Yesterday Harrison and I loaded up the car and made the hour drive to Omaha for the big day. I wasn't as anxious/nervous about the donation this year--I think having him with me helped. As we drove I told him all about the special donation that we were making later that day and how Charlotte would be so happy and proud that he could be there to "help". We talked about the importance of giving back, helping others and also about how much LOVE our family felt (and still feels) while Charlotte was a patient at Children's. Harrison slept through most of my rambling, but I'm pretty sure that his sleeping mind was still impressionable!
After a quick stop at Grandma Debbie's house to load up our delivery, we made our way to the hospital where we met the kiddo's Grammy Vicki. She wasn't able to come to last year's drop-off so we were thrilled to see her this time around! From there we did a little last minute "stickering", transferred our book totes/boxes into the lobby and snapped some pictures. We also did some final book number crunching (more on that in a minute!)
Being slightly OCD, this year I decided to help Children's out a little by trying to organize our donation. Not all of the books made it into totes, but the picture below gives an idea of of what we were able to give. We had everything from board books to coloring books, first readers to chapter books for older kids-- we even had a whole bag full of Spanish/English books! I'm still quite overwhelmed by it all...
Check out Harrison. He was over the whole "Book" thing and decided that it was a good time for a nap. He looks like he's deep in thought with his fist on his chin like that!
So...back to my comment before about "number crunching." Last year our TOTAL donation (Omaha + Sioux Falls) came in at just over 1200 books. I was blown away by that number, so just imagine how totally SHOCKED I was when we were able to deliver 1,124 books yesterday to Omaha Children's alone.
ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR BOOKS!
I cannot stop smiling. Seriously. Cannot.Stop.Smiling. Are you smiling? I'm smiling. Smiling, sniffling and drying my eyes...but SO totally smiling.
So, where does that leave us for the "Official" 2012 Books for Charley collection?
Aly, Claire and Mason donations = 572 books
Sioux Falls = 340 books
Atlanta donation = 126 books
Omaha Children's = 1,124
TOTAL books = 2,162 books
I know that I have said this repeatedly over the past two months, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who contributed and made Books for Charley {2} such an overwhelming success. I would hug you all if I could! My family cannot begin to express how grateful we are for your willingness to continue helping us celebrate Miss Charlotte. She may have only been with us for a short time, but my oh my did she leave a giant impression behind. Thanks to all of you our little girls memory remains strong...and that makes this mama's heart sing.
I love and miss you Charley Bear...beyond words or explanation.
This brought tears to my eyes! I can't believe there have been over 2,000 books donated in honor of your sweet girl. I'm so happy to have been a part of it. Can't wait until next year!!! <3
ReplyDeleteI am sitting between classes reading this with teary eyes and HUGE goosebumps! Yay!
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing donation in honor of your Charley Bear. If you think you're smiling big, just imagine her sweet grin! Big hugs to all of you and your new little bundle. xoxo.
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