Goodbye 2009

As we say goodbye to 2009, I have to thank everyone who helped make this such a wonderful year for the Jack Fund. We have had a truly successful year, had so many generous contributions from so many amazingly kind people. The 2nd Annual Toy Drive was a huge huge success. We received over 200 toys from the Amazon Wishlist, and the response to our Drop Off Day was overwhelming. It was a great day, thank you to everyone who came out and donated a toy - I hope you had as nice a time as we did. And the amount of toys donated that day was also incredible, we filled (and I mean FILLED) over four large cars (and by large I'm talking mini vans and SUVs). Again, hundreds of toys were donated that day.



In fact we received so many toys this year we had to expand where the toys were distributed to. It wasn't difficult at all to find places that not only would take the toys but desperately needed them and were incredibly grateful. Toys went to not only Newark Beth Israel Hospital but also places like a church in Elizabeth, a school in Orange, and a soup kitchen in Hillside. They were spread throughout the state and were given to hundreds of sick and needy children. Thank you all again for your contributions, your kindness and your generosity.



On a personal note, these are a tough few days for us, having lost Jack on January 2, 2008. I am so thankful that two years later Jack is still with us through this Fund and all the kind people who support it, and remember him. Thank you again.

"And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth."

-- Raymond Carver

Jack was beloved, he was loved on this earth and is still so loved. Thank you for helping so many children to feel loved.

(All of these awesome pictures from the Toy Drive on December 12 are all courtesy of the amazing Tina from Life is a Highway Photography.)

Still time for Toys

Just a quick reminder - there is still time to purchase toys off the Jack Fund Wishlist on Amazon. There have already been over 100 toys purchased off the list but there is always room (and NEED) for more. Thank you again to everyone who's participated!

Or if you're in the area, stop by and bring some toys to our Toy Drop Off Day. Santa will be there with some yummy treats and would love to have his picture taken with you!

Saturday, December 12, 2009
9am to Noon
Bloomfield Firehouse No.4
1233 Broad Street
Bloomfield New Jersey

The girls and I will be there with bells on!! Hope to see you. :)

2nd Annual Jack Malia Toy Drive

It's time for my favorite event - the Second Annual Jackson Malia Toy Drive. This was put together last year by my husband's cousins and it was HUGE - just an amazing success. We received so many toys from all over the country!! This year we've expanded where the toys are being donated, and we've added something really fun. If you live in the Bloomfield NJ area there will be a special drop off day on December 12th. Come and have a treat with Santa and drop off your toy! The secret location will be announced next week, but it is really fun and will be a great morning.

No matter WHERE you live though, you can easily purchase a toy from the Amazon Wishlist and it will be sent directly to the Fund.

Here's the Jack Fund Wishlist on Amazon

Here's a link to the Facebook Event Page with even more information (I think you may need to be a member of Facebook to see this):

2nd Annual Jack Fund Toy Drive

From the Event Page:

We are once again collecting toys in memory of my baby cousin Jackson Malia who passed away on January 2, 2008. He spent Christmas 2007 in the hospital and his family knows how important it was to arrive that evening and find that Santa had already been to see Jack and bring him some small gifts. Won't you help us make this possible for other children who will wake up in hospitals this Christmas morning?

After last year's amazing turnout, we are donating the toys to multiple locations, including: Children's Hospital of New Jersey, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, and Bridges Outreach. We will announce the location of the toy drop-off day soon. It will be in Bloomfield, NJ on December 12, and SANTA will be there with some treats for those who donate :)

You can also order off our Amazon Wishlist and have it shipped directly to us!

Toys must be NEW and UNWRAPPED.
Please no toy guns or war games.
When ordering off Amazon, please double check you are buying a new toy
(Don't click "Used and New" or you may get a used toy).

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I will post more information about the Drop Off Day with Santa on December 12th next week. The Wishlist is up and running though, so please don't hesitate to purchase toys off there.

My favorite Christmas elf.

Thank you all so much again for the amazing support of the Fund, and Jack. I know it's been a difficult year financially for so many people, but your generosity will help make Christmas special for many, many sick and needy children this year, and again, we all thank you.

THE WINNER!

The big winner is......

ok, brief little story first. About a month ago I broke my camera. I want to get a really good one for Christmas, but in the interim my father gave me a camera he won at a golf tournament to use. It's terrible. It is the worst, cheesiest camera ever, it takes terrible pictures. I knew it did take video but didn't really check it out too much.

