Walk for Love at Shriners Hospital in Springfield Mass

It's always a great day at Shriners Hospital! And yesterday was even more exciting than usual. 

Queen Taylor dazzled the crowd and I attempted to not trip over my tongue while fighting off tears as I told an enormous crowd of people our story.

But before the stage fright began, we had tons of fun goofing off with our clown friends.

And Ana...

And Storm Troopers.....

And puppies from K-9s for Kids, Inc

And a gigantic rabbit, and huge porcupine, snakes and other crazy critters at the petting zoo....

And hanging with our fellow Shriners Hospital Patient Ambassador Jacob Ellinger

This is the link to his speech http://youtu.be/M92h3TE5hj0

And LOSNA friends

It was a great morning had by all :)

Then it came time for the stage fright ;-)

My Mom caught it on video but before I even saw it, I found out it had already made it's debut on YouTube thanks to Kerry O'Connor. And as if it wasn't hard enough to fight the tears saying it, his thanks to me at the end crushed me. 

http://youtu.be/yaHaTgKvvdA

I can't even describe how happy I was to be able to be a part of yesterday's Walk for Love event and how grateful I am to be a part of the Shriners Hospitals family.

Thank you Bernadette, Lee and Karen for having faith in me to speak on behalf of the Hospital.

Thanks to the Melha Clown crew especially Fix It, Railz, Doc and Joey and LOSNA Lady Maureen for the extra attention and love you shared with us. 

And thank you Shriners for all that you do!

Laurie Kathryn's 8th Annual Butterfly Dance

Join us Sunday September 7th at Patch Park in Charlestown, NH for a fun filled day of food, games, bouncy houses, clowns, face painting, music and raffles while helping to raise funds for our local children's charities, in loving memory of sweet angel Laurie Kathryn. Don't forget your butterfly wings :)

Shrine On Springfield 2014

****This is what I posted on dramabook..... there are tons of other pictures if you check it out there******



Wow! What a beautiful day we had Saturday. I can not thank everyone enough. Without all of you, this fundraiser wouldn’t exist and we wouldn’t be able to give this much back to help Shriners Hospitals help more kids defy the odds.

I was very excited to see our numbers growing again after a small showing last year. We had over 60 supporters show up to the walk and although we did lose the bulk of our Sinai Joe clown friends (thank you Mike for sticking around  ) and a few others to the Claremont Alumni parade, we had 45 adults, kids and babies hit the Toonerville Trail to support this wonderful cause. Jack Snyde, John and Jane Waysville, Sam Putnam, Travis and Beth Putnam, “Fix It”, Tanya McAllister, Julie St. Sauveur, Rachel Harrell, Mike Bamforth and Jan Vann, Lori McElroy, Clyde and Diane Gallion, Darcy and Justin Gallion, and Mrs Ferland and the kindergarten class from Bethlehem NH Elementary School (thanks to Pitre and Julie) turned in 20 gallons of (aluminum can) Tabs For Taylor and all our walkers raised a grand total of $1600.00 for Shriners Hospitals for Children!

Once again, Darcy and Justin Gallion’s clan has smashed the competition. They raised $500 this year for our beloved hospital and I was told that it was mostly thanks to their son Jaxyn’s efforts. Way to go Jaxyn!

We also drew in a few more participants from far away: Our friends Shawn (2012 Potentate of Mt. Sinai) and Jaqi Kincaid made it down from Lyndonville VT,  “Fix It” Gerald Ducharme came up again this year and brought his wife Tami and 3 of their kids followed by our new friend “Railz” Bill MacKinnon, both of Melha Shriners in Springfield MA. Candy and David Desrochers and Julie St. Sauveur made the trek down again from Alton NH and Lisa Boyle came down from Union NH. We also had our first international participants! Johanne Champigny, who was one of Taylor’s Occupational Therapists when we lived on the Canadian border, rode down with her husband Denis Dufour from their home in Canada to join us.

After our wonderfully successful walkathon, we headed down Route 5 to Herrick’s Cove for our Thank You BBQ. We lost a few walkers but held a strong turn out of 40 people. We had tons of food, a crazy water fight which started with itty bitty squirt guns then turned into squirt cannons and water ballons followed by buckets full of water being tossed around, a giant slip n slide, bubbles, wiffle ball and the always hilarious sack race.

A million thanks go out to everyone who helped behind the scene to make this event happen: my husband Jeremy for running my crazy errands, kidnapping Gram, setting up and cooking food, dealing with my craziness with this year after year and putting in the OT to be there Saturday. To Denis Chabot for stopping in to drop off a donation and a TON of fun toys for the kids to play with. They had a BLAST!! To my Dad Ray St. Sauveur and Linda Schettino for making the shirts a possibility again this year. To Doolittles PrintServ for making our awesome stickers and to the Shirt Factory for making our shirts again this year. To Clyde, Justin, Diane Gallion for all your help with getting water and ice, setting up and transporting stuff and cooking and oh my goodness, the list goes on and on! Darcy Gallion for your never ending help with food and drinks and your AWESOME, AWESOME desserts. The minion Shriners were so fantastic!!!! To my mom Candy and “Big Daddy D” David Desrochers for the food gift card, tshirt funds, tab transport and storage, games, toys and entertainment and all your support! To my grandmother Linda Drew for your help with food. To my aunt Lisa for all your help with getting support from Market Basket and the salads and always yummy whoopie pies. Many thanks to  Demoulas Market Basket for the food gift card they donated for our cookout, to the Savings Bank of Walpole for their water donation and Rachel Harrell for all your countless hours of coupon hunting, shopping assistance and saving the day with the canopy to protect our food from the crazy tree ;)

