Toys Drives

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written here... trying to keep up with TWO BLOGS in addition to everything else might just be a little too much for me!

The golf outing was really a wonderful day and (I think!) a huge success. We will definitely be doing it again next year. HUGE thank yous to everyone who helped, donated, played, participated in any way. If you want to read more about it and see some pictures, I wrote about it here.

There are two Christmas Toy Drives in Jack's memory right now, which we are so excited about. If you'd like to read more about it, it's here.

If you'd like to donate a toy in Jack's memory to go to a child at The Children's Hospital of New Jersey (in Newark New Jersey), you can have one directly sent through the Amazon Wishlist.

Thanks so much to everyone again for even reading here, following Jack's story and continuing to care not only about my sweet baby but our whole family. You all help to keep Jack 'here' through your kindness.

Don't you golf?

We have gotten a great response from everyone with donations, sponsorship, volunteers, we are really thrilled - thanks to everyone! The raffle has been a huge success and is basically SOLD OUT!

BUT

We really need golfers!!! Please, if you live in the area, come out and play - it's going to be a really fun day, lots of prizes, tons of food, and all for a really good cause. There is still time to sign up - the forms are over on the right, or email me at jacksfund@gmail.com and i'll send them to you.

Thank you!!

Invite UPDATE

There were some problems printing the invite. I reformatted it, so it should now print easily and is no longer on legal paper. Please let me know if anyone continues to have a problem!

It's updated in the box to the right, or click here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/4092340/Jack-Invite

Jack's Golf Tournament

The First Annual Jackson Malia Memorial Golf Tournament is officially not only happening, but going to be a great, big happening!! The invites are finished and going out. Emails are being sent to everyone who requested one, but you can also see and download/print the invite and raffle ticket - they are over on the right hand side of the page. Simply click the small box icon on the right hand side. Or click here:

Invite:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4025661/Jack-Golf-Tournament

Raffle:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4025788/Raffle

The Raffle is for an amazing golf trip for four to Ireland.

We really need not only golfers but sponsors. Please email me if you have any questions. I am really hoping to see some of you there - and see one of you take that trip to Ireland!

First Gift

We are on our way to becoming an official 501(c) charity... it's very exciting! There's still a lot of work to be done, but we have our EIN number and things are moving (thanks to my dad and my aunt, mostly). We also are working on lots of ideas of what's going to happen with the money. I took the girls to visit the hospital where they were born and specifically the NICU. We got some great ideas while we were there and some people to contact who can help us find sick or hospitalized children who need help.

The golf tournament is still on for September 29th - if you're interested or would like to be added to our mailing list, please email me at jacksfund@gmail.com. We are also going to be having a raffle for a GREAT prize.... more info to come!

The most exciting thing to happen recently is we were able to use a little of the money we've collected so far to do something small for a little boy in the area, who I'll call Izzy. A friend of a friend of my mom's works with Izzy, tutoring him in his home. He suffers from a Metabolic Disorder called Neiman Pick's disease. It's an awful disease, that is worsening as the years go on. A few weeks ago we had a VERY hot spell here in NJ, and my mom's friend contacted me with an idea.... his family really wanted to be able to get him an air conditioner but just couldn't afford it. They live in a 3rd floor apartment and I know it had to be HOT for all of them, but especially this poor little boy.

We were able to give them the money to buy a large AC and even have a little left over. Here is some of the email my mom's friend sent me:

Hello Megan & PJ -

I gave (Izzy's mom) your generous check, card and picture of Jack this afternoon. Her father and sister, nephew, Izzy (in his wheelchair) and younger daughter were all gathered around the new A/C in the living room window when I arrived. It was actually comfortable with the additional help of two fans. We looked at your website, talked about Jack's fund and admired your beautiful babies. Izzy watched and heard everyone talking. He turned his head toward his Mom as if to say "show me the picture" and then looked right at the picture of Jack. He doesn't always respond to what's going on but today he was quite alert.

His mom showed him and told him it was a picture of an angel. I explained about the breathing tube and told Izzy how Jack has two sisters. He seemed to be listening intently. His mom said the A/C was $300.00 and they also bought one new fan for Izzy's room. The rest of the money will go towards a new mattress for Izzy. The money will be VERY helpful for these extras or just helping to pay the electric bill. I can't thank Jack's fund enough for making this deserving little boy and his family so happy.

Nothing has made me happier the last few months (aside from my two girls, of course) than that email. I am so thrilled that we were finally able to do something to help. This is exactly the kind of thing I have had in mind... we might not be changing the world, it might be a small gift, but it helped. When Jack was sick, I know the small things meant so much to US.

Thank you so much Emily for helping us find this special little boy and his family! :)

Getting to work

Here's some updates:

My aunt is working on making us officially a foundation. It sounds like it's a lot of paperwork and things that need to be done, but it's not difficult... just time consuming. So it's GREAT she's helping with that - we will be official!

The very first idea I had when we talked about forming this foundation was to use some of it to send a child (or children) to camp. I recently contacted a very nice reporter at The Star Ledger who did an article on the Fresh Air Fund in Sunday's paper to ask for her advice and help with this. She's put me in contact with someone who can hopefully help us. My main criteria is I would like to send a SPECIFIC child(ren). I want them to know they are going to camp because of Jack.

This is VERY late but another huge huge thank you to everyone who walked in Jack's memory (and in honor of Katie and Charlotte too) for the March of Dimes on April 27th. I received so many nice emails from people asking me if it was okay to walk for Jack and just saying they had thought of him while they walked. Thank you all so much, the March of Dimes is wonderful and I love that Jack was able to be there with all of you.... we will definitely do the walk next year!

One of the readers of my blog had sent me an email asking if her entire law firm could walk in honor of my babies - they ending up raising over $5,400! This is one of the posters she made to hang up in her office:



(Click on it to make it larger). I love it, it's amazing. Thank you Michelle! Thank you to everyone who thought of my Jack, and my girls.

Finally, if anyone has any ideas for how to use this fund, please email jacksfund@gmail.com and let me know. My main concern is it go to a child and their family directly. It can be something as simple as a sick child needing a new bed or a tv for their room to a family needing help with their medical bills. I think our main concern right now is FINDING those children.

We finally begin....

Things are finally moving with regards to Jack's fund. We had our first meeting last week to start to plan the Golf Tournament (tentatively scheduled right now for September 29th at Hawke Point).

There's going to be an article about Jack and his fund in our local paper on Thursday and I'm hoping that really helps get the word out about his charity and the golf tournament. So many people have already been incredibly generous in their donations so we are off to a good start! We've begun really looking for the first child to help with the fund, and a few other things are in the works, which I'll save to share when they're further along.

I'm excited to really start doing something with this. Jack has shown us time and time again over the last 4 months that he's still 'here' and still touching so many people. It's time I started to keep my promise to him and help him continue to change the world for the better.