Thumbs Up Campaign: Who Will Win?

The Thumbs Up Campaign is still going strong at many local Ashland businesses.  Have you seen the logo in some neighborhood storefronts lately?


Local Ashland businesses have volunteered to support the Thumbs Up Campaign.  Add a $1 (or more) donation to each transaction and 100% of the proceeds will benefit CJSTUF.  Each donor gets their name on a card which will be posted prominently in the business.

Current participating businesses include:
Pepicellis Pizza         208 S. Washington Highway, Ashland
NY Nails & Tan          107 N. Washington Highway (Ashland-Hanover Shopping Center)
Ashland Pack & Ship  225 N. Washington Highway (Ashland-Hanover Shopping Center)
Flower Depot           211 N. Washington Highway (Ashland-Hanover Shopping Center)
Cross Bros. Grocery   107 S. Railroad Avenue
Train Town Toy & Hobby 104 S. Railroad Avenue
1st Capital Bank-Ashland  409 S. Washington Highway, Ashland


100% of the proceeds will go to CJSTUF's programs, providing financial assistance to families in need.  The business that sells the most cards will win a team-building workshop from Comedy Sportz Improv Theater valued at $1500!


The Thumbs Up Campaign will be going on through May 31st. 

Thumbs Up Campaign: Local Businesses Give Back

If you're shopping around Ashland in the next month or two, you might say some of the proprietors are "all thumbs".  


Local Ashland businesses have volunteered to support the Thumbs Up Campaign.  Add a $1 (or more) donation to each transaction and 100% of the proceeds will benefit CJSTUF.  Each donor gets their name on a card which will be posted prominently in the business.

Current participating businesses include:
Pepicellis Pizza         208 S. Washington Highway, Ashland
NY Nails & Tan          107 N. Washington Highway, Ashland (Martin's Shopping Center)
Ashland Pack & Ship 225 N. Washington Highway, Ashland (Martin's Shopping Center)
Flower Depot           211 N. Washington Highway, Ashland (Martin's Shopping Center)
The Thumbs Up Campaign will be going on through May 31st. 


If you own a local business that would like to participate, contact Roger ASAP.  We will supply each business with donor cards, posters, and information about the foundation that can be distributed to customers.  The business that raises the most funds by May 31st will win a team-building comedy workshop for their staff from Comedy Sportz Improv Theater valued at $1500!


PS You don't have to be an Ashland business to participate! 

How Cool is That?

January is starting off with a BANG! 


First of all, a group of aspiring marketing students at King William High School are using our organization for their DECA project.  For one part of their project, they have created new CJSTUF plastic bracelets to sell at their school.  They have given us a limited quantity of the bracelets to distribute to anyone interested in the Richmond area. Suggested donation is $1 per bracelet and all proceeds will benefit CJSTUF.  

The bracelets are pink and purple and feature our name. 

We will have a bunch of the bracelets at the Remember CJ event this Saturday. Roger and I will also carry the bracelets around until we sell out. Contact Roger (or me) if you would like to get a few.  


Next on the agenda, there are only 2 more days until voting officially ends for the Eagle Rare Life Award. After all the votes are tallied, there will be an official selection process by the good folks at Eagle Rare to pick the top 20 and, eventually, the top 7 prize winners.  We are hopeful that Rachel's strong third place status in the popular vote will yield great results for the foundation.  There's still time to submit your vote. Thanks to all those who have been voting on our behalf.  We expect to hear news of final results sometime in February.  

Speaking of voting, Macaroni Kid of Richmond has generously offered to give $1 for every "Like" that their fan page gets on Facebook during the month of January (up to $200). If you live in the Richmond area and are looking for great family activities or deals, Macaroni Kid is a great resource. Please visit their Facebook page and thank them for supporting CJSTUF.




Finally, you may have heard through the grapevine that the Thumbs Up Ball is back! For those of you who remember the event from 2010, we are excited that this year's family dance and silent auction is going to be just as much fun! We will be in a new location this year (the Shady Grove Methodist Church in Short Pump) and the date is Saturday, February 18th, 4:30-7:00 PM.  Tickets are $10 per person and space is limited. We expect this event to sell out and registration is open now on our website.  


