Hello All,
It’s been awhile since I’ve written and I’m ready to share. I actually started this post a few weeks ago when the ALS ice challenge was running rampant. Things have quieted down on the ice challenge front, but it still leaves me with the thoughts. This is a brainstorming post and I really want ideas please!!! I want to create a buzz, excitement, and I need help figuring how to do it!
Happy reading, keep in mind it started awhile ago and I’m picking up where I left off.
So we have all seen the amazing ALS ice challenge that is taking place. People we know are accepting the challenge, their children are as well and many celebrities and athletes are on board. Hopefully along the way people are not only dumping buckets of ice on their heads, but are also donating money. It seems that they are as donations have doubled from this time last year! ALS is such a heart breaking disease that slowly eats away at those that suffer and is much deserving of all the funds possible in order to find a cure or medications that help those suffering.
So with all the excitement going on I started to wonder, “how can we create some sort of cyber excitement to support Hope From Harrison?” See we are in an tough situation in regards to our non-profit. We do not have a “disease,” “disorder” or “illness” to attach to what we do and sometimes I think that makes things a little less inviting. Those who love us are on board no matter what, we are so grateful for the love and support we have around us. It is AMAZING, TRULY AMAZING and we are ready to spread our wings and grow our AMAZING network and grow our financial backing.
I feel so passionately about helping families with children that have special medical needs that I am willing to do whatever it takes to get the message out there. Families need HELP more than anyone can ever know without having lived it! It is the most beautiful thing to have support during the most challenging of times and that feeling and gratitude we have will never leave us and drives us to continue to create that for others.
What Hope From Harrison does is equally as important as any other non profit or foundation that looks for cures and remedies for diseases. What we do just comes in a different manner. In many ways we are indirectly helping specific diseases and disorders by caring for the families that have loved ones living out life with a disease or the effects of a disease. We have seen first hand how lifting financial burdens for parents allows them the much needed time to care for their child and we have seen these children come out stronger because of it. There is no price tag on a parent’s love or time needed to care for a child.
The other challenge we posses, I believe, is that we love music. For us it makes sense to carry on Harrison’s legacy through music and people may not understand what it is exactly they are supporting. If it were a walk/run event that we planned I think people could wrap their heads around it a better and feel more confident attaching there names to it.
So these are our challenges and opportunities. Where do we go from here!??!
We had a beautiful and incredible response to our Gofundme account and we are so thrilled and full of gratitude. Such an amazing response that has DEFINITELY helped kick off Hope Fest in a perfect way. (ps- If you have donated tshirts will be coming in the mail by late October) Now it’s time for the next phase, the next big chunk. An event like this costs anywhere between $30,ooo-$40,000 to pull of successfully. This $30,000-$40,000 can potentially bring in $70,000-$100,000 which would do tremendous things for families caring for a child with special needs. Allow me to say this again, TREMENDOUS!!!
If you are still confused about what exactly Hope Fest is, allow me to offer a little more explanation. Hope From Harrison has planned a day filled with love and community. A day for families of all ages to be together outside and enjoy beautiful weather and beautiful company all in the name of helping families. There will be many bands throughout the day, there will be delicious eats and drinks. There will be vendors selling their wonderful creations and there will be an entire area devoted to children- Face painting, balloon creations, lego, climbing walls, pitching cages, snow cones, ice cream, and on and on and on. There will be prizes given out throughout the day as well and these prizes have been donated by local businesses in the area. Hope Fest will become an annual event that families can look forward to and we are so proud to create this space!!
So I’m looking for suggestions, ideas, OPPORTUNITIES!!! How can Hope From Harrison create a cyber buzz to raise awareness and financial backing?? I just keep thinking, “if everyone I know on facebook donated $5 dollars and shared with their friends and they donated $5 and so on and so on, it would be incredible!” So how do we create the $5 buzz? Ideas please!??!
As always, thank you for the continued support and love. None of this would be possible without all of you, our community! We love you all and appreciate all you have done and continue to do! Words can not express how much gratitude we are filled with. Just know that because of all your love and support we keep Harrison’s legacy alive. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. We are ALL Hope From Harrison!
Much love,
Melissa
Leave a Reply