Spaghetti Dinner Recap

With the spaghetti dinner over, we don't really have much to talk about...except about how the dinner went. 

For most of the week before family and friends were doing their part in preparing for the dinner, Chinese auction and book sale. In our "cancer sucks" apparel, we began the day at 8:30 a.m. ready to rock and roll.

 Shasta's Shirt

 Bill's Shirt

 Carter's Shirt

 Dad's Shirt

 Doug's Shirt

 Holly's Shirt

 My Shirt

 Mom's Shirt

 Natalie's Shirt

 Owen's Shirt

 Shane's Shirt

The dinner started at 10 a.m. and we had our first customer around 9:50 a.m.! The line stayed pretty steady and the last person didn't leave until after 6 (when the dinner was to end). It was amazing to see the people who came out to support the cause. We raised over $5,000 for the Bob Perks Cancer Fund. The Chinese auction had 130+ items and the book sale not only had books but toys, stuffed animals and other children's items. From the book sale alone we raised approximately $150. By the end of the day we were all very tired and exhausted but it was well worth all the time and effort we put in to it. 

A special thanks to all of our family, friends, local business, churches and fire companies for the help. 

-Shawna :0)
 

What Cancer Cannot Do

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple Love

It cannot shatter Hope

It cannot corrode Faith

It cannot destroy Peace

It cannot kill Friendship

It cannot suppress Memories

It cannot silence Courage

It cannot invade the Soul

It cannot steal Eternal Life

It cannot conquer the Spirit

Author Unknown

More publicity!

The Progress was kind enough to post another advertisement for us!

http://theprogressnews.com/default.asp?read=27812

Kickin' Cancer One Day at a Time

Kickin' Cancer One Day at Time

by Shasta Long on Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 10:08am

The dreaded C word.  The word you never want to hear.  Looking through my list of facebook friends, over half have experienced or known someone with cancer at some point in time.  I used to not know of anyone.  Now I don't have enough fingers and toes to count all of those I know who have been affected by this terrible illness.  Unfortunately, one of those people is my brother, Shane.  We never, in a million years, thought we would have to hear that dreaded word.  I don’t know if I thought we were magically protected from this monster, but I was obviously was dreaming.  I remember the day, the time, the tears and heartache like the diagnosis was yesterday.  Something I would never want any family to have to go through.  I remember thinking why not that murderer, why not that rapist, why not that person who drives home drunk, not my family, not my brother.  I remember struggling to find the words to tell my husband what was going on.  I remember calling our pastor and pulling over on the side of the road so she could pray with us.  I remember driving and driving just trying to make it go away.  And did I mention, we were on vacation at the beach when we found out.  We haven’t been back since.  I know how this struck me, like a knife in the heart; I cannot imagine how it felt for Shane and Holly.  They are two of the strongest people I have ever met.  I hope they know how much I love them and how inspiring they have been to me.  They have been through so much, but never stop to feel sorry for themselves.  I believe that God never gives us anything we cannot handle.  I believe this will make us stronger.  I believe we will have the power to stop this disease in its tracks.  However, for now, we are here in the boat with many others.  We can dwell on this and let it destroy us OR we can keep on going.  We choose the second one.   Our family has been so blessed by the outpouring of encouragement and support from the community, our friends, and our family.  It is our turn to give back.  PAY IT FORWARD! I encourage all of you to stop by the Cancer CAN’T Conquer Spaghetti Dinner and Chinese Auction.  It is 10-6 this Saturday at the Grassflat Fire Hall…Adults $6 Children 5-11 $3 Children under 5 eat free.  All proceeds go directly to the Bob Perks Cancer Fund.  This fund financially supports cancer patients and their families in the Clearfield, Centre, Blair and Huntington counties.  To put it in perspective for you a little more, this foundation will give out over $160,000 to patients this year.  Last year, they gave out over $20,000 to Clearfield County alone.  If you cannot attend this dinner or do not live in the area, I encourage you to go to this website and make a donation… www.bobperkscancerassistancefund.org  You never know when cancer will strike…but together we can fight back and we WILL win!!  Please come or donate.  You will feel great about what you did!

