kool & The Gang - (Joanna), Dexys Midnight Runners (Come on Eileen) and of course we did our share of Blondie and Rick Springfield among many others. We both were so going to famous one day. :o)

Sonya and I have another thing in common, both our moms have survived breast cancer. My Aunt Rita got to set the example by going first. Rita is about as strong as any woman I've ever known; she made her way through the challenge with little complaint and lots of humor. My Mom was diagnosed several years after her sister and followed the example well. Mom and Auntie have been cancer free for years now, so when I learned that Sonya was diagnosed I wasn't completely surprised. Cancer is not a stranger to us.

Sonya was diagnosed while her last child was still in diapers. She has been fighting breast cancer for the past few years now and she's just not catching any breaks. If motherhood wasn't hard enough, she's got to pack in as much mothering as she can into every moment because she has to. I'm a mom too, and I know she worries.

The local paper and TV news have run a story about her this past Mother's Day, some folks have come together to help her family get a home. Please take a moment to meet her and to hear her story. Then contribute to my fundraiser for Sonya - I have set a goal of $400,000.00 that I hope to attain in four rounds of fundraising. Ultimately that's 100K for each of her four kids - so that she and her husband wont have to worry about their education amongst all the other financial burdens they are facing. I want to/need to do this soon, so my goal date for the first round ($100K) is my birthday. For my birthday this year I want to fund four $25k scholarships and provide a little peace of mind, I hope that you will help.

Meet Sonya
The last quarter of the video on this link has an interview with Sonya.

Other ways to help
Check out Sonya's page on ChipIn.