SO we shot the video of the girls picking the ticket, which believe me took like 4 tries because they were totally wired and overtired from so much HALLOWEEEEEN but we finally got Katie to pick one ticket out and give it to me, and I am so excited about the winner. BUT

I can't get the video to work. We quickly realized there was no sound, so we held the ticket up to the camera so everyone could clearly see what it said. But now, the video won't open and I did so many things to try and open it, I think it's corrupted. I am going to keep trying but I know I promised that the winner would be posted by 9pm and it's now 9:10 so please, I hope everyone takes my word for it until I can hopefully get the video posted, that the winning ticket drawn by Katie this evening was ticket 371. and the winner is

Gail L. of Morris Plains, New Jersey.

Congratulations Gail!

Thank you EVERYONE for participating!!! This whole raffle was a huge success, and raised more money than I ever expected. Tina is just incredible and her generosity is amazing. Now, I can't wait to see the pictures!

It's Not Too Late!

First, I wanted to thank everyone again who participated in any way with the Golf Outing. It really was a huge success, and now that we're getting some final tallies of the event we raised even more money than we expected, and we are all super excited about that!

I also wanted to remind everyone that there is still time to purchase raffle tickets for the Life is a Highway Photography Package. The response to this raffle has been amazing, I am so thrilled with how many tickets we've sold, but there are still plenty left. ALL ticket stubs have been mailed out, finally - sorry for the delay but I really was just overwhelmed with how many I had to do. If you haven't received your yet they should arrive in the next day or two.

I will leave the Paypal button over on the right to purchase tickets until midnight tomorrow (Friday) night. While you won't receive your stubs before the drawing, that really doesn't matter. Trust me, if you buy tickets you are in it!!! If you would like to check you can email me at maliamegan@gmail.com and i will let you know your ticket numbers. We had a big winner in the last raffle purchase her tickets on line literally five minutes before I closed the raffle down. :)

So here's the scoop on how the raffle is going to work. As I said, you can purchase tickets up until midnight tomorrow night. The drawing will take place on Saturday, and either Katie or Charlotte is going to pull the winning ticket (they've been practicing.... we'll see who's up for the job on Saturday!) I am going to videotape the drawing and will post the video on here Saturday evening no later than 9pm. The winner will be notified also by email.

Thank you all SO MUCH again and I can't wait to see who wins. There's still time to buy some tickets! Pass the word along to your friends. :)

Finally, we've had a lot of people asking about the Toy Drive we did last year. Just wanted to let everyone know that yes, there is definitely going to be another toy drive and it will be starting very shortly (first week in November). Once again you can purchase toys through Amazon or drop them off, and we are planning for a fun, holiday drop off this year. More to come on that next week!

One of these two lovely princesses will pick the winning raffle ticket on Saturday.... it could be yours!!! :)

Thank you! and MORE!

The golf outing yesterday was a WONDERFUL day!! The weather was perfect, everyone had a great time and we raised some money for Jack's Fund. Thank you so much to everyone who helped/participated/donated/bought raffle tickets!

It really is a beautiful golf course, and yesterday it was even more beautiful because it was just swarming with butterflies. Everywhere, butterflies, people couldn't stop commenting on them. Last year there was a rainbow. This year there were butterflies. My Jack, he always sends something to let us know he's there.

This is what was in the program to tell what's been going on with the Jack Fund:

"Jack’s Fund has had an exciting year, reaching out to help numerous New Jersey families including one with severely premature triplets, as well as a hugely successful Christmas Toy Drive benefiting the Children’s Hospital of New Jersey. We also began partnering with St. Joseph’s Healthcare System to help us identify children and families who could most use our help.

Big things are in store for the future including The Second Annual Christmas Toy Drive and a 5k Family Fun Run/Walk in the spring. We hope to see you all there!"

The winner of the raffle - the trip to Prince Edward Island was one of my husband's fellow firefighters, a great golfer who we know will really enjoy the prize. And the winner of the television was someone who bought her raffle tickets on line and was literally the LAST tickets I sold through Paypal. We're thrilled for her too! Thank you to everyone who purchased a ticket, if you haven't received your stub yet they're in the mail.

BUT....we're not done giving away great prizes. Unfortunately this one is only for people in New Jersey. But if you live in the area this is a FABULOUS AMAZING PRIZE. It was too good to just give away or even have a silent auction for at the golf outing. I wanted everyone to have a chance at winning this, so we are having another raffle!

