~ Sponsorship Money Rasied ~

~ Sponsorship Money Raised ~

There was so much organising to do around the raising of the sponsorship Fund. We decided this year to offer a 'Prize' and sell 'raffle tickets' at £1.00 each! To keep in with the theme of 'Balloons', we decided to offer the prize of a 'Virgin Hot Air Balloon Flight' for the winning ticket!

Many of our family members helped out by selling as many raffle tickets as they could. We started to sell the tickets a few weeks before Sam's Birthday, only bringing in the Sponsorship Money and the 'Raffle tickets' a couple of days prior to Sams' Day, allowing us time to count it/bank it and prepare the tickets for the raffle draw!

When the money came in, it was banked and kept safe until we had the final amounts and knew exactly where every penny was going!

...and lastly, we had to order and collect one of the 'huge presentation Cheque's, that are used when raising funds. I collected this from the Bank a few days earlier. This would be used to display where the money raised would be going to and how much.

The only thing we found difficult this year was to decide whom to donate the funds raised too! We donated the Sponsorship raised on our Jack's 1st Heavenly Birthday Memorial to Our Church and to the Midwifery Unit... This time we felt we wanted to offer it once again to a 'very important cause' and finally thought of the perfect way!

We made a decision to donate the funds raised this year to:

'The Potters Syndrome Online Support Group & Forum'.

The Potters Syndrome Online Support Group is the only place in the world that provides help/understanding/facts and most of all 'Support' to the growing families out there in the www who are seeking help after being diagnosed with carrying a 'Potters Baby'...

I have been an 'active Online Support member' with this Forum since June 2000, shortly after we found out that our 3rd baby Jack was diagnosed with Potters Syndrome at our 20 week routine scan...

Our Online Support Group is funded mainly by it's Members. We each send a small amount of money per year to help pay for the Website costs each month! Our $500 Sponsorship Donation, we know will be so welcomed by the Group!

We wanted our Donation to help with the 'upkeep' and to have in the 'Potters Fund' that they have already. There are many different ways that the money is spent, with every penny/cent being carefully accounted for and used accordingly...

The Potters Syndrome Support Group was founded by a wonderful lady named 'Delores Schlegel'... She too is the Mom of a Potters Baby and knew in her heart that after the birth and the loss of her precious little baby boy, 'Kyle', that she needed to 'do something' to help others who may be going through or have gone through the devastating loss that heartbreakingly herself and her own family had been through...

Delores created and maintains the Forum where there are 'sadly' many, many members, some having been through the loss of their baby due to Potters and others who are pregnant with a Potters Baby...

I personally feel that if it was not for Delores creating this dedicated place of love and Support on the Internet, I truly wonder where many of us would be in the different stages of our losses, with having absolutely no where to turn to in our dire need of help...

To visit our Support Forum, Please Click Here:

http://forums.delphiforums.com/potterssyndrome/start

We also have another host ~ Michele, who maintains and keeps up the everyday running of the 'Potters Syndrome Website'... This is a wealth of information for anyone who is pregnant with a Potters Baby or who has had a Potters Baby...

There is input from many of our members from the first stages of pregnancy through to 'Personal Birth Plan's' for the planning stage of the labour and delivery of your baby...

We also have a Newsletter, published Quarterly Online, with details of 'upcoming events', 'member profiles' and many other ideas and helpful information... To visit the 'Potters Syndrome Website', please click here:

http://www.potterssyndrome.org

Andrew, Myself and all our family members hope that the money raised in memory of our Samuel~Jack will be welcomed by the Group, knowing that the Forum will be up and running for many years to come, without having to worry about the cost of Webspace at this moment in time...

We will continue to raise funds to help Support the Forum and Website as this is such a very important place for many, many families that are heartbreakingly, having to find us...

May I take this opportunity to Thank Everyone who purchased a Raffle Ticket, helping us to raise this wonderful amount of money in memory of Sam, being put to such a very important cause... Also Congratulations to the Winner of the Hot Air Balloon Flight (Details on Next Page, Link Below)...

...and here is a photo as we were releasing the 'Tagged Balloons', just before we drew the 'raffle' and announced the winner...

You can just see the 'Sponsorship Cheque' made out to the 'Potters Syndrome Forum' beside our dear friend Lynda...