Author Archives: sMiles 4 Sammy

A New Year

A New Year

Gearing up for The Flight to The North Pole

Happy New Year, Y’all!  Samantha’s mom here…As s4S has taken on a life of it’s own the past couple of years, it’s been amazing to watch!  Our team has met some precious babies, parents, children and families.  Each has an incredible story to tell and a platform which to make a difference.  And I am convinced that these extra special babies are angels sent down to show us amazing things and to change our hearts.  What I love most about these little angels is that they make us look up!  To look up past the busyness and distractions all around us that for the most part we bring upon ourselves.  If you have ever experienced what I am talking about then you understand why it can’t be put into words.  Honestly, that’s why I’ve always been so hesitant to “blog” on our webpage.  How do you put into words those stories?  How do you put little glimpses of WHO God is down on the page?  I feel woefully inadequate to try and capture and share and explain. That being said, there’s been a tug on my heart lately to share more about what we see and how God is choosing to work through s4S.  Like all other areas of life, the start of new year seems like a good time to step forward in this area.  Let me just say that I’m not big on resolutions.  Mostly because I am terrible to sticking at those and always have been!  So instead of calling this a resolution, I’m just going out on the webpage limb to say that I am going to try to be better in this area 🙂  Being the mom of 2 busy girls, wife to a hardworking coach/teacher, part-time aid to some busy preschoolers and trying to stay on top of this mission keeps me completely busy.  It gets crazy sometimes!  I would be naive to think that I’ll have all this extra time for posting, so let’s make sure to keep the expectations low. In reality, I think there are only 5 posts on this page from 2014, so if I can do better than 5 then I’ll be doing better, right? I figure the only way to go is up 🙂

For today, I’ll just share with you a brief snapshot of where we are with s4S!  We just finished a CRAZY and BUSY Season of sMiles!  We matched up several sponsor groups with 3 of our families who have had a rough year medically and financially (these go hand in hand…I don’t are how good your insurance is!).  We got to be the team of elves and handed out 55 sibling bags at the Flight to the North Pole (VERY cool event!).  Goody bags were passed out at a community event by the amazing Vista Ridge High School DECA kids that continue to be serving hands for our mission.  And we received 3 new little ones into our sMiles 4 Families program!

Bottom line, over the course of the next year, myself or another team member of ours, will be highlighting different aspects of this amazing ministry that God has entrusted our help with!

Until the next post, blessings to you all!

Sherlyn

Beautiful Weekend

Beautiful Weekend

The Fundraising Blitz is over and what a great weekend it was!  The Silent Auction at the Red vs. Black Spring football game was a fun evening and we appreciate everyone who came out to watch some great Texas high school football and show s4S support!  Saturday morning’s 5k was AWESOME!  We had a record number of participants at 515!  Live race results can be found here: http://edsresults.com/s4s/.  It truly was a fun, family event and we are so appreciative of our sponsors, vendors, volunteers and participants!  It takes some amazing volunteers and team members to pull off an event of that size and we are grateful!  To have several of our families in our sMiles 4 Families program join us for the morning was pretty incredible as well!  While fundraising is absolutely an important part of a nonprofit, we are excited to get back to focusing on the families in our program and to the close the chapter on this year’s Fundraising Blitz!  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and may you each have a beautiful and blessed summer!

Gearing Up!

Gearing Up!

What was going to be a one time event to honor all that Sammy taught us has overflowed into a ministry that only God could orchestrate!  Our once a year fundraising blitz weekend with a silent auction on Friday night at the VR Spring game and our 5K the following morning is the last weekend in May.  This is our only fundraiser and provides the funds to carry out our mission for the entire year.  Want to be involved with our weekend:

1) We’d be honored if you would join us for the race on May 31st (there is a Sleep In option)!

2) Come bid on some great items at our Silent Auction!

3) Donate an item to our silent auction or be a race sponsor!

5) Most importantly, please pray for God’s will to be done and pray for the sweet families we are blessed to serve!

We are excited!

Mark May 30th and May 31st on your calendar!

Mark May 30th and May 31st on your calendar!

