This month we’re coming together to help out the Withrow family – Jon and Amanda and their two children. Their four-year-old daughter Felicity was diagnosed with brain cancer just a few months ago.
Felicity had immediate surgery and is currently undergoing aggressive radiation treatments for the remaining portion of the tumor, which has left the family with a huge amount of medical bills. Let’s raise at least $5,000 to help them with the cost of radiation therapy, especially with upcoming expenses from a new baby on the way!
Goal: $5,000
$5,287.26
Where Your Money Goes
For the entire month of July, we’ll be giving money, gifts and services to the Withrow family to help in three main areas: (1) medical expenses for Felicity’s treatment, (2) clothes and supplies for the new baby, and (3) prayers for the other kids at the hospital. Along the way we hope that people will also help out by coming up with cool things to give that will help them spend time and have fun as a family, as we’ve done for our other families. And by the way, if anyone could swing it (or part of it), their *dream* gift would be a new bedroom suite with a king-size bed. Just throwing it out there . . . you never know what you’re gonna get. :)
Why We’re Helping This Family
In just the past few months, the Withrow family has gone from perfectly “normal” to experiencing the unthinkable – first when Felicity was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and then shortly after, when her 24-year-old uncle Chad, the life and spirit of her family, passed away from heatstroke while working outside. In addition, Amanda is pregnant with their third child, which is due sometime during Felicity’s treatments.
The emotional weight of these three situations is incredible, and the financial stresses are huge, but through it all the Withrow’s continue to care for others. In fact, when Amanda gets back from the hospital each day, she tells others about all the kids they met there, and asks for prayers and love for them as well. If you’ve ever had a child in the hospital, you know how valuable a loving community can be. This month, let’s become that community for them.
If one word comes to mind when thinking about Felicity and her parents, it’s “strength.” It’s incredible to think that a little girl like Felicity is going through a situation that would traumatize even the strongest of us, and she’s doing it with a smile on her face and joy in her heart, still managing to simply be a kid through it all.
As for Jon and Amanda, their strength is evident when you hear the about his years of military service, the support she gave to him and the rest of the family, and especially in the way they care for not only Felicity right now, but also the rest of their family and the other families at the hospital. It’s a privilege to be working with the Withrow family this month.
Throughout this entire process so far, the Withrows have done an INCREDIBLE job pushing through adversity. They’ve had a rough few months this year, but their positivity and strength continues to move them forward and appreciate life just that much more. We think this quote from Amanda, on sharing advice to others going through similar struggles right now, sums it up perfectly :)
“Don’t get discouraged. It’s so easy to get bogged down with all the bad, and all the negative. Just… let it go. Because if you still have your child, you still have hope. As long as she’s here, we’re gonna keep fighting for her… Just keep fighting.”
Felicity’s Love Drop goes down this Friday — stay tuned!
This was one of the biggest Drops yet, team! We drove down to Atlanta to hang out with little Felicity and the rest of the Withrow family, and to help them out a little bit with all the medical costs incurred from battling Felicity’s brain cancer.
We were blessed this month to have visitors and special guests at the Drop from all over the country, all gathering at the (almost) farm of one of our team members. Especially cool was a very sweet presentation from Kat Cole, the president of Cinnabon, who came down to join in the celebration. All in all, our community raised over $5,000 to help with expenses, plus threw a surprise baby shower for Amanda, delivering tons of extra gifts!
Thank you all for making this month special! Click here to learn about Felicity’s entire story :)
Total gifts given to Felicity and family: [To check out the pictures, click here.]
A check for $5,287.26! – You guys REALLY outdid yourself this month! And a perfect family to come together for too, as the Withrows can really use this support right now:) There are a ton of medical bills that come out of cancer treatments as you can imagine, and with a new baby on its way, they were incredibly thankful to hear the news. A special thank you goes out to Cinnabon and its president, Kat Cole, a long-standing member of Love Drop, for pushing us over our $5,000 goal this month, and then taking it a step further and actually SHOWING UP to celebrate with us! It was an incredible treat (bah-dum-ching)!
