9/23/08 Harry continues to improve everyday; his checkups are monthly now. He is off his insulin and has reduced many of his other medications to near nil! He has lost 20 lbs and looks amazing. Is really warms my heart to be part of something so special. And thank you all for helping me help others. You are great friends! Love, Sandy
08/13/08 Ron, our driver took Harry for a check up today. He said he looks like a new person, great coloring, a spring in his step and a beaming smile. All is going well, Harry needs blood work done once a week down the hill and we're continuing to get him there. Thanks for all your help in keeping Reach Out on the road (literally)!
08/01/08 - Update...ok I messed up, Harry is a proud owner of a new KIDNEY! He's resting and going to be home this weekend. Everything looks great.
07/30/08 Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! As my friends and family know I've been the Executive Director of Reach Out Morongo Basin, formerly Reach Out 29 since coming back to the States in 2001.
It's an amazing organization that is making a difference in the lives of many of our senior neighbors right here. We serve the Morongo Basin - 29 Palms, Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley & the surrounding areas and are a stand alone non-profit; no corporate sponsors, no big name organization behind us, just Reach Out and a $125,000 annual budget. ALL of it stays here and helps our neighbors.
Our largest program is the Transportation Program which provides rides to health care appointments. We own two vans and run them five days a week both in the basin and down the hill. Monthly they travel over 3,500 miles. That's almost $1,000 worth of gas EACH month!
In fact, what inspired me to write this "blog" thingy was last night's ride to Loma Linda, a hospital approximately 70 miles away. Harry, one of our regulars (shown in the photo) called about 2:00 pm yesterday to ask if he could get a ride right away to Loma Linda BECAUSE THEY HAD A LIVER FOR HIM! A perfect match from the East Coast that they were flying in.
After driving locally all day Tuesday, Ron Bridges, our driver, picked up Harry and took him to Loma Linda, a four hour round trip. Harry stayed down there and got his transplant this morning! Harry's sister is flying in tomorrow and renting a car so between her and Reach Out, we will get him to his follow-up appointments and make sure everything works out well.
It was so exciting! That's why I love this job and why I'm constantly looking for money to keep it going, writing grants, fundraising, begging. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to be able to safely get someone to their transplant operation!
I want all of you to have that wonderful feeling. Every bit makes a difference, as I said before we have a relatively small annual budget and out of that operate two offices, oversee the 29 Palms Senior Center, run two vans and coordinate more than 300 volunteers each year. You can help through this website or learn more by visiting Reach Out's website at www.ReachOutMB.org.
Many thanks for all your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!