Last but certainly not least, THANK YOU TO OUR SHRINE ON SPRINGFIELD 2014 DONORS:

Clyde and Diane Gallion
Wilson and Rosemary Gallion
Tonya and Shawn Waters
Jim Waryas
Mike Stoudley
JD Allbee
Vern Bothrick
Greg Joslyn
Charlie Lovell
Sheldon Scott
Rick Gramlin
Ellen
Brian Mattson
Harry Thompson
Bob Chiles
Sara Lovell
Megan Blaine
Ralph Squires
Handy Marrell
Todd Given
Jeremy Maskell
Ed Hayl
Deana Merril
Paul Obuchowski
Jim Kirkwood
Lori Peterson
Miles Lovell
Hubert Lovell
Gary Richards
Tanya, Heath, Alexis, Lizzy and Ray
Doc Neill
Steve Chew
Mike Bryant
Bill Hauer
Zeb Webster
"Grandmama" Candy & "Pappa" David Desrochers
Glenn and Lorraine Eckert
Leon Towsley
Travis, Beth, Zane and Aiden Putnam
Connie Rathbun
Sandy
Sean Cole
Shelly Rullo
Nancy Ferguson
Linda Finch
Vicki Currie
Sandy Coutu
Samantha Patterson
Ray Bullock
Lisa Boyle
Linda "GG" Drew
Ruth Brooks
Mitch Hartford
Ron Randlett
Linda Randlett
Jane and Martin Deschaine
Merissa King
Britney Durham
Larissa Baraw
Jan Vann & Mike Bamforth
Shawn & Jaqi Kincaid
Kim and Darrin Stowell
Annette Deas
Dan "Poppo" Putnam
Justin & Darcy Gallion & Jax & Jay
Jarrod and Jill James
Patricia Lally
Carolyn Bigwood
Sean McElroy
Denis Chabot and Great Northern Comfort Home Improvement
Beverly Waysville
Johanne Champigny
Christine Ingram
Kathy Aaro
Heidi Laramee
Laurie Wallace and Kit 'N Kaboodle Consignments
Jim and Lisa Hayes
Paula Searles
Ashtyn Ora and Taylor Marie Honeycutt


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Taylor is now in her 6th “Armie” (and will be receiving her 7th in a few days) thanks to Shriners Hospitals for Children. She received her first 3 arms between 3 months and 22 months of age and now receives a new one about every 12 to 18 months depending how fast she grows. In 5 years, we have raised $10,849.00! That is awesome!!!!  I also want you to understand that Taylor’s medical needs are about as small as they come when Shriners Hospital is involved. Most of the children treated there have serious spinal and orthopedic issues or cleft lip and palate, requiring multiple surgeries and years of follow up treatments. This doesn’t even include the kids who are treated at the Shriners burn hospitals like the one in Boston. I also want you all to know that $10,849 would cover maybe 1 1/2 of her “armies” or 1 leg prosthetic and  it would barely dent the cost of a single surgery. The patients and their families never see a bill for any of it.

Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate           are eligible for admission and receive all care in a family-centered environment with no financial obligation to the patient or their families.

Shriners Hospitals rely on the generosity of Shriners, and donors like you, to deliver this mission every day and the need for these hospitals will always be there. We can not prevent children from being born with or developing the conditions that the Shriners Hospitals treat, and no matter how hard we try, we can’t always prevent kids from being injured or burned. Each year, the number of new patients grows, as does the cost to treat and, if possible, correct these ailments  and I hope each year the number of supporters grows as well.

Shriners change the world by caring for kids and helping those kids defy the odds! All of us who have had a loved one treated at their hospitals are eternally grateful and forever in their debt. To everyone who has supported us both past and present and to all who rock their Fez with pride, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

We hope and look forward to seeing you all next summer for Shrine On Springfield 2015!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shrine On 2014 Paperwork

Another date with the Men of Melha

The girls and I had another fun filled adventure down in Springfield Mass this weekend at the 60th Melha Shriners Circus. 

After having myself a small heart attack as I took one wrong turn which directed us to make a loop around East Longmeadow and Springfield followed by my gps directing me back to New Hampshire, we finally got back on track and arrived at the Big E fairgrounds just in time to oooooh and aaaaah at the elephant and camels that pranced around under the big top. 

The girls had never seen real camels before so they were pretty psyched. 

We enjoyed the ever random antics of Johnny Rocket who is definitely a one man circus. One minute he's clowning, "wait" LOL, the next he's on a high wire, or on a trampoline and dancing like MC Hammer, then he's lip syncing while riding a wrecking ball...bet ya can't guess what the song was. 

