Special Thanks to the Ecology Club at Martinez Middle School!

I just wanted to send a special thanks out to the Ecology Club at Martinez middle school in Romeoville, IL. As part of America Recyles Day on November 15th, the ecology club held an awareness & recyling event at Martinez middle school. Madi's aunt Holly, who lives in Romeoville, stopped by and picked up the printer cartridges yesterday. The ecology club donated 175 printer cartridges collected during America Recycles day. Thanks go out to all the members of the club as well as Carolyn Morelos who helped coordinate the collection.

America Recycles Day - Sat, Nov. 15th

This Saturday is America Recycles Day - Coordinated by www.americarecyclesday.org Check out the website to find local recycling efforts. I sent a few emails to those nearby asking if they received any cell phones or printer cartridges that I'd be happy to pick them up for our MobilesForMadi.com collection efforts.

Sick

Hey everyone, say a prayer that Madi can get over this one quickly. Sunday she started coughing and by late Sunday evening she had a 102 fever and a really bad cough. I stayed home with her today and took her to the doctor. Her white blood cell counts were at 11,000. He said this is right at the beginning of being high. He thinks she may have walking pneumonia. As for now we are just to watch her. Keep giving her the decongestant and fever/pain relief for her temp. She was in quite a good mood today and the cough didn't seem too bad. The cough got worse as the night progressed. She is sleeping now with no fever. If she gets worse the Dr. will check her counts again and then maybe start her on a steroid. He doesn't like to start her on it yet because the steroid breaks down the immune system and she is susceptible to more illnesses. So we will pray she can fight it. We used her couch assist and checked her oxygen. Her oxygen was actually at 100% surprisingly. She was a beast and very crabby for our nurse tonight.
On another note, I got to watch Oprah today. She had Ellen DeGeneres on and Ellen was apparently on a quest to get on the cover of O magazine and she kept at it until Oprah answered her and she will be on the cover next week. So I thought why not try that tactic with Ellen. I emailed the Ellen show and told them about our mobilesformadi fundraiser and asked Ellen for help. I suggested she collect them from audience members or maybe all the people she knew. I said she could help us reach our goal of 10,000 phones. I also said that she inspired me not to give up and that she would continue to hear from me. Hee hee! I plan to write every other day, call any number I can find for her studio, and hopefully video my efforts and youtube them. I am going to video Madi saying something too. What the heck. Ya never know until you try. I tried Oprah last year and she didn't respond. I plan on being a little more forceful this time.
Prayers to the Turnbull family as they are fighting some sickness at their house too. Please keep our friend Sergio in your prayers as he is fighing leukemia for the second time. We love you Serg!

Thank you to our supporters!

Just to give everyone something to shoot for we've setup levels of support! Each week we'll publish the names of everyone meeting the next collection level! But remember -every phone we get is important and if you only collect one - we appreciate it just the same!

Bronze Supporters - collected or donated 20+ phones
Sydney Young - 20 Phones! Go Sydney - our first Bronze!

Silver Supporters - collected or donated 30+ phones

Gold Supporters - collected or donated 50+ phones

Platinum Supporters - collected or donated 100+ phones
Ecology Club, Martinez Middle School - Romeoville - 171 Printer Cartridges!

TRIVIA EVERY THURSDAY @ FOX & HOUND!

If you've got some phones or printer cartridges and you're looking to drop them off in person - stop by and see me any Thursday night at the Fox & Hound in Aurora. Located at the corner of Rt. 59 & New York Ave (Yorkshire Shpg Center, 4320 E. New York Ave - Aurora, IL 60504) - Fox & Hound has trivia night every Thursday night from 9:15pm - 11:15pm. DJ Gabe hosts the trivia and he's a blast - he's been a big help offering to get the word out about our phone collection efforts. I also wanted to thank the manager Erin and our awesome waitresses Jackie & Mindy who are spreading the word!

Day One - Send us your phones!

It's finally here - today marks our first official day of the cell phone collection drive. Even before starting - we've collected almost a dozen cell phones and a dozen printer cartridges. The cell phone collection drive will last from November 1st, 2009 until January 15th, 2010. Our goal is to collect 5,000 cell phones to raise $10,000.

