In Maddie’s Name

As I tried to shut down and finally get some rest last night, my every thought was of my dear friends Heather and Mike home without their Maddie. As 2am approached I was still connected via my iTouch until I had drained its power completely. As the screen faded to black, the room darkened and the silence grew louder, the flood gates opened leaving me to finally take a moment to really mourn the loss of a dear friend’s only child taken incredibly too soon.

The community support rallying around the Spohr’s has taken me completely by surprise. Never before have I been so proud to be apart of such a community.

The offers of server space came through quickly and fiercely after The Spohrs Are Multiplying came crashing down under the weight of your love. The donations pouring in like a tidal wave left me awe struck and completely baffled.

I didn’t give you much credit dear Internets. I didn’t believe that so many could care for a family which they have never met. For that I’m sorry, because yesterday my faith in the human spirit was renewed to great heights and continues to be as donations and offers of support are still coming in at record speed.

There are many things happening behind the scenes at the moment as a great many of you have begun to organize March of Dimes walks in honour of dear Maddie. There are efforts of fundraising and awareness like I’ve never seen before, and you’re doing it all.

I had been talking to Heather last week about creating a banner for her March for Maddie page at the March of Dimes. Before this tragedy took place it was just a small project meant to headline a space Heather holds very dear to her heart. In light of Tuesday’s events it’s taken on a new life as a place for everything Maddie. At the moment I am working on getting a site up for The Spohr family. The site is now live!

March for Maddie will be up shortly is up!! and with your help it will showcase the walks  you’re working so tirelessly to organize in your areas. There will be links to so people close to you can easily find the walk and have needed information and details. I’m hoping to organize links to all the posts we’ve created in honor of Maddie as well as donation options, t-shirt sales all to help Heather and Mike deal with the financial burden they will undoubtedly face during this time.

In the future it will hopefully be handed over to Heather and Mike to do with as they see fit, or I will continue to manage it for them – that will be up to them.

For the moment, as I work on the site, please feel free to follow its progress on twitter (@marchformaddie) and contact me via email at: marchformaddie (at) gmail (dot) com should you have anything to contribute.

{Edited to add: a button for the paypal link was graciously provided by Megan (Velveteen Mind / BlogNosh) as well as Beth (I Should Be Folding Laundry) – Thank you!}

The March of Dimes walk page for Maddie is currently at $21, 441 (at 9:40am EST) which leaves me, again, completely awestruck by your generosity.

But we’re not stopping there: I implore you to encourage people to donate to the paypal account set up to help alleviate services costs as well as hospital bills which rest heavily on the shoulders of this young family.

As Meghan work out the kinks with the Paypal button, you can donate to Madeline’s cause by going to the PayPal site, click “Send Money” and use as the payee email address. (Here’s a link explaining how to send money.)

All funds collected will be given to Mike and Heather to do with as they please.

And thank you again for all you’re doing for this family.

Maddie image from Heather’s Flickr account.

Tagged as: causes, help, Madeline, March for Maddie, support