Let’s go back to the Crusade Against Cancer fundraiser in June. First, I want to thank everyone again that helped put this together and making it the success it was. I especially want to thank Michele Kennedy and Thunder Ridge High School for their support. This week’s story is about a situation that occurred after the race that I was made aware of this week.
I will start by letting everyone know one of my policies with the Foundation. Whenever I get someone’s support with a fundraiser, I always ask them if they know of a family that is dealing with cancer we can help. It is my way of thanking them for their help and support, and it also let’s them know we stand by our policy that all our funds go directly where they need to go.
After the Crusade Against Cancer race, I asked Michele if she knew of a family we could help. She told me she knew a family that had a teenage son dealing with cancer. She told me they could use some help and thanked me for asking her for names of people who need help. “It’s my favorite part of how you run your Foundation” she told me. She gave me their contact information and I told her I would reach out to them.
I contacted the Mom and told her about the Foundation and how I had gotten their name. I told her I would put some debit cards in the mail to them and I verified the address. She thanked me for reaching out and told me how grateful she was for the help. “This is so amazing what you are doing,” she told me. I told her we live in a very compassionate and generous community, and it was rewarding to be able to get their donations to the people who need them. This was back in the middle of June, and I hadn’t thought any more about it. That was until this week.
I received a text from the Mom reminding me about our conversation in June. “I didn’t want you to think we were ungrateful for not sending a thank you note, but we didn’t receive anything in the mail. If you were unable to send it, that’s okay, but we wanted to let you know if you did, we didn’t receive it,” the text said. I felt horrible because I knew I had sent it. I was quite upset that someone would receive a gift meant for someone else and keep it. I started to text her back. Okay, have you ever tried to reply to a text, but what you are trying to say starts turning into a short novel? Well, that’s what mine was, so I decided to call her instead.
I was thinking about someone keeping the cards and how upset it made me. I always put a Foundation business card in my letters, so they had no reason not to contact me. But when I was waiting for the Mom to answer the phone, a different feeling came over me. When she answered the phone, I told her I was sorry the cards didn’t get there and I truly wanted to help. I told her I was upset at first that someone would keep the cards meant for someone else, but I remembered that my cards have the saying, “To let you know that someone cares, and you’re always in our thoughts and prayers.” I told her I want to assume it’s someone that needed some help, and that’s what the purpose of the Foundation is. “It’s a much better feeling to be glad I helped than to be upset at someone,” I told her.
I asked her if I could bring some new cards to her work and found out she is someone I have met through my volunteer work. It’s truly a small world. I brought her the cards and she told me how grateful they are for the help. Then she told me her son is doing good right now and the cancer is in remission. “We are being cautiously optimistic,” she said. That was fantastic news.
I want to thank everyone for your generosity and donations that allows the Foundation to help people. Even if it wasn’t planned. Thanks for reading.
Next week: Race for the Cure
P.S. I think I will start sending Foundation checks instead of gift cards. Doesn’t that sound better than “The card is in the mail.”