A customized Cinnabon Party! – Not only did Cinnabon show up to BE a part of our Drop, but they also surprised the Withrows with a fully-catered “make your own Cinnabons” party the next time they need one for any event :) They’re opening their company doors to them, and will soon be having fun baking them right there in their R&D offices (or wherever the Withrows choose). Pretty unique gift!
$750 worth of custom organization!! An incredible gift by The Stow Company, and its local affiliate SpaceMakers. They’ll be building out some killer shelves/organizational areas for one of their closets/pantries, or whatever they really need help with. Thanks so much, guys! Great surprise.
Dozens, and dozens of hand-made cards full of love and support – Made by the wonderful kids at St. Andrew Lutheran Church Youth! And headed up by our very own Love Drop member, Emmy. Not only were these made to cheer up, and support, the Withrows, but also to be delivered to the other kids at the hospital where little Felicity currently gets treatment every day. Really really cool idea, and always meaningful coming from little kids just like her :)
A FULL DAY’s worth of house cleaning! – Courtesy of Rosie & husband from Rosie’s Cleaning Service :) That was so gracious of you two.
A *large* gift card from special guest Anissa Meyhew of AimingLow.com – who not only gave such a generous gift, but ALSO provided an enormous amount of emotional support for Amanda and family. One of us overheard that it was actually the highlight of the event for Amanda :) So thankful you could be a part of it, Anissa!
A Kindle, and Kindle cover! – From long-time member Diane Mettam – mom of Joy Stalnaker!:)
Also a whole bunch of yarn, and a pattern book – From Diane
Family tickets to The World of Coke!! – Another *awesome* gift by Coca-Cola (along with their partner Cinnabon).
Family tickets to Cirque du Soleil – Courtesy of Goldstar.com (thx, as always!)
A handful of $25 gift certificates – from a whole bunch of people including Robin Greene and Jacqueline Mukweto (thx guys!)
$50 gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse — Which we celebrated at the next night, and we thoroughly enjoyed :) (with our own money, haha, not *their* gift card!) Thanks Roadhouse!
$35 gift certificate to Jump in The City – Woohoo!
Passes & tokens to Chuck E. Cheese’s – Double woohoo!
A beautiful stuffed horse for Felicity – lovingly given by Elizabeth Daniel :)
Fully catered munchables by Chick Fil A – Huge thanks Shannon!)
A couple of kiddie bags, full of books and toys to keep Felicity and Brennan occupied during their hospital visits :) (Good idea Sarah!)
Two beautifully designed custom hand prints – crafted by Nicole Gray from Piggies and Paws!
6 months of meal plans courtesy of MealPlanRescue.com (Thanks for always participating!)
6 months of coaching services from JRRSEHopeCoaching.com – Solutions for midlife parents, troubled teens, single moms & career challenges.
And a photo book to capture the entire Drop’s celebrations. You rock GroupStory.
We then surprised Amanda with a fun baby shower! (With over $1,000 worth of stuff. And by “we,” I mean our AWESOME Love Drop members – Desiree Miller & Shannon Henrici :))
Fully catered snacks by our Cinnabon friends! (We called them “bons in the oven,” haha…) As well as a beautifully packaged gift basket.
$300 Pampers gift card – Along with a ton of free baby wipe certificates (Thx Jolly mom & Pampers!)
A diaper cake & a whole bunch of hats – So cool :) Huge thanks to Little Boo Creations
A GREAT mommaRoo baby swing! – Thanks so much 4Moms!
A slew of hand-made baby bibs, blanket, booties – Lovingly sewn by Jacqueline Mukweto yet again!
A huge gift bag full of cool baby stuff – Courtesy of Cool Mom Picks
Another basket of goodies – Including a $50 salon gift certificate (Thx again Desiree!!)
And ANOTHER gift basket :) – This one including a bunch of Episencial all natural skincare lotions
You guys killed it again! Our 2nd biggest $ amount raised yet – thanks to everyone who participated and made this Drop happen :) Especially Cinnabon, Shannon, Desiree, Stow, and both of our lovely photographers for the event: Brandy Knight and Joy Knight Photography (no relation, haha…). Love ya!
We’d like to thank all 1,000+ members of the Love Drop community! It is each and every one of YOU that powers the project and enables us to touch lives and inspire others each month. THANK YOU for everything you do – together we are making a real difference.
Where Your Money Goes