We are excited to share with you the dates for our 3rd annual fundraising blitz!  Our Silent Auction will be held on Friday, May 30th at the Vista Ridge High School Spring Football Game and the next morning (May 31st) will be our 3rd annual sMiles 4 Sammy Family Fun Run and 5K!  We hope you will mark these dates on your calendar now.  Check back soon for more information and to register for the 5K!

The Blitz

The Blitz

We just wanted to share with you a little bit about our mindset regarding fundraising!  Fundraising could be a full time job for a nonprofit; however, we take a little different approach.   We decided that once per year was MORE than enough for us!  We are a small non profit, run by volunteers.  All of our team members and volunteers are busy…families, jobs, the juggling of many things at once…well, you get the idea and are probably living the same kind of craziness.  When we decided to make this ministry permanent and pursue becoming a 501 (c) 3, we agreed to just have one weekend per year focused on fundraising.  We call it our Fundraising Blitz and we have our Silent Auction on Friday night, our 5K on Saturday morning, and we are completely and utterly exhausted by Saturday at noon!  2 major fundraisers in less than 18 hours!  We made the commitment to throw everything we have into the Blitz.  We do the very best we can and then we trust that God will give us what we need to accomplish His plan for sMiles 4 Sammy.  There are lots of pluses to our thinking…1) People know that we aren’t asking them for money every time they cross our path.  Just once a year we encourage them to come buy stuff at a silent auction, get healthy at a 5K and get an awesome t-shirt for participating!  2) Let’s face it…fundraising just isn’t as fun or rewarding as getting to know the wonderful families in our sMiles 4 Families program or creating and delivering the care packages!  We raise funds once and then get to give back the whole rest of the year!  3) Our volunteers don’t have to worry about “working” for us all year long.   It’s never a good idea to tire out your volunteers. Ever.  At all.  Our thinking may not work for all nonprofits, but it seems to be working pretty well for us.

With that being said, we were blessed with $20,000 at our 2013 Fundraising Blitz!  That’s $10,000 in the restricted account at the Ripken Foundation for the future All Ability Field and $10,000 that we are using to love on families who have a medically fragile child.  How awesome is that!  You know, the funny thing is, the more that sMiles 4 Sammy gives, the more that seems to just appear…when we haven’t asked for anything!  That’s the funny thing about giving…it’s the whole “the more you give, the more you receive” principle in action.  It’s been amazing to watch God do His God things!

Thanks for allowing us to share a little bit about our mindset and for sharing with  you the results of our Blitz!  We know the Blitz was was 4 months ago, so this post isn’t exactly “on time”, but we have been busy with our sMiles for Families program and with our own families.  Better late than never, right?

We have so many exciting things to share about  sMiles 4 Families, but we’ll save that for another post!  Y’all enjoy your evening!  Please say a prayer for all those families who lost a loved one in the 9/11 tragedy.  Say a prayer for our servicemen and women who daily sacrifice so that we can be free and enjoy all that this beautiful country has to offer.  Give your loved ones a hug, tell them you love them and make LOTS of  memories with them.  Every Day is a Gift!

2nd Annual sMiles 4 Sammy Family Fun Run & 5K

2nd Annual sMiles 4 Sammy Family Fun Run & 5K

The date has been set for the 2nd Annual sMiles 4 Sammy Family Fun Run & 5K!  Join us on Saturday, June 1st at 8:00 a.m. for this fun, family event which will be held at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, TX!  Registration will open soon, so check back often!  Every day is a Gift!

Anyone want a shirt?

Anyone want a shirt?

We are placing an order for additional sMiles 4 Sammy shirts.  Due to popular demand by all of you runners out there, we are adding dri fit t-shirts as an option!

Here’s the info:

-Dri fit (in men’s or women’s cut) or regular t-shirt

-$12 per shirt ($2 for XXL)

-Sizes available are Youth Small – Adult XXL.  In the regular t-shirts, sizes run a bit small.  (If you  sometimes wear a Small and sometimes wear a Medium, order a Medium.)

Orders MUST be placed by Tuesday, November 20th.  We will only be placing an order for pre-ordered shirts.  No additional shirts will be ordered.  If you want one, this is your chance!

To order a shirt or for questions, please send an email to chadandsherlyn@yahoo.com with the following info:

Shirt type (dri fit or regular)

Sizes (women’s or men’s cut if ordering a dri fit)

Name & best way to reach you to let you know when the shirts are in