The amazing Beb-e-ssential ladies, Penny and Melissa, have blown us away and we are so excited to share their exciting story! Not only did Penny and Melissa hold a GSF fundraiser, raising over $1,000 through sales of their darling handmade children's accessories, they then extended their GSF fundraising by offering a continued 15% of ALL sales to anyone who mentions “Cure SMA” and a permanent 60% of the “Gwendolyn Butterfly.” And then this weekend they graciously offered to host an SMA awareness booth at the annual Troy Strawberry Festival in Ohio — this is the second booth they have hosted this year for SMA. We have been so humbled and inspired by the passion they have in increasing awareness and funds for SMA and the positive way in which they do it.
So this weekend while attending the Strawberry Festival (just a side note — the Strawberry festival included strawberry everything: funnel cake, shortcake, coolers, salsa and even strawberry burritos!), Penny and Melissa heard the festival organizers were holding a duck race raffle — The Great Strawberry Duck Race. Well, Penny and Melissa immediately marched over to buy their ducks and they generously did so in the name of the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation! These cute little rubber duckies never meant more. The grand prize was $1,000!!! — and while the 2nd through 6th place winnings were really neat prizes, pizza every month isn't going to help cure SMA. This was a long shot — a HUGE long shot. There were hundreds of duckies entered into the contest. But, none as cute as “Gwennie!” After a huge rain storm made the river too full, Penny and Melissa weren't exactly sure how the “race” would go. It turned out, the ducks were all herded into a pool, labeled only with a random number, and then the Strawberry Festival Queen and Princesses lined up to each select a winner — with the Queen randomly picking the grand prize lucky duck. And guess what??? Gwennie was selected!!! Our duck, out of hundreds, is the winning duck!!! Can you believe it??? It gives me goosebumps to think of the odds and to know none of it would have happened without two very generous, thoughtful, and fabulous ladies!!! Thank you so, so much Penny and Melissa. You are simply incredible.