I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it is sometimes very frustrating to run a charity designed to help kids with challenges.
Too often it seems, those kids are forgotten.
Cerebral Palsy (CP) in particular seems to be a forgotten condition when it comes to identifying “those in need,” but it is certainly not alone.
CP is just not a big button, as I like to call it. It’s not cancer. It’s not autism. It’s (usually) not tragic.
But.It.Is.Everyday! – Just like autism, and just like cancer.
(Please note * I do not mean to diminish the very serious nature and need for support for cancer and autism causes.)
Last summer at Golf for Joy I made a plea to those in attendance that if they took anything away from that day it was just that.
The conditions that affect the kids we try to help are very much like the traffic that we are all encountering now as we travel through Columbus each day – a little bit different, a new set of roadblocks each day, a concrete tunnel which seemingly never ends.
We have a new joke this year that if you put the word “adaptive” in front of some piece of equipment, it’s price automatically raises into the thousands of dollars.
Unfortunately – It’s not so much a joke. In fact, it’s very much a reality. Not funny at all.
Of course, it’s not just the kids who have to deal with these issues.
So many parents fight tirelessly, day after day, caring for their children and their loved ones, trying to maintain some sense of…
Heck, I think we can say it – normalcy.
Which really…
Is impossible.
Very often when my wife and I talk about the 15 months we had with Meghan Joy we note that really…we don’t remember all that much. Very much like the sports cliches you hear so often –
We took one second, one minute, one hour, one day at a time- trying to move forward as much as we could–
I think that part of the reason we continue The MJB Foundation is because we know that struggle. We know that fight. We know what it is to want to feel normal – and we want to help those who are still in the fray.
This year, for the first time ever – The MJB Foundation is nearly tapped out. To date, because of the generosity of our supporters, we’ve been able to give Gifts of Joy totaling $11,041.31 to children with challenges this year, and we’re committed to what might be as much as $6,000 more. (Some of the equipment has to be fitted so there could be some cost variance.)
To put this in perspective – Our events this year raised right around $7,000.
While it’s true that we are giving away more this year than any other, and we had a little bank to spend – it’s also true that more and more families are finding out about us, and more and more kids will need our help.
But we don’t have that big button, and well, we need a big push.
I always said that being at this point is a problem I’d like to have, but I have to admit it scares the holy bejeesus out of me.
But not as much as the day-to-day might scare the holy bejeesus out of those families, and those kids.
So the takeaway is this…
I don’t honestly know how many people read this blog, but I will admit to knowing at least some eyeballs give it a glance every now and then.
So… If you have a second, if you’re so inclined, I would really appreciate it if you could help us spread the word, and let people know that we’re trying to help those kids, and we could use all the help we can get to make this button bigger.
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