Houston Generosity

When asked for help with our Laptops for Love campaign, supporters at the Underwriting Party and Live Auction in Houston last night responded. Laptops for Love purchases new laptops for teens living in the hospital with cancer. These teens face isolation with days, weeks, and often months in the hospital. Friends are often not admitted into their hospital room due to the risk of infection and germs. Most take an extended leave from school, continuing their work through a homebound teacher.

For a young child, this isolation isn't as challenging as it is for teenagers. Take my daughter for example. A baby diagnosed with cancer at four months old doesn't notice that only grandparents and parents could visit her. She loved her Grandma and Nana and was thrilled to have them see her on an even more frequent basis. She didn't mind that her hair had all fallen out and only had whisps of hair left. She didn't get bored (or if she did, she couldn't tell me) from months at the hospital. But I can't imagine what that experience would have been like if she had been fourteen at diagnosis and not four months old.

Keeping laptops in stock is a challenge for us. They are in high demand! Laptops provided have helped seniors finish high school, give young teens an outlet with things like MySpace and Facebook to keep them occupied, and almost fifty teenagers found hope through this program in 2007. So, last night, I posed the question to a room full of generous supporters during our big party to prepare for the main event--"Who wants to make the difference for one teen tonight?"

Can you believe that we "sold" THIRTY laptops last night?? Thirty more teenagers will receive this gift of hope and love from Heroes for Children. I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this is! We're well on our way to doubling our gifts to teens in 2007 to provide 100 laptops (we began with an inventory of 32 to purchase).

38 more laptops to sell and we can begin working on setting up a new goal.