We are also currently seeking donations of items for our Silent Auction and raffle during the Thumbs Up Ball.  If you would like to be featured as an event sponsor, contact our event coordinator for details.  


That's all for now! Whew! What happened to that leisurely holiday vacation????

"One G*# D*&#ed Chocolate Chip Cookie"

Or better yet, "That Damned Kiss." - A Mighty Wind

Or slightly more diffused, "You know you've ruined it for me..." - Out Of Africa

We all have had events in our lives where one little detail eventually became more than just a detail in the overall fabric of our experience.  It morphed into an major element of the plot, influencing further development and screwing up your plan for where you thought you were going.  This butterfly did that to me:

A few days ago, Rachel came in the house and said, "Have you seen the new butterfly?"

We both went out and she showed me the purple butterfly that someone had covertly attached to Homer the Pine Tree overhanging CJ's Butterfly Bush.  We occasionally find things on or around CJ left by people we didn't see and they are always appreciated but I think I must have been in a certain frame of mind to receive this certain butterfly because it changed the course of my psyche.

Rachel and I had just come back from our vacation (it was fabulous, in case you hadn't heard) and I wasn't ready to get back into reality.  On top of that, I had been having lots of little "moments" that were weighing me down.  Moments brought on by the weirdest things.  Like hearing a song or being in a place where Charlotte had been. The bus was certainly back, parked squarely on my chest, and my "woe-is-me" song writing machine was picking up speed.  And a part of me was ready to stay on that path for a while. There's value (at least to me) in feeling the pain.  At least when I feel the pain, I know I'm remembering her. (I hate "at leasts")

And then I saw that damned butterfly.  It wasn't like the weight was lifted or anything too dramatic like that but it reminded me that people are thinking of us, which is comforting, and that I need to get my head on straight.  It even altered the direction of one of the songs I had been working on for a long time.

The problem is that it was fixing to be a pretty good sad song before then.  Now it's all confused and I may have to break it up into two different songs that sound a lot alike.

Be that as it may, the song writing machine (along with my attitude) has come out of its nose-dive and has leveled off for now.  The moments are still there, nothing has changed in that respect, but I'm at least able to deal with them for the time being.

Thanks to whoever placed that damned butterfly.

In other news, the Foundation is ending the year with both good and bad news.  The good news is that we were able to help 30 families, one way or another, to the tune of $14,000. That takes the total amount of aid since incorporation to around $27,000 in two years.  (We thought we were closer to $30K for a while but it still ain't too shabby)

The bad news is that we still have 13 families on the waiting list.  That's $6,500 if you want an amount.  We're really hoping that some last minute fundraising opportunities will help narrow that gap.

One not-so-last-minute FUN-raiser is the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K on March 31, 2012.  TEAM CJ will be in effect and there are different ways you can get involved:

1 - Join TEAM CJ, collect pledges, and run in the 10k.  If you commit to raising $500 or more, CJSTUF will give you a code to register for free!

2 - Go to MY fund raising page and make a pledge.  My goal for all of TEAM CJ is $10,000 but if I could do that personally, wouldn't that be totally cool!?!  The Mother Runners are going to be involved somehow. We haven't solidified details but there may be a pink running skirt involved! :-)

3 - Be a cheer-er for TEAM CJ along the route.  We need spirit, we know we do! We need spirit, how about YOU!?!

By the way, there are new racing shirts (real running shirts!) for all Team CJ participants!

GO TEAM CJ!!!

January will also be "Remember CJ Month" when participating stores will be donating up to 5% of sales for the month to CJSTUF.  Our first participant will be the Bed Corner in Stonewall Square in Mechanicsville.  Come buy a bed or mattress in January and help CJSTUF!

If you own a business or know of one that would be interested in participating, have them contact us asap.

I think that's all for now.  I'm sure Rachel will be back on with something I've forgotten.