Tina Ryan of Life is a Highway Photography has been beyond generous in donating this incredible package. She is so talented and takes the most beautiful pictures - please, check out her website and see for yourself!

As for what you win, here's Tina's letter describing the package:

Dear Megan,

Jack touched so many people's lives in the short time he was here and continues to do so each and every day. It is my pleasure to be able to help raise money for the Jackson Malia Fund.

Life Is A Highway Photography would like to donate a What A View Boutique Package valued at $2975. The winner of this amazing package will receive the following:

What A View Boutique Package - valued at $2975

- Custom boutique photography session
- 24 x 30 gallery wrapped canvas
- Brocade or leather 8x12 semi flush 10 page album (20 images)
- 5 x7 print of each photo in gallery presented in a custom designed image box
- Digital files of each image shown in gallery

If session occurs outside of a 20 mile radius to 07860 additional travel fees will apply. Not redeemable for cash and non transferable. Session is for either a child session or family session up to 4 people. Session availability subject to photographer's availability and must be held before August 1, 2010

I wish I could win it myself, but that would probably look bad....lol. Seriously though, this is an awesome prize. And you can buy raffle tickets again through paypal over on the right side of this page.

These tickets are only $10 a piece - 3 tickets for $25 - 6 for $50 - 12 tickets for $100.

The raffle will run through October, and the winner will be drawn on October 31st.

Good Luck!! I can't wait to see who wins!!

And thank you ALL again for the support, love, kindness, help, prayers, everything.

The Big Raffle

Tickets are available for sale for our big raffle at this year's Golf Tournament. We have three GREAT prizes this year!

2nd Annual Jackson Malia Memorial Golf Tournament
Raising Funds for Children with Special Needs

2009 Prize Raffle
Enter for your chance to win a six day trip for four golfers to Prince Edward Island!

Grand Prize
4 rounds of golf on Prince Edward Island - Crowbush Cove, Dundarave, Green Gables and Andersons Creek.
5 nights lodging at Rodd Brudenell River, a Rodd Signature Resort, with daily breakfasts
and full size rental van included.
Estimated value $5,000

Second Prize
42-inch flat screen Panasonic High Definition Plasma Television
Estimated value $1,000

Third Prize
Apple iPod Touch
Estimated value $230

Donation: $25 per ticket or 5 for $100

Drawing will take place October 6, 2009 at Hawk Pointe Golf Club.
Winner need not be present. No substitutions of prizes. No cash will be given in lieu of prize.
Blackout dates and restrictions apply. Participants must be over 18.
Receipt with official raffle number will be mailed to donors upon receipt of payment.

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Two easy ways to enter!

Click on the PayPal "Buy Your Raffle Tickets!" button on the top right side of this page and buy your ticket/s. Be sure to include your phone number in special instructions so we can call you if your the big winner!

Or go and print our Official Raffle Form and mail it in with your payment.

Your receipt and official raffle number will be mailed upon receipt of payment.

Thank you again for your support of the Jackson Malia Fund.... and good luck!!

Invite is Up!

The 2nd Annual Jackson Malia Memorial Golf Tournament Invitation is being mailed out and is officially online. Please join us for this year's golf tournament. Last year's was great, and we have even more exciting things planned for this time.

The form is located here:

GOLF TOURNAMENT INVITE AND SPONSORSHIP FORM

or over to the right side of this page. If you have any problem with the form -please email jacksfund@gmail.com and I will email one directly to you.

Sponsors are also very much needed so please, check out the flier and see if any of the sponsorship opportunites are something you'd be interested in.

Thank you all so much again for the support, we are very excited. Can't wait to see everyone out on the links!

Golf!

The official invite for the 2nd Annual Jackson Malia Memorial Golf Tournament should be going out sometime next week. If you attended last year, received the save the date or any type of correspondence from us you are already on the mailing list.

If you would like to be added please email jacksfund@gmail.com or maliamegan@gmail.com with your address. We'd love to have you join us!

Where have we been?

I am so so sorry it's been so long since I've updated this site!! The Charity has had a lot going on, as a matter of fact we have a board meeting tonight and I will definitely have some exciting news to share about the Fund, how it's being used and what we have planned for the future.

But for right now I have this - mark your calendars!!

THE SECOND ANNUAL JACKSON MALIA
MEMORIAL GOLF AND TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Hawk Pointe Golf Club
294 Route 31 South
Washington, New Jersey 07882