Good news! I got an e-mail from JoEllen Moreno over the weekend giving an update on the fund-raising for her daughter, Melissa Griffin's, treatment for a brain injury. I wrote about Melissa last week; explaining that her family is trying to raise money privately to pay for rehabilitative treatment in a special center that the insurance company refused to cover. (I'll deal with those insurance folks a little later.) Melissa, an equestrienne, was injured in a riding accident. To read my previous blog on Melissa, click here.
The Bee's award-winning writer and photographer, Diana Marcum and Diana Baldrica, are working together on a feature story on Melissa, so watch for that in an upcoming edition. I saw some of Diana's pictures and they are very good, plus she had a few photos from her earlier series when Melissa was a baby. Diana didn't have any children at that point and that intense year with JoEllen, Greg, Jana and the twins taught her how to be a mother.
Here is the e-mail from JoEllen:
Our fundraiser for Melissa last night was such a success! Thank all of you that came, donated, and/or participated. What a wonderful world we have! Thank you God. And thank all of you! Words cannot even describe how wonderful last night was. If you were not able to come...you truly missed out. Melissa, first of all, looked beautiful. A local friend/hairdresser in Dinuba donated her time and supplies to do Melissa's hair. For the first time in her life, she had curls and they actually stuck throughout the whole evening. Her girlfriend, Jamie, did her make up and Melissa along with Bertha (Adam's grandma) bought herself a new outfit to wear. She looked beautiful and very happy.
It was amazing to see how everyone came together to prepare for this special cause. The community of Dinuba as well as my family totally worked together like an amazing team to put this together. I cannot thank them enough!! We had so many donations for the silent auction and raffle, that we practically ran out of room to deplay them! But they pulled it off. The livestock auction was such fun. I had never been to one. It was great. The live auction went just as well. I could not believe how much people bid for items. They bid well over what the value was just to benefit Melissa. I was practically in tears. Because I felt in my heart that it wasn't necessarily the item they wanted as much as the fact that they wanted to help Melissa.
The food and the location was fantastic! All donated by the community of Dinuba. What an awesome little town this is! And the most wonderful thing about it was that they seemed to completely enjoy what they were doing and helping us. Wow! All too often in this world people are judgemental and cruel to each other so this event totally restored my faith (as well as many others) in humanity.
I got a phone call from Becky (Adam's mom) this morning with wonderful news. This is not even the final total, this is just from the cash boxes last night, not counting what Connie had already collected.....we raised $40,846.00 last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We raised enough to send Melissa to CNS for a full month!!!! Even though they recommend 2-4 months for her, we are so very, very thankful to have raised enough for 1 month. We were hoping for at least 2 weeks. We realize that donations are still rolling in and we are so thankful. But it warms my heart to know that because of all of you and many strangers who do not even know Melissa, she will be able to go for a WHOLE month!!!!
Blog Roll
In The Middle- Blognetnews.com/California
- Bill Bradley's New West Notes
- The Hotline's Blogometer
- Rough & Tumble
- PolitickerCA
- Fresno Bee Opinion Page
- fresnobee.com
- Huffington Post
- Daily Kos
- Red State
- Flash Report
Local Media
On The Left
On The Right