As you may already know, Mike and I are very committed to helping with charity events as often as possible. We allocate a certain number of diapers each month for charity auction donation and we feel truly honored by how often we are approached for donations. We believe that it is part of our purpose as people and as a company to give back and to raise awareness as well as funds. Of course we are limited in the number of donations we can participate in each month, as much as we would genuinely love to do everything that we are asked to do.
This month will be the first time that we will host charity auctions ourselves, via our HC store. We are incredibly excited about this, as we are working with two charities that are incredibly near and dear to our hearts.
We wanted to give you a heads up that these events are on the way, as they may require some planning for those who choose to participate.
Today we will be listing an auction at our store for a 3 person mini group custom slot. The final bid amount, minus only shipping and paypal fees, will be donated to the March of Dimes via Team Three Cheers for Babies. Our good friends Brooke and Joe DiGiuseppe run this team on behalf of their triplets, Charlie, Lily and Annaleigh, who were born 15 weeks premature. The triplets were two weeks old before Brooke and Joe were able to hold them. Machines breathed for them for the first month of their lives. They were fed with tubes because they weren't strong enough or coordinated enough to suck. They received the best possible care, for which Brooke and Joe could not be more grateful.
Charlie and Lily, who weighed 1 lb 8 oz and 1 lb 13 oz at birth, spent 95 and 99 days in the NICU before coming home with their parents.
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| Lily |
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| Charlie, with Joe's wedding band |
Tragically, Annaleigh did not come home. She passed away at 8 weeks old from NEC, which is an intestinal infection found in premature babies.
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| Annaleigh, 6/27/2009 - 8/22/2009 |
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| Charlie and Lily |
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| Lily and Charlie as Princess Peach and Mario and M&D as Bonnie and Clyde, Halloween 2010 |
Every year, half a million babies in the United States are born too soon, too small and very sick - that's 1 in every 8 babies. Since 1981, the rate of premature birth has risen 30%, and in half the cases it is not understood what went wrong. The March of Dimes is leading the fight for answers, and ultimately, prevention. We are honored and excited to be raising money for such an incredibly worthy cause.
The auction will be up later today and we will announce it here and on facebook. If you would like to participate, please make sure to look over the auction information carefully - this is a mini group custom slot (3 diapers to 3 addresses). It will require coordinating among 3 people, with one person bidding on behalf of the group. Your bid will reflect the total for all 3 mini group members, not a per person amount. In other words if everyone in your group would like to donate $100 to the March of Dimes via this auction, your bid would be $300.
Later in the month we will be hosting another charity auction event and will have details for you very soon. This event will benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This charity is very close to our hearts. Mike's mother was diagnosed with MS 30 years ago and battles the effects of this horrible disease every day. She is a truly amazing woman, mother, mother-in-law, and Yaya (Greek for Grandma). We will be running the event in her honor, and in honor of National MS Awareness Month. We will have full details for you very shortly.
We are so grateful to be able to use ourselves and our skills to benefit these causes, and so grateful for the generosity and charitable spirit of our customer base. We can't thank you enough for helping us contribute in any way we can. :)
Is anyone in your family participating in your local MS Challenge Walk, it used to be 50 miles in 3 days but for the last few years it has been just 50K in 2 days. You should look into it. There is also the standard one day walk as well as Bike MS (not in every area though...)
ReplyDeleteMy mom became bedridden as a result of MS when I was 10 so I understand how destructive the disease can be in some cases yet silent in others. This is a charity auction I look forward to bidding on with all my heart.