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Kids Helping Kids
The Blount Family held a huge garage sale at their home in New Jersey a few weeks ago to benefit the NFFR and the IRPS. The day was quite a success with a large turnout, raising $1,150, including $94 from a lemonade stand run by their son Nicholas and several of his friends.
When asked why they chose to have to garage sale and lemonade stand to benefit the NFFR, Dana Blount gave the following answer:
After having 3 wonderful boys, we were excited to learn we would be having our first girl, Madeline. Madeline, or “Maddie” was born with Pierre Robin Sequence (small jaw and cleft palate) which made it difficult for her to breathe unassisted from birth. She spent her first 16 days in the NICU, at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, NJ, and after 3 weeks at home, returned to their PICU with pneumonia. She underwent surgery to fix her GI Reflux problem, and we were later told she would probably need a Trach to avoid permanent damage to her heart and lungs. At that time, we decided to move Maddie to NYU, where we met Dr. Stephen Warren. Dr. Warren performed jaw distraction surgery and within a week, she was able to breathe without supplemental oxygen. The distractors were removed through surgery 3 months later. We always believed she was in the best of hands under Dr. Warren’s care. She is now a happy, healthy, beautiful 16 month-old!
As a result of all of this, her oldest brother, Nicholas (11), became very interested in the Institute and asked to meet Dr. Warren. I allowed him to accompany me to a pre-op for her cleft palate repair. He watched Dr. Warren draw out how he was going to repair his sister’s palate and was given the opportunity to ask his questions. Now he says he wants to be a surgeon so he can help kids the way Dr. Warren helped his baby sister!
While we were fortunate to have insurance that covered Maddie’s 4 surgeries, we wanted to help the NFFR provide care to those who don’t. Nicholas suggested a lemonade stand to help raise more funds, and his younger brothers and two friends were eager to help sell and make signs. Not only was the garage sale a great way to pass on many items we no longer needed, but it was an opportunity to create awareness in our community about the NFFR. We enjoyed sharing our story and explaining why we had chosen ”this charity” to all those who inquired.
Not only will the funds the Blount Family raised help other families in need, but the Blounts’ efforts also received press in a local blog, patch.com, and they are hoping to get the story into their town paper to increase awareness of the NFFR and IRPS’s life changing work. Grass-roots fundraisers, such as garages sales and car washes, are a wonderful way for children and families to support the NFFR and raise awareness about facial differences in their local communities. As the Blounts demonstrated, it is easy for kids to become involved in fundraising and help other children who are less fortunate. For more information on the NFFR and Kids Helping Kids contact Julie@nffr.org.
Great family with great values