If you're looking for a way to get involved, here is a list of our current needs:

1. Gift Cards - we'd like to use gift cards as a way to sponsor contest prizes for those who collect the most cell phones. collect the most cell phones.
2. Printing Services - throughout the collection drive we will need flyers & posters printed to advertise collection locations.
3. Cell Phone Collectors - we are looking for 150 people that can commit to collecting 30 phones over the next 10 weeks.
4. Event Sponsors - over the next 10 weeks we would like to hold events that promote the collection of cell phones.
5. Cell Phones - if you have cell phones to donate, check out our list of drop locations. If you can't get to one of those locations - just collect 10 cell phones and click on the Contact Us page. We'll send you a free shipping label.
6. Printer Cartridges - it doesn't matter if they're inkjet or toner cartridges - we can take them. Just visit one of the drop locations or contact us about getting a free shipping label.

Documents & Resources

Throughout the fundraiser - we'll be updating this page to contain links to all the documents & resources you'll need to help collect funds or just give you more information.

DOCUMENTS:
.pdf files will open in a new window

Factsheet about SMA

Goals Checklist

Locations List

Press Release

Donation List - a list of items we can collect during the fundraiser.

Collection Ideas - tips and ideas on how you can increase your collection efforts.

Donations Spreadsheet - keep track of people you wish to thank after the fundraiser

Collection Sign - Drop Off Location - this is a fillable .pdf with a line for the group name (insert MobilesForMadi.com) and a line for the collection location. You can make this sign as small or as large sign as you like - it should size perfectly for whatever you are printing.

Collection Sign - No Location - this is a fillable .pdf with a line for the group (insert MobilesForMadi.com). You can make this sign as small or as large as you like - it should size perfectly for whatever you are printing.


Resources:

CureSMA.org - created by Families of SMA, this group is dedicated to finding a cure for SMA. Eerything you need is here - from background on SMA to research and the genetic blueprint of SMA.

GRCRecycling.com - this is one of our fundraising partners. We will be collecting cell phones and selling them to GRCRecycling. You can customize fundraising posters here and even order them for free w/drop location information printed on the flyers.

MobilesForMadi.com - Updates on the Fundraiser and collection efforts. This url will lead you to a page of cell phone collection posts only.

MiracleForMadi.com - the Full contents of the the blog which contains blogs my Madi's mom, Megan Ramirez, as well as updates on the fundraiser collection efforts.

Halloween

Well we had a lot of fun last night, but a little exhausting for me. If you have ever been out to my house, houses are not so close together. I knew I couldn't carry Madi the whole time so I decided to use the wheelchair. I got quite the workout. The first neighborhood we went to all had steep driveways! Wow! Thanks goodness Kim took a turn with me. My legs are sore today from trick or treating! LOL!
Also, until you are faced with handicap accessibility, you never realize the obstacles there are. We couldn't get up to ONE door. We had to wait at the end of the steps and hope the person inside would see her. If not then I would ask if I could take the bowl to her. Because if someone brought her a piece she was not happy. She wanted to pick her own! At the second neighborhood there were sidewalks, and I was so grateful. UNTIL! I realized that it was a new neighborhood and the sidewalks randomly began and ended depending if a house was built by that lot or not. Ughhh! Grass isn't your friend in a wheelchair!
Then at one house, after I asked the lady if I could take the bowl to Madi she looked at Madi and then at me with the most disgusted look I have ever seen! You would have thought the lady just saw death. I don't know if she has never seen a kid in a wheelchair or if she was shocked. It almost felt like she looked at me as if to say, "What the hell did you do to your kid?" I haven't seen one of those horrified looks yet, that was a first of, I'm sure, many more to come. Anyway, at least Madi didn't notice. She loved every piece of candy and tried to eat each one, wrapper and all. At one point her candy bag got caught in the wheel of the wheelchair and I thought I was going to have to take the whole seat off, but I finally pulled it out. Overall, the kids had a great time and got plenty of candy! I'll try to add a picture later today. Remember to tell everyone you know about our new fundraiser, mobilesformadi. Thanks!