Saturday night, the 24th found us at William Penn PAC for a fundraiser for a boy from our church. We were there, along with thousands more, literally. I don't think there were many people left in Osky or New Sharon. TJ was first diagnosed with brain cancer the first of February. And now, the end of March, he is in the local hospice house. What a difficult journey for his parents, three younger brothers, extended family, schoolmates and church family. You can visit his site here.
The benefit was a huge success. They wanted it to be fun for kids and adults. There was a meal that could be purchased, and the food sold out. The games and inflatables for the kids were all free. No tickets involved. We spent plenty of time in line for the bounce houses!
Getting their faces painted!
Eden going down the slide.
Eliza and Eden going down the slide.
Ephraim and Emmet enjoying it.
Signing a scrapbook page for TJ. They had a photo booth, too. So the boys took their photo and put one on a page for TJ and his family. They signed their names and wrote "We love you."
You can check out pictures of the event at www.oskynews.com and www.oskaloosaherald.com. Or if you're on Facebook, check out Kaged Creek Photography. You won't be disappointed by the pictures.
There were a lot of items on the silent auction. We were able to donate some of our own ground beef for the silent auction. Then there was the live auction that went for 90 minutes! The finale of the evening was when Allen Goemaat agreed to have his hair and beard shaved. He hasn't had his hair cut in a LONG time. He donated his hair to Locks of Love. And he raised $8000 alone just for his hair cut. The evening was a huge outpouring of support for the Goemaats. Our community was able to raise over $100,000 for them. That's a miraculous amount of money!
We've been to fundraisers in the past but this surpassed them all. You could feel the presence of God. You could feel the presence of love that this community has for TJ and his family. You felt like you were a part of something special.
God's ways are not our ways. We're still praying for a miraculous healing of TJ. But if that doesn't happen, we hold on to the promises of heaven.
From the hymn When We All Get to Heaven by Eliza Hewitt "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory."
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