My Little Fundraiser
This layout may not look like much – at first – but there’s a powerful story and memories associated with it . . . .
When we were first learning how to navigate life with a disabled child, Dave and I agreed that we would stay one step ahead of Caleb as far as his disease progressed. Meaning, we wouldn’t worry about twenty years down the road, only the next step from where Caleb was. The future for a SMA patient was scary. So many variables and unknowns – wheelchairs, leg braces, pulmonary complications, scoliosis, possible ventilators, feeding tubes . . . and the list went on and on. As I write this, so much has changed – now there are two FDA approved treatments that halt the progression of the disease and patients are much stronger. But back in 2009, we were overwhelmed.
I remember the day so distinctly where we had to give Caleb a reason for why he wasn’t walking. From his four-year-old perspective, he thought it was because Daddy and Mommy just hadn’t taught him yet. Dave patiently explained that his brain wasn’t talking to his muscles. Of course, the next question was, “Why, Daddy?” Then Dave explained that his body was missing a protein. That was a bad choice of words because Caleb knew from conversations around the dinner table that protein was in meat. His little eyes lit up and he said, “I’ll eat more meat, Daddy!” I can still clearly remember the glistening of his eyes and the catch in his throat as Dave explained that it didn’t work that way. I will never forget what he said next, “Caleb, there are doctors working to discover a cure and we are going to raise money to send to the doctors. That’s what we can do to cure SMA. And we are not going to stop until there is a cure.”
That year we held our first Cure SMA 5K / Walk ‘n Roll and we raised $33,000 for Cure SMA. It was an amazing day and for the first time, our whole family felt that we were finally doing something that would help us beat this horrible disease, that just a few years previously we knew nothing about. We felt like we had a new purpose and we were able to unite with other SMA affected families and support and encourage one another as we worked towards a common goal. We made a family goal that we would help raise $1,000,000 for a cure.
Shortly after our second 5k/Walk ‘n Roll, Dave was killed in the line of duty. In lieu of flowers, we asked for memorial contributions be sent to Cure SMA, and over $12,000 was donated. Almost every year around the anniversary of his death, I will get letters saying that memorial contributions have been made in Dave’s name.
A few months after Dave died, I was approached by some of his fellow troopers. Many times, after a trooper dies, they name a 5K or other fundraising venture in that trooper’s memory. They knew Dave was passionate about a cure for Caleb and wanted to see the race renamed in Dave’s honor – so that’s what we did. We kept it going – raising money in memory of Trooper Cunniff. This year will be our 10th annual event and our Cure SMA chapter has raised a little over $250,000! We’re a quarter of the way to our one-million-dollar goal.
So, our boys have grown up fundraising. They don’t hesitate at all to ask for donations when the Walk ‘n Roll comes around. In 2019, Caleb, my little Star Wars Enthusiast, came up with the bright idea to send a fundraising letter to George Lucas – the creator of Star Wars. He wrote the letter himself, and told me what pictures he wanted to include. I was impressed with the quality of letter he wrote as an almost 7th grader. The only critique I made was suggest that he tell George Lucas that his team was trying to raise $10,000. Caleb said, “I looked it up. George Lucas is worth more than $4 billion. Why would I limit him to $10,000?” I decided not to question his letter anymore!
Sadly, we did not a donation from Mr. Luas. However – more than 2 years later – I opened the mailbox to find a thick envelope addressed to Caleb from Skywalker Ranch – George Lucas’ home! Caleb was absolutely dumbfounded to find a personally addressed two-page letter from George’s assistant. Although they couldn’t donate money, they sent stickers, a photo of George Lucas, a patch, and 2 Star Wards magazines. Caleb was ecstatic! George Lucas actually knows of him, what he looks like and what SMA is! That was an incredible moment in his life, and definitely worth a scrapbook page. (I’m trying to convince him to let me do a layout with the letter from Skywalker Ranch, but he wants to frame it – so we’re in negotiations!)
Scrapbooking Tips:
For our scrapbooks, I had to print out a copy of the letter Caleb sent. It was too precious not to document. I printed it off of his Google docs and I’m not sure quite how I did it, but it printed out smaller than an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper. That was a fortuitous mistake because I was inspired to make a pocket on a layout for the letter!
To come up with the page design, I used an Allison Davis sketch. I took a picture of the envelope Caleb and I had addressed and adhered it to an 8x6 inch piece of cardstock. I cut out 2x2 inch squares and stars and adhered them next to the photo. Then, using my thinnest tape, I put adhesive along the back of the left and right sides and bottom of the cardstock and carefully positioned it on the 12x12 base of cardstock.
Because I was creating a functional pocket that needed to be durable to hold the letter, I poked holes and stitched along three sides. My needle did get a little gunky stitching through the adhesive tape, but that was a necessary evil, and a little Goo Gone cleaned it up periodically throughout the process.
Lastly, I added my title and journaling. My last little touch was a turquoise-colored staple in my letter to coordinate with the color scheme of my layout.
Supplies Used:
Cardstock: Bazzill & The Stamps of Life
Pattern Paper: The Stamps of Life
Star Dies: The Stamps of Life
Embroidery Floss: Hobby Lobby
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