Changed By Love

Help a homeschooling family get the transportation they need for their whole family. The Estes family are the owners of Hands and Hearts, an online store that sells homeschool materials http://handsandhearts.com. They have really neat resources, btw. 🙂

Their son, Noah, has a mitochondrial disorder and is now at the point where he needs to be in a wheelchair. They cannot modify their present van to put in a wheelchair lift without losing seats which they need for their other children. They have 8 children.

(I have the button for the blog that gives updates on Noah on my sidebar now. Noah is such a cute little boy, and he has been through so much. Please pray for him.)

The Lord has given them a plan and opened doors for them to do a fundraiser. Details are below. If you can help in any way, please do what you can. At least spread the word about this fundraiser for Noah called Wheels for Noah.

These are the details sent by his mom, Kate Estes.

============COPIED & PASTED INFORMATION===============

_Happy, Sad, Exciting News_

Posted: 09 Feb 2011 01:53 PM PST
Happy, sad, exciting news – how’s that for a mixed emotional bag? Not long ago I asked for prayer for clarity regarding a fundraiser for a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for Noah. The Lord really opened things up as of a few days ago, and Jeff and I have been able to accomplish an incredible amount with His help – Jeff here at home, and me in the hospital when Noah was sleeping or engrossed in a video.

The whole thing has me happy because we NEED this vehicle and I know it will be a huge blessing for all of us, especially Noah. It makes me sad because, well, because it stinks to need a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. To be honest, while it makes me sad sometimes, I did most of my grieving last summer as we came to terms with the fact that Noah would need a wheelchair. It was a very, very bitter pill to swallow, but at this point I’m choosing to rejoice that he is getting his ideal chair (next week!!!) and that the
Lord is opening doors for a fundraiser for the vehicle.

It’s exciting because while we were hoping to do something toward the end of March, the Lord has shut the doors for every date except March 5th.
Gulp. That is really, really soon and we are going to have to move really, really fast.

Here is the 3-fold plan:

1. On Saturday, March 5, we will be having “A Night for Noah” at our church. It will be a fun family event with all sorts of activities. The key fund-raising aspect will be a silent auction.

2. On Friday, March 4th- Saturday, March 5th, we will be hosting an ONLINE silent auction for those who can’t attend the local event.

3. On the fundraiser website (I’ll share about that in a minute), we also have a place for direct donations and for sponsorships (where individuals or businesses can buy a small ad that will go on the website.)

It’s a lot to get done in 24 days, but the Lord is already opening doors left and right. We’re interfacing with local friends, family, and community members to get the local event (A Night For Noah) off the ground, but we need the help and support of our online friends in order to make the online silent auction a success. While it’s always been painful for me to ask for help, I’m going to jump right in here and list what we need:

1. We need your help publicizing this event. It will take a LOT of
publicity to pull this off, but if each of you blogs, tweets, emails, and posts on facebook, we can create some massive momentum. Many of you probably also belong to online groups like Yahoo groups where you could spread the word.
We also know that many of you are a sort of contact person for a church, Bible study, etc. that you attend in real life – please let those people know as well.

Please contact owners of websites and blogs that you read as well! Doing so has the potential for them to spread the word to their entire circle of influence! Please tell everyone you can about this event and direct them to the fundraiser site – _www.wheelsfornoah.com_
(http://www.wheelsfornoah.com/) .

2. We need donations for the silent auction. We need donations of all kinds – gift certificates to online merchants, gift certificates/vouchers for national chains (restaurants, hotels, chain stores, etc.) and physical items. The items can be donated individually or combined into themed baskets (chocolate lover’s, date night, gardeners, book lovers, etc.) There are tons
of theme ideas in the “How to Help” section of_ www.wheelsfornoah.com._
(http://www.wheelsfornoah.com./)

3. We need financial donations – there may be people in your circle of influence who can’t donate something to the auction, but who would be willing to make a financial donation. Again, they can do this right on
_www.wheelsfornoah.com_ (http://www.wheelsfornoah.com./) .

You could donate an item yourself if you have some sort of business. You could go in with some friends to build a themed basket. You could also approach other businesses and ask them for a donation – these could be businesses that where you know someone personally, businesses that you patronize, and/or businesses that advertise on your blog or on blogs that you read.
They can be big chain businesses or little Etsy shops – every little bit helps!!

The _Wheels For Noah_ (http://www.wheelsfornoah.com./) site is a complete communication clearinghouse for all three facets of the fundraiser. You can read a more detailed list of ways to help and sign up to help right there on the spot. You can also upload donations you’ve procured for the auction – you provide the description, photo, suggested price, etc. I’ll read and modify these as needed – for example, I might choose to combine a couple of items into a package, then will approve them to go live on Friday, March 4th. The auction itself will be held right there on the site!

There is also a message board where you can indicate any merchants you’ve approached and what results you got. This will prevent anyone being approached by multiple people.

There is a “Donations” page where people can make direct donations via Visa or Mastercard and watch a thermometer rise toward our goal. There are instructions for donating via Paypal or check, and those payments will be added toward the goal thermometer as soon as they are received.

There is a guestbook where people can leave notes, prayers, and good wishes for Noah. At the end of the fundraiser, we can get a keepsake CD containing all of the comments, notes, photos, message board entries, etc. from the site!

So, in a nutshell: please visit _www.wheelsfornoah.com_
(http://www.wheelsfornoah.com/) and read about ways you can help. Share the site with everyone you know and ask them to spread the word as quickly as possible. Consider asking for donations for the silent auction and ask people you know to do
the same thing.

I hope that my straightforwardness in this matter is not an offense to anyone. I don’t want a SINGLE person to help out of a sense of guilt – but by the same token, this is the only way I have to get the information out to the many of you who have asked to help, and it’s clear we’ll need a clearly organized plan if we’re going to pull this off so quickly.

Noah is doing OK – good enough to be home, but pitiful enough to make my mama-heart hurt. He doesn’t seem to feel terrible, really, but is very weepy, very tired, and very pale. His nurse described him as “ashen” when she saw him. It’s clear that having the flu and a bladder infection back-to-back has taken a huge toll on him, and it will take lots of time, rest, and prayer before he is back to himself. I’m practically counting the minutes until his new wheelchair gets here. I know it may seem odd to be happy about
getting a wheelchair, but like I said at the beginning of this post, I did my grieving a long time ago. I know that Noah will be SO much more comfortable in his new chair, and it makes my mama-heart happy to know that I can cheer him on when he feels like being active, and support him when he’s tired and weak. Thank you for continuing to pray for him!!!

Blessings,
Kate
P.S. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or suggestions about the vehicle fundraiser.