There were people using ladders sort of like stilts and then walking around or jump roping like that, girls spinning by their hands, feet and faces 4 stories above the ground.

The poor clown who had his snow globe smashed then turned the arena into a giant snow globe.

Bammo's cannon shot and Fix It's barber shop skits.

The husky dogs running around, the fire snapping whipping and lassoing girl, the crazy threesome riding the motorcycle and trapeze bar thingy up and down the high wire.

Finished with some crazy, crazy guys riding indoor motocross insanity.

It was a sight to see.

No trip would be complete without a little clowning around ;) 

And we did a lot of it. 

After the show, we tip-toed in for a sneak peak at the clown photo shoot, then enjoyed some VIP lunch with the colorful crew and enjoyed some more visiting with a few of our favorites: Cheer Up and Fix It :) The girls enjoyed raiding Jingles' pockets for fun light up gadgets and flowers and seeing his magical removable finger trick...the "magic" being his finger actually was amputated, so I followed it up with "Taylor, you can perform that trick too but with your nubby" ;) I think he was more surprised then the girls were with his trick ;) A lot of people actually were. They didn't even notice Tayt's armie unless it was brought up or if they remembered us from our visit to their ceremonial. 

These guys truly are awesome! Aside from rocking the Fez, which pretty much automatically gets you on my good side, they really take pride in their clowning around. Their outfits are great, their makeup is done to perfection, they interact like they are the best of friends who have been performing together since birth even when they are brand new to this or might actually despise one another. 

I swear Doc must super glue his face before he puts on his make up.

This guy was grinning ear to ear all day. He was absolutely radiating happiness. It was great to watch him glow.

These guys all go above and beyond to include and goof off with the audience before, during and after the show. They've really got a good crew there. 

I'll have to make sure we go to the second show next year so we can see the "parade" of units, bands and I can enjoy the Highlanders.....I'm sorry (you know who) you think they sound like dying cats, but bagpipes and kilts kick ass!

On the way home I asked the girls if they had fun. To which they simultaneously replied "No". My heart sank and as i tried to begin processing this, the cotton candy kicked in and they started bouncing around in the car shouting "it wasn't just fun, it was super awesome fun! It was the most fun thing ever!" And then I listened to their hour and ten minute recap of the entire performance as we drove home. 

They're already talking about our circus adventure for next year and can't wait.

So thank you to everyone at the circus who made my girls' day great, extra love to Fix It and Cheer Up <3 Thank you to all the Men of Melha for all that you do to help kids <3

http://fgr.am/f/A5kXbbqN67

New faces, old friends and groundhog stew

We went back down to Springfield today so Tayt could have her one year check up in Orthopedics. 10 miles into our journey, as we crossed the Bernardston line, Puxatawny Phil ruined my memory of yesterday and snow began to fall. 

Soon after I, along with 1,000 other cars, felt the wrath of the snow as we sat bumper to bumper for what felt like an eternity

But Tayt didn't let it bother her

When we arrived at Shriners Hospital yesterday with our zillions of Tabs For Taylor, it was like spring was already here. We ran around in T-shirts and did cartwheels on the lawn. Today, we arrive to be greeted by 3 inches of gick and slop and almost whiteout conditions. Grrr!

But we didn't let that ruin our day, even though it did ruin my not-so-dry-anymore socks. 

We dropped off our Tabs For Taylor cash ($25.50- money left in tabs bins, bags, etc and the donation from a family at the Bethlehem NH elementary school) with Karen and then proceeded to go bug Lee for a few minutes. Lee had another visitor shortly before we arrived.... Our buddy Fix It (one of our clowny Shriner friends) dropped off a super sweet card and some awesome pins for the girls. 

Then came time for the doctor stuff....on our way to check in however, Tayt met up with 4 different girls who were there for their own check ups....all of them were lefties just like her..... And a cute as a button little baby and an older boy....both lefties too! It was definitely armie day and totally funny everyone was a lefty too.

Doctor stuff is what it is. Tayt was basically being her usual "I can't hear you Mom" self :/ but the nurses kept her happy with gifts of crayons and a coloring book and a fancy new pair of pjs (someone donated tons of pajama sets for patients) and after a not too painful visit we went to O&P to meet with her new Armie person (Rob, who has been "her arm guy" since day one has unfortunately left SHC.) Much to our surprise, her new guy is Brock! Who I had planned to bug anyway to ask for help with her current harness issue. We just met a little girl who lives near us and Brock made her armie so I was hoping he might know what to do. No surprise, he did. And he fixed her harness, replaced her abused to death hand, wrist, bands and missing gaskets.

That's about it for now I guess. 

Oh my!!!

I keep saying I'm going to get better about staying current and I'm failing miserably :( but I just HAVE to share this! We just brought 10 months worth of tabs down to Shriners Hospital.... Our tab total was between 4.5-4.5 MILLION tabs!!!!! Woo hoo! 3,000 pounds of "trash" to help kids like my little Taylor kick the tushy of the odds! Thank you to everyone who helps this wonderful cause! #tabsfortaylor <3

(My truck is still over half full of tabs!!!)