EDIT - 9/13, 3:35 p.m. I'm speechless. We made it. Just ... wow. It might be a little dusty in here.
Thank you all who helped make this happen. And if you still want to donate, it's not too late! Don't let us meeting our goal stop you!
About six weeks ago, we launched a campaign at CougCenter to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a cause near and dear to my heart.
Why we're doing this
Read the story that was the genesis of this amazing fundraiser. If you're new around CougCenter, my son, Trystian, has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, and our family was fortunate enough to take a wish trip to Disneyland. We were so blessed by it, we want to try and help other kids and their families experience the magic of a Wish.
Make-A-Wish transformed the footage I shot on our trip into the amazing video you see at the top of this post. You probably won't cry when you watch it, but I do every time -- it's like they compressed all the emotions of the 15 months since Trystian's diagnosis into less than two minutes, and it pretty much knocks me over again and again. You can also read about the trip if you prefer words to moving pictures.
When we started this thing, I set what I thought was a pretty ambitious goal to raise $1,000 for the Walk For Wishes, one of Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington's main annual fundraisers. We passed that the first night. So I doubled the goal to $2,000. We passed that the next day. I thought, "Fine, let's go big. $5,000 -- the average cost of fully funding one wish." Passed that one too.
After upping the goal to a whopping $10,000, you all have now raised more than $6,800 for our team ALL OF IT. That's amazing! But with the event now just 10 days away, we wanted to make one final push to see if we can raise the last $3,200 $2,000 $1,600 $1,478 $1,333 $700 to get to that $10,000 goal. SERIOUSLY WE DID IT.
If you have yet to give, will you consider making a donation? Because even though we made it, more kids need wishes! And if you gave back in July, maybe enough time has passed that you're able to give again. And if you're not able to give anything at all, will you consider sharing this via your favorite social media platform, and encouraging others to give?
We've got 10 days. If you look at the donations that have been given, some are pretty big, but the vast majority are small -- those small donations really add up quickly. Give whatever you can, and let's make another Wish happen. Donate here.