Facebook and Fundraisers

           I’m the last person to ask for help on anything.  You can ask the people I work with or my family.  They get frustrated because they are some of the most caring people in the world and when they ask I just give them the “I’m ok, we will be fine.”  That’s just how I have always been.  My parents raised me to take care of my situation because they always did.  You find a way to make it work and just do it.  It isn’t that I can’t ask for help, I just don’t. I’ve always been on the other side of these things.  I’ve always been the one showing up to mow yards, take out the trash, put money in an envelope, or especially delivering Mama’s food.  Brit would sign me up for the craziest shit you have ever heard of and pick me up in the van with no time for me even to ask “what am I doing now?”  I always wondered why? Of course I would have rather been riding my bike over on Oak Hills or playing basketball, but somebody needed help and that’s just what you did.  Brit and my parents exposed me to all sorts of situations that at the time I didn’t get it, but now I see the importance of what I was doing.

I never thought about being on this side of it all.  Now that I am, I see it from a totally different perspective that isn’t exactly overwhelming, but I don’t have enough time to thank each person for what it truly means to me.

Facebook brings people out of the woodwork.  Usually I mindlessly scroll through Facebook looking at stupid comments on My Greeneville, who has baby Daddy drama, and my favorite Jason and James Horne posts.  I rarely give any attention in my life to what is on Facebook after I close the app.  I really can’t stand scrolling through there more than a couple times a day.  Just ask Ellen, I usually make fun of her for looking at the same stupid stories and creeping comments for the 20^th time that day.  Lately that has changed.  Facebook was originally made to connect people, and lately that has done more than connect, it has brought people together for a greater good.  Through Penelope’s Path, almost 52,000 people saw her story.  That blows my mind.  For even a split second, my little girl was on the minds of 50,000 people.  Over 1200 people changed their profile pic to purple.  Just for one little girl and one little family.  So now instead of mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, it gives me a purpose and reason.  To hear I love you from someone in my past, to hear that Sweet P is beautiful, to hear that they care, helps me stay sane.  That 10 seconds it takes to write a status or a comment to one of her posts brings 10 seconds that I can’t be upset.  So even if I don’t comment or respond, I promise you I see it.  It might be at 2am when I can’t sleep, but sometimes that’s the best time.

Fundraisers are another story.  What has been raised for my family and for research has been overwhelming.  Through Tshirts, bracelets, and just simply donations have made one aspect of this life we live for lack of better words, better.  I can’t even begin to thank those that have donated or wear a tshirt with Penelope’s name on it.  It isn’t just money.  It isn’t a number in an account or a cash register.  It is a plane ticket for a sister in law to come be with her sister and niece that is needed more than she knows.  It is a hotel room 1 block away from St. Jude’s that an Aura and Pop can stay for a couple nights and be close to a little girl that means more to them than anything.  It is a meal that family can sit together and be happy in the moment over some pretty incredible barbeque.  It isn’t a check that goes into the bank, but a cup of Dip N Dots that P gets to try on a trip to the zoo with the Ritchey’s.  It’s part of a plan for a room at the beach for a night so P can feel the ocean breeze and her Mama can carry her into the ocean with a smile on her face while her Daddy takes blurry pictures because he is too in the moment to focus.

 Your donation to a research project at St. Jude’s is even more than that.  It is a family’s peace of mind that behind those doors that say research, somebody is able to try to find a way to make not only their child better, but more after them.  It is a room at the Tri Delta, Ronald McDonald, or Target house for their stay.  It is a bed that although isn’t their own, is a place they don’t have to worry about fixing while sitting in a waiting room.

I don’t even know what amount or where it even all comes from.  I don’t even know some of the people that have changed a profile picture purple or sent a message.  It isn’t about that.  One dollar is more than cents, it is part of a memory.  One profile picture is more than just a few clicks, but part of a movement for healing and support.  Thank you isn’t enough.  That is why we share her pictures, he adventures, her bucket list.  That is why we share the bad news, the struggles, and the hurt.  It is because we are all connected in this.  When things like Facebook and Fundraisers happen, don’t see them as “likes” and dollars.  Measure them in the ways we do; Memories and Opportunity.