Bye for now,

Roger

p.s. If you want me to explain the chocolate chip cookie reference, please let me know.

First Annual CJSTUF Butterfly Social

Wanted: Creative Hosts and Hostesses

Do you like to entertain? Welcome your friends & family to celebrate with dinner, drinks, or refreshments in exchange for a donation to CJ's Thumbs Up Foundation.  

Plan to host an event in your home (or any place of your choosing) sometime between May 23 and June 5, 2011. You decide on a theme and your guest list.  The options are limitless:

• Pizza party
• Family Movie night
• Memorial Day Barbecue
• Fancy Gourmet Dinner
• Neighborhood Block Party  
• Elegant Tea Party  

 After you pick a date, contact us so that we can provide a host toolkit to help with all your party planning needs. The toolkit includes invitations and reply cards (that can be sent electronically or via paper), CJSTUF fact sheet to share with guests, party ideas, and a step-by-step guide to creating a fabulous Butterfly Social.

For more information, you can visit our website or contact our Event Coordinator. 

Charlotte is Home!

Charlotte is home. At the moment she's sleeping in our bed looking like the classic cherub out of a da Vinci painting.

That is the good news. For the most part, she seemed to tolerate this first round of chemo well. The last day, she was a little on the grumpy/fickle side and did not have much of an appetite. We came home with a whole set of prescriptions (that daddy forgot to fill last night-bad daddy!) to take and the next week will be filled with doctor's appointments, trying to get her in to therapy appointments again, etc.

Our news on the insurance front is not so good.

One problem: Humana only insures about 400 policyholders in the entire state of Virginia so while they have had a license in VA for a while, there is not a lot of insurance "history" to go on. In talking with someone from the State Commission on Insurance, he feels like we probably don't have a huge "leg" to stand on since insurance companies can arbitrarily (and legally) work these network/out of network stipulations into their policies. It would be a lot easier to fight if they were either 1) flat out denying us care for her problem or 2) if Duke did not/could not provide the chemotherapy treatments. Since neither is the case, we do not have much recourse. Fighting it with lawyers would probably not do much good either.

So we are faced with a decision: opt for in-network care at Duke for everything since it would be very difficult (if not impossible) to coordinate care between the two hospitals or stay at MCV and opt for out-of-network care for her transplant services and pay the out-of pocket costs ourselves. As we have calculated it (based on what Humana will and will not pay for out of pocket care), we would be looking towards AT LEAST $40-45K expenses just for transplant services. We have an additional out of network deductible ($8K) and then we pay 30% of the allowable cost up to $35K per year.

Roger and I have discussed, debated, and prayed over this issue in the last 24 hours and the more we think about it, the more we realize that:
1. The only reason why this has "worked" so far is because Roger and I are a team and we are handling this together (with our wonderful support system)
2. We need to BOTH stay close to Charlotte and to our "Romp n' Roll baby" (basically our second child) during this entire process or the plan just won't work.
3. We have faith that we will be able to raise the funds (somehow) to cover her out-of-network costs and it is worth staying close to home. We have also looked into some medicaid/SSI assistance options which may be helpful down the road.

We have probably one more possible route with the insurance company based on some of the documents I read over last night and I will contact the insurance commission on those on Monday but this is probably the direction in which we will head.

In the coming months, we will probably organize and/or ask others to organize some serious fundraisers to help with Charlotte's health care costs. I mean, with this network in place, we've already put about $7000 into CJ's account. Of course we can raise upwards of $50K for her. And then keep it going for others.

Many of you have been MORE than generous so far and we appreciate that. We want any fundraising we do to be creative, impactful, and meaningful to everyone. Please let us know if you have any ideas. Roger already has some tentative plans. His little mind is always churning out ideas.

Does anyone have experience in organizing non-profits and/or foundations?

p.s. Roger feels really bad about forgetting the prescriptions and he got his own as it was his "comfy shirt" that was used to catch what the anti-nausea medicine would have prevented. The other medicines weren't necessary until today.

p.s.s. CJ gets to see "her Devon" today! YAY!