Thursday, November 5, 2020Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. Mattie was three months into treatment. That day, his wonderful art teacher, Debbie, came over to do some creative projects with Mattie. Mattie LOVED Debbie. In fact, they related to each other beautifully when Mattie was in kindergarten. In Mattie's school, parents received interim reports about their child each year. I will never forget reading Debbie's commentary on Mattie. Keep in mind that Debbie did not see Mattie every day. Only when he had art class. Yet Debbie sized people up quickly and well and wrote in Mattie's commentary that he "is a special boy, and an old soul." With Debbie, Mattie painted "Mr. Sun." Mr. Sun became the inspiration for Mattie Miracle's logo!
This is Mr. Sun! It is a large painting that hangs in our dining room!
Mattie Miracle's Logo! Featuring the Sun, which was a symbol Mattie drew in most of his art creations. The Mattie Miracle sun has 7 rays, one representing each of Mattie's years on earth.
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 9,544,315
- number of people who died from the virus: 234,300
This little fellow is Grayson. Grayson is the grandson of my "dear" friend, Margaret. Margaret was Mattie's preschool teacher. However, within Mattie's first semester of school, Margaret and I became friends. When Mattie died, Margaret got involved with Mattie Miracle. In fact, she is the person responsible for us securing our first corporate sponsor. Margaret died in 2014 from ALS. However, her daughter Ali picked up where Margaret left off. Ali is very involved in Mattie Miracle events, as are her three beautiful children.
Ali graciously hosts our Mattie Miracle Candy Drive each year. It is a hard operation in non-COVID years! With thousands of pounds of candy filling her garage. In addition, we have a constant stream of volunteers who typically sort candy. But Ali and are family are totally behind our mission. Naturally this year, there are NO volunteers or gatherings!
Today, Peter and I went over to Ali's house to assess what has been shipped to her from our Amazon Wish List. The boxes you see behind Grayson (photo above) are all the chips, coffee, cookies, and nuts that have been generously donated to Mattie Miracle from our supporters! TOTALLY INCREDIBLE.
I honestly thought we'd get little to know candy. As candy coming to us this year must be in its original unopened vacuumed sealed bags. Yet at the moment we have 7 full bins of candy! With more on the way. I feel much more confident now that we can stock our snack carts at hospital shortly with the supplies it needs!
Did you know our snack carts serve 1,500 families a year? These are families caring for children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses! Our carts are considered life savers, which help families meet their most basic of needs under the most stressful of times.
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