Operation Backpack Children’s Foundation
2009 Year-end Summary
This was a very tough year for the Operation Backpack family.
Early in February, one of our board members' husband, Lee Ford, was critically injured when he was struck by a car while crossing outside The LeMont Restaurant in Mt Washington. It was touch and go for many, many months, but by years end, and many surgeries later, he had made remarkable progress. We continue to pray for a full recovery.
In March, Ellen's younger sister died very unexpectedly in Rockville, Maryland. Needless to say it was a rough start to the year for all of us.
We tried to rally for the start of April, always an important month for us because of National Child Abuse Awareness. We put out our, Do 1 Thing! flyers, bookmarks and
lapel pins, which urged people to do the one thing that can make a difference in a child's life…REPORT ABUSE!
If the year hadn't been cruel enough, Kelly's good friend's 2 year old daughter had a life altering accident when a toy chest led fell on her neck, a permanently damaged her brain.
Kelly began fund raising efforts for the Shurman family and their mounting medical costs, and once again we seemed to be in a tail spin. It all began to feel overwhelming,
But sometimes the best way to get through it seems to be to get to it!
We cancelled our annual golf outing while we all tried to regroup!
But God works in mysterious ways…Toyota came through with a huge donation in the fall. We held a Lunch with Santa on December 5th at Saint Thomas Moore School that was a wonderful success thanks to our always generous sponsors and patrons. We had dancing reindeer and snowmen. A huge bounce house, games, food and of course Santa!
The sounds of joyous, laughing children was wonderful.