Hi! Well we are off to Christchurch tomorrow for Benji's surgery! Its very exciting. Thank you so much for all your generosity, you all have helped us reach this target and Benji is super excited about his journey ahead. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. xx Team Earl xx
Hi All! Well what a few weeks its been! We were over the moon with the governement announcement to make a change to their funding policy for Cochlear Implants. What it means for us is that Sadie will have her 2nd implant fully funded by the government and although we will have to pay for Benji's implant, surgery and associated costs, the government will pick up the cost for the aftercare. This is a huge deal for us! So with that in mind, the fundraising we have completed so far brings us almost to the target we need for Benji's operation :) We are winding up our fundraising now, not taking on anything new, just finishing up with the plans already in process. We are amazed at the support we have had over the last 5 months, to raise the $50,000 we need is truly incredible. We thank you all so much.
We have had some truly lovely messages of support since we have started this journey, from people who are in are lives at present, from people who have crossed our paths in the past and even from complete strangers. Generosity of spirit is a great thing. The financial generosity has been amazing, and obviously that is why we started this journey, to raise funds to give Benji and Sadie the best chance at hearing that we can. But the generosity of spirit has floored me. I am well aware of the chaos of a busy lifestyle, we all juggle jobs, families, activities, committees and mountains of washing As John Kirwan says 'we are simply too busy, being too busy'. So for you to take 10 minutes out of your day to read our story, to contact us with an offer of support, to join us with a fundraising activity or even just to 'like' us on facebook is awesome. Thank you.
~ GENEROSITY ~ I attended a course last year on The Virtues Project. The Practice of Generosity is one of these virtues. We have been overwhelmed by the support of our community so far, and this is what The Virtues Project says about generosity: 'Generosity is giving and sharing. It is giving freely because you want to, not with the idea of receiving a reward or a gift in return. Generosity is a quality of the spirit. It is an awareness that there is plenty for everyone. It is seeing an opportunity to share what you have and then giving just for the joy of giving. Generosity is one of the best ways to show love' We thank you so much for your generosity.
The Cheers 4 Ears account is steadily growing, thank you so much for all of your generous contributions! We have been to Upper Hutt to my niece and nephews pre-school where they raised an amazing $1400 from their annual Wheelathon, not bad for 3 and 4 year olds :) Yay Premium Pre-School, Upper Hutt. We featured in our local newspaper, the kids thought it was cool to have their picture in the paper and it certainly bought our cause to the attention of the wider community. We are now starting to get the finer details underway for the Crossfit Wodothon fundraiser which will be held over Easter, check out our facebook page or website for further details on this. Hope you are all battening down your hatches in preparation for Cyclone Lucy :) Its been all over the news today, if it does arrive, at least it gives us an excuse to mooch about indoors :) Enjoy the weekend x
We had a hugely successful Quiz Night last night, held at a local bar, The Good Home, New Plymouth. It was humbling to see so many people come out to support the cause. People love a Quiz Night and it bought out the competitive streak in many of us ;) I am pleased to say that we raised an amazing $2376.00!!
Hi All, well the kids are back at school now, full into the swing of the first term. The return to school has gone without too many hitches. They are keeping busy with their after school activities, Sadie enjoying her ballet, Benji back into his hip hop dance classes and Olivia back in her summer soccer team. Some days I really do feel like a taxi service! The kids enjoy their hobbies though and its great for each of them to have their own interests. The fundraising continues to go well, we have got a Quiz Night at a bar in town next week which should be a fun night, looking forward to it! Enjoy your weekend, Nic.
Hi All! Thank you all so much for the donations we have had through this page so far! Its been lovely to have support from complete strangers through to people who our paths may have crossed in the past. Your kindness is humbling. Loved the message from a supporter where the 2 sisters received implants when they were in their 40's, how wonderful! Saw a bit of the cricket on the tv today, so apparently all I need to do is don a tui tshirt, pop on down to the cricket and pray that I can catch!! If only it was that easy :) Cheers, Nic
Hi All, well we had a successful trip to Christchurch yesterday, to the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme. Both children have their appointments on the same day which helps for travelling purposes. They saw the Audiologist yesterday, ran through the tests so their implants can have new thresholds set. Benji and Sadie go to Christchurch every 6 months for a 'tune up'. Was nice to be out and about in the sun in Christchurch yesterday, we had a look around the re:Start Mall in the city centre, lots of people milling around, street buskers etc all adding to the vibe.
