A spoonful of HFC

Dear Friends,

I've been meaning to write for about a week. But a trip to Houston, wrap party for Hold'Em for Heroes, shopping for our new holiday program, and general work, I got behind. So, instead of several different blog posts, I'm throwing it all together for you in an HFC list of updates!

• We WON!! Heroes for Children won the Blogger's Choice Awards for Best Charity Blog!! 261 votes placed in support of Heroes for Children. Channeling a little Sally Fields here--You like us!! You really like us!! In all seriousness--thank you to those that placed your vote in support of Heroes for Children and this blog. I love blogging and love the communication it allows us to have with the many Heroes for Children donors, supporters, etc. We would love to have more people reading, so be sure to share this blog with everyone you know!
• On a side note--if you are a subcriber of the blog and receive this as an e-mail, I invite you to pop over to our blog site and leave a comment. We love to read your comments and feedback on how things are going with Heroes for Children. Let us know if there is a topic you would like to see on the blog, ask a question, or just say hi! We want to hear from you.
• In the past two weeks, I've shopped at Walmart in San Antonio, Dallas, Plano, and Houston! Why, you ask? Because HFC launched our new program for families, Holiday Heroes. Holiday Heroes adopted fourteen families throughout the state (selected by social workers in the hospital based on the needs and resources of the families). Volunteers in San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston stepped up to the plate to shop, shop, shop! From clothes to Christmas trees to electronic game systems, we bought some great gifts for the families. I can't wait to take the items to the families (I promise to post more than). Until then, I think I will opt to stay out of Wal-Mart for a while. Who knew that shopping would be SO much work?
• It's that time of year! Oh yes, it is the time of year for us to think about the holidays. With the holiday season, it's also time to consider our charitable giving. I sincerely hope you will consider Heroes for Children during this time. Making a gift to charity is a great gift for a loved one.
• Laptops for Love has seen record numbers this year. With restricted dollars from our Hold'Em for Heroes and Golf Classic events, we will be purchasing new laptops this December and January. This year, more than forty laptops have been donated to teens (compared to half that in 2006!). I love this program and love what it does for the teens. Last week, I received this email--"There is a 16 year old boy whose family is very poor who is inpatient for chemo every other week. His parents can't afford to take time out of work, so he's pretty much in the hospital by himself all day. I have seen him two other times before today when we went in, and he is always completely wrapped up in blankets, hat on his head pulled down almost covering his eyes, won't make eye contact, and basically grunts a response if you try to engage him. Today we went in and [the other social worker] goes "So, I've got something to tell you" and he does his grunt thing, and she goes "There's this organization, Heroes for Children, and they have program with laptops" and he doesn't respond and she goes "I'm hoping to get it in the mail any day now, but we got you a laptop" and he goes "What?" and looked at her, and she goes "You're going to get your very own laptop. To keep. It's yours. You can bring it home" and I swear to God the kid goes "A laptop???" and actually SMILED." Now that's powerful.

So there you go. One big healthy dose of Heroes for Children all together for you. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I sure have plenty to be thankful for this year, and one is most definitely the love and support shown to Heroes for Children. Thanks for being a part of that.

Very gratefully,

Jenny