Thursday, May 21, 2015

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2002. Mattie was two months old. I remember those days and I am quite sure Mattie was MORE alert than me back then, because I was truly sleep deprived. How Mattie could function on such little sleep always perplexed me. As a new mom, I was under some delusion that babies naturally slept! But Mattie taught me that sleep doesn't come naturally to some and in fact sleep is a skill that must be taught and learned.


Quote of the day: Heroes didn't leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they didn't wear boots and capes. They bled, and they bruised, and their superpowers were as simple as listening, or loving. Heroes were ordinary people who knew that even if their own lives were impossibly knotted, they could untangle someone else's. And maybe that one act could lead someone to rescue you right back. ~ Jodi Picoult

Tonight's Foundation Walk photos will highlight some of our teams at the event! Mattie Miracle is truly proud of our 17 Walk teams, who in total raised over $22,000 for the Foundation!!!

As an aside, this year Mattie Miracle had a total redesign of its Walk t- shirt! We are getting a lot of POSITIVE feedback about the new look and COLOR! People really loved the sunshine orange color!

Here is a photo of the team Peter and I created....... Team Mattie Moon! 

pictured from left to right are:
Toni (Brandon's mom -- Mattie's big buddy who battled cancer at the same time as Mattie), Ashley and her daughter Gigi (Ashley is Brandon's sister, and Gigi and Mattie share the same birth date -- April 4th!), Virginia (Mattie's Grammie), Jim (Brandon's dad), Vicki, Peter, Attila (Co-Founder of the Chris Lantos Foundation), Barbara (Mattie's Grandma), and Ilona (Co-Founder of the Chris Lantos Foundation)

This is "Team RCC Moms Rock." This team won the award for Top Team Fundraiser! They raised $5,000 for Mattie Miracle!!! RCC is the acronym for Resurrection Children's Center, the preschool Mattie attended! Many of the moms from this preschool are friends of mine, they were vital to Team Mattie when Mattie was battling cancer, and now they are dedicated volunteers of the Foundation. 

This is "Team KW and Friends." Comprised of members of Mattie's kindergarten class as well as members of the St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School community. The lady you see holding the "KW" sign was Mattie's kindergarten teacher! This energetic team won the "Spirit" Award at the Walk.

This is "Team Flames." The flames come to us from the Holy Spirit School in Annandale, VA! They came filled with team spirit, smiles, and eager to participate and fill the challenge wall with cups! Members of the Holy Spirit community were new to our Walk this year and we were thrilled to have them   participating and hope they continue to be a part of our Mattie Miracle family. 

This is "Team Blessed Sacrament Bullfrogs." This team comes from the Blessed Sacrament School in Alexandria, VA. This team won the Challenge Cup Walk! They walked the most number of laps around the track and placed the largest number of cups in the challenge wall! This is Blessed Sacrament's first year participating in our Walk and Mattie Miracle hopes that their community will continue to be a part of our event for years to come. 

This is "The Book Club Team." This team raised $4,566 for the Foundation, and Peggy Elkind (second from the right), won the top individual adult fundraising award. Peggy raised $2,987!
We are very proud of Peggy and the entire team and we hope to welcome The Book Club back to next year's Walk! 

This is the "Charity Through Medicine Team." This group is very involved with Mattie Miracle as they plan social activities throughout the year at Georgetown University Hospital for in-patient children who are coping with life threatening and long term illnesses. All of these students from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria, VA are interested in a career in medicine and therefore are part of this specialized Club at their school. In addition, to their community service work throughout the year, this group also volunteered at the Mattie Miracle Walk! So they are NO STRANGERS to the Foundation!