8th Annual Blood Drive and Bake Sale

Our 8th Annual Blood Drive and Bake Sale in honor of Colby was on Saturday, February 20, and it was a big success!  From the moment the doors opened, we had a gym full of people dropping off baked goods, buying baked goods, donating blood, kids playing, and friends just hanging out socializing.  This is exactly what we want this event to be...a big celebration!  It is not only a celebration of Colby's current health, but it is a celebration of the friendships that God has blessed us with through the years. 

The Red Cross stayed busy all day.  Between 9 am and 2 pm, we signed in 90 people wanting to give blood.  There were several deferred for various reasons and a few that were QNS (quantity not sufficient), but the Red Cross was still able to collect 76 productive units of blood.  This will help to possibly save the lives of 228 people!!! 

The Bake Sale also stayed busy, and I was so thankful to have Brody step up and take charge of it this year.  He worked the entire time and loved every minute of it.  I had several people tell me that he is a pretty good little salesman.  When I asked him about it, his response was, "just trying to make as much money for CHD research as we can."  I love his heart and his eagerness to help!  The Bake Sale made about $2,000, and this is the first year we have ever sold out of baked goods.  It was definitely a success!

We've had several people mention that they would still like to make a donation, so we will wait another week or two before sending the money in to the hospital.  If you would like to make a donation, please make checks payable to "Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt," and write "CHD Research" on the memo line.  Contact me if you need our address.

3/9/16 - We mailed the final donation of $3,002.  We are happy that the CHD efforts at Vanderbilt will now have this additional funding in honor of Colby.  Thank you to everyone who contributed!  We truly appreciate your generosity!

The Blood Drive and Bake Sale would not be as fun for the kids without the large bounce house and spin art machine provided by Leap Into Fun.  We cannot thank the Thompsons enough for their generosity and support with this event again this year.  If you ever need anything for a party or event, you should definitely consider using Leap Into Fun...http://www.leapintofun.com/index.html.

We also want to thank Ashley Robinson, Emma Holdren, and Abby Holdren for supervising the Spin Art machine throughout the day.  You girls were awesome!

As always, we are overwhelmed by the support for this event.  God has blessed our family in so many ways, and we are very thankful for this opportunity to give back.  Our prayer is that through this event, lives will be saved and CHD research will continue.  Thank you to everyone involved...you are all heroes!

As the boys let these balloons fly into the sky, they both said, "thank you God for everything!"  I couldn't agree more!!  This event always makes me overflow with thankfulness.