Happy Holidays!
I hope this letter finds you well, and your family enjoying this holiday season. I am writing today about our annual Christmas collection for a family dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
Any many of the people reading this can remember, we began doing this in memory of Kristin Schubbe, who was diagnosed at age 24 while pregnant. She gave birth to a healthy son, but was unable to work. She needed help with getting to the doctor, caring for her baby, and so on. The medical bills mounted. She was determined and faced it head on, but when the cancer spread it became harder for her to keep her spirits up. As determined as she was and as hard as she had been fighting, it was wearing her down mentally and emotionally.
That’s where people stepped in to help. A nurse from the hospital organized a collection. They were thoughtful, carefully prying for information about where they shopped, what they liked. Kristin had no idea. She just thought that they were “bringing by a few bags of groceries.” They showed up and unloaded until her living room was full. I’ll never forget the look on her face. She just stood there, staring, even long after they left. It can’t be overstated how much this raised her spirits. It was like a complete reset back to faith and determination. The thing is though, as I alluded to above, is that it wasn’t about the stuff. She was most impacted by the cards, the letters, the personal words of encouragement, all from strangers. It made Kristin realize that, come what may, she wasn’t alone, and there was reason to have faith. She celebrated Christmas that year like she wasn’t sick at all. That is a gift beyond words, beyond dollars—because it was the last one she had, and it would have otherwise been spent in despair. Instead she and her son had their only Christmas together as if it were the first of many. She sat down that night to write a thank you letter to God, and I really encourage you read (or read again) about what have the chance to do for somebody here.
Thanks to everybody's contributions, our family and friends have carried this on in Kristin's honor for 18 years now and helped over 22 families in that time.
This year we are collecting for Marina and her two children Angela (15) and Isaiah (6). They lost their father earlier this year to colon cancer. Since then, the family has been working hard to get by and try to move forward. Isaiah is receiving grief counseling and has been enjoying art therapy. (We are still receiving more information and will update this periodically.
There are lots of charities and ways to give this year. We hope you will consider donating to Marina, Isaiah, and Angela. There are some short wish-lists below, and as always are happy to accept anything you'd like to donate.
To donate, there are a couple options:
1. Purchase items from the wish lists and send our way. If you need a pickup, let me know.
2. You can also donate via PayPal/Zelle at davekush15@gmail.com (let us know if there's something specific you'd like us to purchase or if we should pass the cash along directly).
3. You can buy something from this Amazon wish list. These are items we picked based on the lists below. Definitely not restricted to this list or these particular items.
4. Gift cards, checks, etc are also welcome. Please do not mail gift cards or cash. We can pickup.
General: We are going to purchase a Gift card for a hotel-indoor water park and can accept donations towards that
Please let me know if you have any questions or if some assistance is needed. I can be reached via davekush15@gmail.com or call/text at 708-296-5664.
Thank you for your generosity!
Dave
Wish Lists (click here for Amazon wish list)
Isaiah (6)
- Size 7-8
- Jeans
- Socks
- Underwear
- Shoes (size 13)
- Jacket (size 8-10)
- Bed sheets (cars)
Angela (15)
- Size Medium (women's)
- Shoe Size 8 (like Vans, Converse)
- Makeup
- Earrings
- Hair products
- Air Pods
Marina (mother)
- Size Large or Medium
- Shoes (8)
Gift Cards/General
- Walmart
- Target
- Movie Theater
- Kohls
- Macys
No comments:
Post a Comment