Fundraiser for Princess Maggie

Maggie is a sweet 4 year old with Cerebral Palsy. There is a treatment called Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) Therapy. HBO therapy is a medical treatment that uses the administration of 100 percent oxygen at controlled pressure for a prescribed amount of time—usually 60 to 90 minutes. This treatment dramatically increases the amount of oxygen at the cellular level. In simple terms these oxygen "dives" as they call it, should help to awaken brain cells that have been dormant since Maggie's birth. Jodie, Maggie's mother, was telling us about another child they knew that was just like Maggie and had these treatments. Apparently this year that child was running outside with other children! Can you imagine??!! Maggie talking, walking, and even running??!! She can't even sit up on her own or talk, let alone run! This is why we got involved. Jodie is a friend of my sisters and I heard about their desire to raise money by having families come together and do service! Well, my husband and I wanted to help and we got our friends, and their husbands, involved. My friend, Justine, is Princess Amerah (princessamerah.com) and she wanted to throw a royal ball to help someone in need so with desires combined we created the "Princess Amerah's Royal Ball, honoring Princess Maggie." It was a lot of work and a lot of FUN!! Here are a few pictures to show you how it all turned out.

Maggie had a special dance with Prince Charming. It was so sweet to watch. I almost started crying. The group of us that put this together. From top to bottom, left to right: Jen, Cami, Andrew, Jenn, Justine, and me! These girls... and guy are such wonderful people to serve with. We made sure to get our picture taken by our photographer that night, bookitphoto.com. Thanks Heidi for all the wonderful pictures!
The registration table as you came in. The raffle table is in the background. We have 11 prized donated to the raffle from different people wanting to help Maggie! It was wonderful!

All the cute kids and Princess Amerah (and... Mrs. Utah even came!).

You can see how many people were there! We had games, refreshments, facepainting, prizes, dancing, and storytelling by Princess Amerah.

Overall we raised about $2700. It was a wonderful cause and such an amazing event!

This is what Jodie, Maggie's mother, had to say about the whole thing:

"The party of the century, Maggie’s Royal Ball, was Tuesday evening. I’ve been at an unusual loss for words as I’ve thought about how to describe this incredible experience to all of you, and express our thanks to everyone who worked so hard to pull it off so beautifully.

As Doug and I walked in we were speechless at the beauty, and the special attention given to the smallest of details. The ball was held at Noah’s Event Center. A supremely elegant facility, worthy of the most beautiful princesses. Hard wood floors, a winding staircase, vaulted ceilings, magical windows, glittery lights galore, and tables with silky tablecloths and pretty pink flowers.

We were greeted by a beautiful poster of Maggie and Princess Amerah (done by zipgraphic.com) welcoming all the guests. When the guests arrived they were given raffle tickets to place on their favorite choice of a table full of donated items. The grand prize was a Princess Amerah party. The winner of the party was a beautiful little princess that was so beside herself with joy that it was worth the evening just to witness that.

Along the walls were various games like the Dress-up Relay Race, Evil Nanny Olga Bean Bag Toss, and the Tiara Toss, which little Lee did a fabulous job of managing. He dutifully handed out candy to the winners who were able to get the tiara on the pole. Jack, my son, was a happy winner of an orange lollipop.

There was also the “Make Maggie a Card” station. All the participants were invited to draw a picture with a special message for Maggie. At the end of the evening Maggie was presented with a binder brimming with messages of love, hope and inspiration.

One of my favorite parts was the dancing. Each prince and princess was given a dance card to wear around their wrist. It was a fun party favor. Dance instruction was given by the Old Glory Vintage Dancers. Of course there came the special dance with Prince Charming. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place as they danced. Thank you Mr. Prince Charming. Maggie's favorite activity was the facepainting.

There was a point in the evening where I was given the opportunity to introduce Maggie and tell the guests a little more about her story, and the therapy that this whole event would be sponsoring.

Another amazing gift were the BookIt Photographers that took pictures of all the guests. You can see other pictures that they took of the evening at bookitphoto.com. We’ve never had a family photo of all 5 (gulp) of us. So we were especially thankful for this gift.

Then came the big unveiling. How much did the evening bring in for Maggie’s therapy? $2700 at the last count I heard. I just have my head in my hands in awe, and wonder, and gratitude.

And finally, our patron Angels. Thank you dear friends for having this vision, and enough love to make it happen. This ball was the tipping point for achieving our goal of 80 dives for Maggie. We did it!

Princess Amerah . . . you put on one smashing party! Thank you. Gi’me Five!"