Together, we make a difference!

AJ Hunt - November 22nd - Giving a teary 'thank you' to the community!

I was blessed to be part of a planning committee to help put together a community fundraiser for a young man named - AJ Hunt. He was in a horrible car accident in August (on his way to college) and was terribly injured. In fact, it changed his life forever! In an attempt to make a difference for he and his family, an event was created.

We had a group who organized a bake sale ... The community was amazing and we were so touched by the out pour of support. We all worked for weeks to pull this thing together.

We prayed the community would rally with us! At first, we set a goal to raise $3,000 dollars. Then we bumped it up to $10,000. Then we just threw a big number out - we wanted to raise $20,000 for AJ and his family.

We prayed again and went to work!

November 22nd at Jason Lee Elementary in Richland, WA

Our prayers were answered! People showed up all night. The place was packed... you could hardly move. The community rallied with us!

We had hundreds of donations from businesses and community members for our Silent Auction.
It was amazing and touching and SO inspiring!

I couldn't sleep that night just thinking about all that I had seen and been a part of!

We had live music, dinner for the family and good old-fashioned community fun! The real kind ... face-to-face!

It was the best event I've ever had the opportunity to be a part of ...
I attribute it to the sense of love, unity and purpose we all had in uniting to make a difference.

It's one of my favorite holiday moments - similar to George Bailey's Christmas miracle  in -

"It's a Wonderful Life"

Thank you to everyone who helped give hope to AJ Hunt.

The out pour of love and support will never be forgotten!
We created our own community holiday miracle.

Did we meet our goal?

OH YES - we raised $27,000 

More importantly, we made a difference ... together!

Miracles. They happen.

Special thanks to Sara Schilling for her support and coverage in the Tri-City Hearald 

And to Ben and Jodi Archibald for having the idea and vision to pull this entire thing together!

On Twitter & Facebook - #HopeforAJ
(Thanks to all who helped us share on social media)