Everyday Miracles

I just wanted to take time out of my busy holiday season and thank each of you for being there for me in 2009. It was a tough year for Efrain and I and at the same time a year of so much love and support!

I continue to be amazed by the small miracles that happen around me everyday. Whether it be something as small as a phone call from an old friend changing my day, Elena saying something to make me smile, or my family always being at my side. I was truly blessed to see the premiere of a movie coming out in January, entitled "Extraordinary Measures", a true story about a father that risks everything to save his children's lives. It was an incredible film and such an inspiration! One of the themes of the film is 'make miracles happen"! And I left the movie wanting to do just that. Miracles don't have to be finding a cure for a disease or making a huge impact on the world. Miracles can be as small as providing a gift to a needy family, giving Elena's old clothes to a refugee family giving birth to a daughter this December, or making a necklace to raise awareness for Alzheimer's Association and Trisomy 18 Foundation. These small acts create lasting impressions, everyday miracles that do make a difference in someone's life.

With that said, I received an email this morning that the Trisomy 18 Foundation won the first round of a Chase Community Giving Program. See the email below. It made me so happy and I thank anyone of you that voted in Round 1. Please be sure to vote again during Round 2, again your small act could mean that no family will have to deal with the diagnosis of Trisomy 18 for their unborn child, believe me when i say that would be a HUGE miracle!

I wish each of you a wonderful holiday, and happy new year.

Much love,

Katie

We did it! We did it! Late yesterday afternoon, we got the call and heard, "Trisomy 18 Foundation is one of 100 winning organizations chosen in Round 1 of the Chase Community Giving Program." I screamed and then I cried – happy, happy tears!

Your Votes and the votes of your Friends on Facebook made it all Happen! Trisomy 18 will now receive a $25,000 Grant from Chase AND we get to advance to Round 2 for a chance to win one of 6 final awards ranging from $100,000 to $1 million for Trisomy 18 programs! Imagine!!

Mark your calendars: Round 2 voting will begin Jan 15th through Jan 22nd.

So we'll have more news to follow about gearing up for the BIG VOTE and the REALLY BIG BUCKS that could change it all for Trisomy 18 into the future in January! Our community is primed and ready! And together we can make this happen! I know it!

Be sure and become a FAN on the Trisomy 18 Facebook Page if you are not already right here: http://www.facebook.com/trisomy18.

Chase Community Giving You can also share that web address with everyone you know to get our FAN base on Facebook as large as possible before the Big Vote. Numbers and networking and social media are going be the key to our success come Jan 15th when the vote begins!

But for now – It's our time to celebrate this tremendous honor and bless all the children we know with Trisomy 18 we carry in our lives and in our hearts who have inspired us to come together in community to be their voices in the world.

And have you noticed? When we come together and speak and act as one, our voice is powerful and we CAN have an impact!

Thank you for investing your vote in The Trisomy 18 Foundation where together we ensure that no family learns about Trisomy 18 and walks this journey alone.



"Every child,
no matter how fragile their life
or
brief their days,
forever changes our world."

- Victoria Miller -
Founder