Shasta

Holly and Natalie made their debut on WTAJ!!

Fundraiser to help Families Experiencing Cancer

Something to think on...

Finally got to meet Doreen Perks and Jen Finkle today. Awesome, awesome women! Through talking with them however I got a better view of the big picture. It is projected that this year alone, the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund will give out $160, 000!!! to residents in Clearfield, Centre, Blair and Huntingdon counties. Right in our back yard. From January to July, they have given away $20,000 to cancer patients in Clearfield County!!! This is awesome. But there is still a great need. As our government is sadly finding out, money does not indeed grow on trees. BPCAF's main fundraiser is their tailgate party, this year scheduled for November 19. It is an awesome fundraiser, but this year, it just may not pay the bills. The need is becoming greater than the resources. I realize that we cannot possibly solve the problems of the world. I also realize that we are a society inundated with fundraisers. Go to your mailbox. Unfortunately, most of our lives will be touched at some point in time with cancer. For me, it is the ugliest word in the English language. I hope you never have to hear that word coupled with your loved one's name. But we can stand together, and we can give a helping hand to our neighbors who have been thrown into this crazy thing we call life.  For those of you who are involved, you have all been awesome at helping with this dinner and auction, and we applaude you. This would not be possible without you. But for those of you who are sitting on the fence, please think about it. If you cannot attend the dinner, we understand, but please think about giving back to our community through the Bob Perks Fund. Maybe you can give a donation or maybe you can give time. True beauty really does come from pain.
Holly

This is getting serious!!

Hey all - as of today, we are officially in "spaghetti dinner mode." The dinner will be in full swing this time on Saturday. Now, I know that Shane and Holly have had this on their minds for weeks but it wasn't until our radio hits this morning that I got really excited. At 6:45 a.m., Shasta, Holly and I loaded into my vehicle and headed to Forever Broadcasting in State College. The rainy day didn't have us in the most cheerful of moods but upon entering the station, we all perked up. We were greeted by Scott and then waited for the walk of fame. We did approximately 2 minute hits on MAJIC 99, BIG Froggy 101, WRSC-FM and 93.7 THE BUS. Holly did a great job taking the lead and promoting our event. Shane has decided that she should be a DJ and we can call her Holly Wolly in the morning. Um, we'll see how that goes...anyway, the folks at the radio station were so awesome and did a great job. More importantly, however, we were finally able to meet face-to-face with Doreen Perks and her colleague, Jen Finkle of the Bob Perks Cancer Fund. After many emails, it was nice to put a face with a name. We then enjoyed breakfast and spent several hours talking and getting to know each other. I think this really motivated us all and we are all really looking forward to Saturday. Meanwhile, during our chatting (you know how girls can talk and talk and talk...), I received a voice mail from a lady at WTAJ wanting to do a news story on the dinner. WOW!!! I was so excited!! Long story short, Holly will be debuting on the 5 o'clock news. I still don't know how/when/where WTAJ heard about the event but this is so so sooooooo awesome. The Cancer Fund is always looking for donations and we hope advertising will get us a good crowd so we can give them a nice amount of money to help others. I hope to see you at the dinner, and if you don't have tickets yet...call me!! 

-Shawna :0)

Incase you missed it....

