The Wood Between the Worlds

There's this little charity that I've talked about before...maybe you remember Mama Baby Haiti?  One of my midwives who helped out when Elsa was born traveled to Haiti in February 2010...6 months after Elsa made her brief appearance on earth, and right after the people of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake.  You can read about some of her experiences here.  In short, the conditions there were so poor that women and babies were suffering for the lack of facilities and resources.  Some of the babies died.  My midwife learned to say "I'm sorry" in Haitian Creole to these mothers.  I remember reading her blog entries with tears streaming down my face, having suffered through that heartbreak just 6 months earlier.  However, many of these deaths could have been prevented (as was not the case with my sweet little Elsa) if the mothers had proper care and resources.  My midwife and her colleagues started Mama Baby Haiti before they even left from this first trip...and their motto became "No more Mwen Regrét Sa". No more I am sorry.  They have opened a beautiful birth center and medical clinic where volunteer health care providers catch babies and treat various maladies. 

Over and over I have tried to imagine HOW I could make a difference by taking something hard that happened to me and use it to help make life better for someone else.  Because if I could possibly help another mother from going through loosing a baby, then I would in a heartbeat.  Well, lots of my friends up here in Portland are participating in the Portland Triathlon as a fund raiser for Mama baby Haiti, and I thought that sounded perfect!  I would love to do another triathlon.  However, when I discovered the date I realized that I would not be able to participate.  So (and I know this is late notice) I decided that I am going to try to raise funds in conjunction with the half marathon that I am running tomorrow instead.  I don't need all the money tomorrow...I'll keep it open a few weeks.
But my goal is to raise $500 for Mama Baby Haiti. 
Can you help me with that?
If 100 of you can donate $5 via paypal, we can reach that goal!!  $5!!!  That's an easy way to help some of our fellow humankind.  (You may donate as much as you want though!)
And to sweeten the deal a little bit, I'm doing a drawing in conjunction with this fund-raiser!
I'm going to offer up a few awesome prizes:

1 ~ A mini session with TM Custom Portraits.  I think that is at least a $100 value!  TM is my best buddy and she takes STUNNING photos.  If you don't live in Portland, now is a good time for a road trip!  Or, you could make other arrangements...TM does occasionally travel to Utah to visit family and would probably be happy to arrange a time (although I can't exactly speak for her, haha!).
2 ~ And I am giving away two beautiful, new, LARGE handmade blankets from my own personal collection {which I have dubbed "Sweet Meadowlark"}. These blankets are 1 full yard of sweetness with a modern cotton print on one side and velvety soft minky on the other side.  They are the only blankets that my baby will sleep with.  The retail value for these blankets is about $40 each, because of their size and quality of fabrics {but I don't sell them, I only give them away}.  They are great for your baby, toddler or would make a very sweet gift.

Those prizes TOTALLY rock...and all you need to do is donate $5.  Come ON!!  ;-)  We all are blessed with so much more than people in other lands.  I PROMISE this is a GREAT charity, which can REALLY use the money.  And all of the money will go straight to helping the people of Haiti, as I personally know the founders and know they are paying for a lot of stuff (rent, supplies, food, water, medicine) out of their pockets.  They are mostly there to help mamas and babies, but they have also given food to starving children and medical care to anyone who needs it.  It is staffed completely by volunteers.


So if you think you can help me out with raising some goodness for the Haitian people AND you want in on a fun prize you may enter the giveaway by doing the following:

1)Required to enter the giveaway, you must donate $5 or more and make a comment on this post.  You do not need to tell me how much you donate, but I would appreciate it if you could either make a comment on your online donation form Mama Baby Haiti that it is in memory of ELSA MEADOWLARK, or send me a private email letting me know the amount (so I can track my goal) to katespidey@gmail.com.
2)You may receive addition optional entries by a) publicly following my blog {I want to make more new friends}, b) blogging about this fundraiser/giveaway, and/or c) facebooking/tweeting (whatever you do) about this fundraiser/giveaway.

Please show Mama Baby Haiti some love in honor of Elsa Meadowlark!
xxoo!
Drawing will close on Elsa's birthday.  August 16.