Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Wednesday, May 29, 2019


Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2007. We took Mattie to Lancaster Country, Pennsylvania that Memorial Day Weekend. Along our travels we came along a pretzel factory, that makes its tasty treats the old fashioned way.... by twisting the dough by hand. Mattie got a tour and then learned how to twist a pretzel. You can see his creation in his hand!










Quote of the day: True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, at whatever cost.  ~ Arthur Ashe


Don't even asked me what happened to today! Other than walking Sunny, I haven't moved from my computer. As I am digging out from the Walk and diligently working on acknowledgments of checks and our raffle donors. I am making headway, and hopefully with another push tomorrow, I will be done with all written letters. Then onto writing a June newsletter and working on a Walk video. 

Tonight's photos highlight the Corn Hole Tournament at Mattie Miracle's Walk & Family Festival. In all reality we have three big things going on at the event.. 1) the Walk with a family festival of activities, 2) a corn hole tournament, and 3) a raffle. 

Herman, our photographer, captured all 35 registered participants in the tournament. Our largest group of participants ever!

Believe it or not, it takes all of these volunteers to make the Corn Hole Tournament successful. Volunteers observe all six corn hole boards, they keep score, as well as pick up bean bags to return to the next set of players. 

This is Ellie and Tim. Both of these teenagers went to school with Mattie. Ellie and Mattie were in preschool together and she has been raising funds for Mattie Miracle since she was in elementary school. In addition to that, Ellie shows up by 7am, to help with Walk set up. She has done this for least five or more Walks. 

Tim went to kindergarten with Mattie. Their birthdays are one day apart from the other. How do you like that? Tim has been attending Mattie Miracle Walks for a decade now. He works hard at getting classmates to attend the Walk each year. Tim also fundraises at school by hosting Friday bake sales and was extremely helpful with event set up this year. I believe Mattie sees all of this and I certainly appreciate that a core group of friends work diligently to keep Mattie's memory alive.  

This is our friend Kristen. Peter and I met Kristen soon after Mattie died, as she was moderating a bereavement panel we participated on at a local conference. I immediately connected with Kristen, and as my loyal readers know, I don't always get along splendidly with psychosocial professionals. Kristen was different. 

Five years ago, Kristen connected me with Inovalon. Thanks to this connection, I am proud to say that Inovalon has become one of our top level corporate sponsors! Amazing how it all started over talking about Mattie. 

This fellow is Zachary! He and his parents traveled from New Jersey to attend our Walk. 

This is our 1st place Corn Hole winner, Chris Brogan. Though I never met Chris before, he has been supporting our Walk for years now. As he works with my friend Carolyn, and has bought raffle tickets from her over the years. Chris is unfortunately familiar with childhood cancer, so his support of our work is very meaningful to us. 

Pictured from left to right: Vicki, Ann (Corn Hole Chair), Chris, and Peter. 

This is our 2nd place Corn Hole Tournament winner, Zachary Miller. Zachary's dad was a math student of my mom's. When my mom won her hall of fame honor at her school in October of 2018, she had the opportunity to reconnect with Gary (Zachary's dad). They have picked up right where they left off, and Gary and his whole family drove down to support the Walk this year. 


Pictured from left to right: Ann, Vicki, Peter, and Zachary

This is our 3rd place Corn Hole Tournament Winner, Mike Grusholt. Mike is Tricia's husband, and Tricia was Mattie's favorite HEM/ONC nurse. Mike plays in our tournament year after year, and is an excellent player. So much so, that he typically wins 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place. We love his whole family's participation.

Pictured from left to right: Vicki, Ann, Mike, and Peter