From Saturday's (August 6) edition of The Progress:

Man battles cancer but helps others in need
Saturday, August 06, 2011
By Tyler Kolesar Staff Writer

GRASSFLAT - Most people who have cancer just try to survive. It's hard enough battling the vicious disease, let alone going out of your way to help others in need. Shane Michaels is a rarity in this day and age, as he does just that. In June 2008, Michaels was diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin's lymphoma called Nodular Lymphocyte Predomin- ant Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
"It's kind of a cross between Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's, and that's the weird part," said Michaels about his rare disease. "Hodgkin's is like 99 percent treatable, as in you never get it back. ... It's (his disease) still treatable, but it has a higher tendency of multiple occurrences." Michaels is currently on his third time of fighting the disease, and finished up another five weeks of radiation a few weeks ago. He said he has had quite a few trips over the years to Hershey Medical Center for clinical trials, as well as Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. For the last radiation treatment, Michaels said he traveled to Hershey each day, Monday through Friday. At Johns Hopkins Hospital, Michaels took an experimental drug called Bexxar. "It's basically chemotherapy and IV radiation at the same time," said Michaels. "They've used it for other non-Hodgkin's patients and they're attempting to use it for Hodgkin's patients." One thing Michaels has been blessed with through his trials is help and support from not only family and friends, but also from complete strangers."The amount of people that's helped me is ridiculous," Michaels said. "There's people that I don't even know, never even seen or heard of them in my life, and they've helped me. And that's just amazing. There are still good people out there." It's this generosity by people that drives Michaels to help others in need. One way he is doing this is by helping run a spaghetti dinner benefiting the Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund. Michaels said the fund helps cancer patients in Clearfield, Centre, Huntingdon and Blair counties. All proceeds of a fundraiser benefiting the fund goes toward the patients. "The main thing about the dinner is we're trying to let people know the Bob Perks Fund is out there, and it's another way of helping out local cancer patients," said Michaels. "They have no administration fees, so every penny that goes in goes towards a cancer patient." Michaels said his family members, along with members of the Messiah Baptist Church in Lanse, Community Alliance Chuch in Karthaus, and members of the Grassflat, Winburne and Morris Township fire companies are helping put on the next event. The date is set for Aug. 13 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Grassflat firehall. Michaels said more than 100 people have taken the time to help out with this dinner. Lots of donated time and labor have gone into the dinner. Michaels said the Grassflat Fire Co. is donating the building's use.The two churches are making desserts, and a myriad of people and companies are donating for the Chinese auction.
"There's so many companies that are donating items for the Chinese auction," Michaels said. "And individuals are making hand-made things and quilts and stuff. ... It's pretty amazing how people come together really." Tickets for the dinner are $6 for adults, $3 for kids ages 5-11, and kids younger than 5 eat for free. Tickets are available by presale or at the door. "I know that there's a lot of people that don't get the help that they need," said Michaels. "People help me, but I know there's people that don't get the help they deserve. The Bob Perks Cancer Assistance Fund will help them with this (regular bills/travel costs, etc.)." Michaels also has advice for people going through their own trials and tribulations fighting cancer: keep a positive attitude and have your faith.
"You have to trust that God will get you through it," said Michaels. "Yes I'm going through this, but through the clinical trials, maybe they (doctors) learn something about me that they can use for someone else."

Check out today's edition of The Progress!!

http://www.theprogressnews.com/
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see Shane and Holly's story. Please share with your family and friends.

Thanks!
Shawna :o)

Could you spare $5?

I've mentioned before about the blog post I follow called "RunningStrong for Hope" and wanted to share today's blog: 

Five for Five on the Fifth

Today is August 5th.

Just another day of summer...right?

Not in my world.  Each of the next 15 days is significant to me.

Seven years ago, today was the LAST day cancer was not part of our daily world.  Tomorrow is the day Brian was admitted to the hospital and the cancer journey began.

Today was still filled with hope of a life time together.  I would do anything to have 5 minutes back with Brian....and my sister....and my mother....and my father.

So, in honor of today, I am asking you to join me in donating $5 to LIVESTRONG - $5 for 5 minutes on the 5th.

http://run.livestrong.org/teamls2011/barbarasimmons 

Together we can kick cancer to the curb.....I'll do the running!


I know $5 isn't really a significant amount but every little bit adds up. I did my part and donated, will you?  

-Shawna :0)