The MJB Foundation

Hard to believe it’s already June 2nd and Golf for Joy 2009, our 15th annual tournament is only 25 days away.

Wait a minute… Does that say 15 years? Wow! Now I feel old.

It seems like just yesterday we had our first outing with 21 golfers and a small little after party at a friends’ house. Heck, I can still recall our 2nd year after we’d just moved into our new house and we were worried about the kids getting all muddy with no grass yet on our lawn.

Time has flown by.

And here we are…

The month before the tournament is always our busiest and most anxious. Since we started our foundation in 2004, the latter part of May and the greater portion of June each year consists of the frantic gathering of supplies, donations, and raffle prizes, the preparation of same for distribution, the making of signs, ordering hole signs, securing hole-in-one insurance and waiting for our field to fill out.

To date this year we have approximately 50 commitments to play in Golf for Joy. Of those, 14 have paid.

Like I said – Anxious.

We’re always so glad that so many want to participate, but none of us is very good at collecting dues. After all for our family we are just honored that people think of our Meghan Joy and want to remember her, let alone come and spend a day with us.

The truth is if we could we would pay you to come and help us celebrate a day for Meghan Joy.

We are honored this year to seat a new board, and they have been incredibly helpful and supportive. Creative in these tough economic times, tireless in their efforts to secure all that is necessary to put on our outing, they have gone above and beyond to be sure that K and D and Netter and I feel like we can share the load. This is the first of many times I will say this I am sure:

A great big thanks to all of them.

The day is almost here.

We had a meeting last night to set our deadlines and prepare for the final push to the tournament.

Deadline for golfers to sign-up and pay their dues is Saturday June 20.

Sign up here.

Deadline for sponsorships of all kinds is Wednesday June 17.

More info can be found here.

For more details as the day approaches, keep an eye on this space, or your email inbox if we have have it. Check out our Facebook Fan Page. or find us on Twitter if you want to follow us.

Tonight we are attending the Franklin County Board of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities Early Childhood Education family picnic.

Thanks to the generous supporters of the MJB Foundation we will be making a donation of $5,000, our biggest contribution to date toward the Barn Structure to be built in the farm garden at the Early Childhood facility.

We’d love it if you would join us, or maybe help us wish this rain away.

I’m Meghan Joy’s daddy, Jim Brochowski.

I have the great honor and privilege of writing the speeches for these events, the words that go along with the contributions our friends allow us to make.

But this one is a little different.

You see, 15 years ago today we lost our Meghan Joy. We don’t make a habit of dwelling on the date. While we feel the loss of Meghan in some ways every day, we try to focus on the positive. Still the irony of today being that anniversary, and this being our biggest contribution, well… Wow!

I always do a few things when I’m writing a speech for the MJB Foundation.

I spend some time reflecting on my daughter and her legacy. I read through her story, and sometimes speeches and stories that have been written before. I try to think about her sisters K and D and her Mommy, Netter and how what I say will represent all of us and all of our supporters.

Today, this date, I’m adding something to that list.

Instead of focusing on the fact that we lost our daughter 15 years ago today, I’m going to focus on what we gained and her inspiration. An inspiration that has allowed us to do so many things for so many children with challenges.

I will be proud to present that check later this evening and I am proud to represent Meghan’s legacy, and my family and everyone who supports Meghan’s Foundation.

Thank you!

(Previous comments on this post can be found here: http://mjbfoundation.blogspot.com/2009/05/inspiration.html#comments)

The MJB foundation was created in honor of Meghan Joy Brochowski in 2004. Meghan was born on February 5, 1993 with her twin Kailey. Although they looked alike, there was a difference between them. Meghan was born with cerebral palsy and very sadly passed away at the age of 1 on May 14, 1994. Her family wanted to remember Meghan and her story so they started an annual MJB golf outing in 1995.