I am sure you remember our friends the Gooden family. They are parents to sweet-as-a-button Nora. We just love her and them. They are incredible parents, giving Nora such fun experiences and so, so much love. I follow their blog constantly to see what new adventures Nora is getting to have — meeting elephants was the latest! And they are wonderful supporters of GSF, coming up with fun and unique ideas to increase awareness and funding for SMA. Oh and they are hilarious. They are the type of people who are witty without even trying. I love it.
Earlier this summer Jaime worked with a consignment store, the Picky Chick, in their yearly fundraiser. She even got GSF selected as the featured charity, which meant additional awareness and funds! (Read her awesome nomination here.)On top of all the hard work it took to organize, label, and haul, we know this was an emotional task to go through Nora's clothes and toys — reliving many of the pre-SMA diagnosis hopes. Thank you Jaime for so bravely doing this! The Picky Chick sale helped the Gooden's raise $1,441 for GSF's$200K for SMA campaign! Incredible!!!
And recently TJ asked a work colleague to turn her running into running for a cure!!! And Yolanda awesomely rose to the occasion!!! Here is what TJ wrote about her:
I know Yolanda from my work. She was one of the first people I told about Nora's SMA diagnosis. That's the great thing about Yolanda, something about her makes you want to tell her things because you know she genuinely cares. Like most people, Yolanda had never heard of SMA until I had introduced her to it – say goodbye toblissfulignorance. I knew Yolanda enjoyed running as her primary past-time. She told me about the upcoming 1/2 marathon and her training regiment. The idea stuck me because I remember seeing the other runners on Team GSF. I pitched the idea to Yolanda and I just remember her eyes lighting up as she said, “Can I? Can I run for Nora and Gwendolyn?” almost asking permission for the same idea I just pitched her. That's really all it took and she was 100%committed – like I said she doesgenuinely care. How many people do you know that would run 13.1 miles for a virtually unheard of disease that doesn't even impact them? Yolanda has said she felt honored to be running for SMA, yet there is nobody who feels morehonoredthan Jaime and I.
Yolanda raised $750.00!!! A-mazing! Thank you so very, very much Yolanda for helping bring SMA research one step closer to a cure!
And now Nora's awesome Aunt Tiffany is hosting Nerds For Nora. Yep, Nerds For Nora, a night of board gaming for a cure! I told you they were creative! The details are simple and fun! Here is how Aunt Tiffany describes it:
Bring your favorite game and your competitive streak, and let's get together to play some board games and raise a little money at the same time! Misty Mountain Gaming has been kind enough to let us use their space, so we'll spread out and get our board game geek on! It's $10 per person, though a larger donation is welcome. Feel free to bring friends, bring a game or three, or play games that someone else has brought. Stop in for a little while or stay the whole time.
- WHEN –> Saturday, November 20 1:00pm – 7:00pm
- WHERE –> Misty Mountain Games,4672 Cottage Grove Road, Madison, Wisconsin
- RSVP to Tiffany or to get more information.
Thank you Gooden family for all you do to raise SMA awareness and funding, continually putting yourself out there and sharing beautiful Nora with the world!!! (Oh and for being funny and always making me laugh!)