The Little Jumpathon that Could

Here is the story of the Little Jumpathon that could. It all started out as a simple idea. Sarah and I were having contests jumping on the trampoline. For some reason I got this idea that we should have a little Jumpathon with all the kids in the neighbourhood. I thought this might be a good way to teach the kids to give to others since we are fortunate to have so much. I mentioned my idea to Sarah and she loved it. I said we could get all the kids from around here to raise a couple dollars each and we could donate it to someplace that needed $. Then as I said that I remembered that Trevor and I were invited to a housewarming in a few weeks were they would be collecting money for friends of ours Brad and Tracy. Brad was Trevor's boss when he worked at Brown Advertising Group. He was diagnosed in March with cancer and was to be having a second surgery in Edmonton any day. Finalizing our plans I sent out a quick email to the parents of our neighbourhood gang throwing out my idea. After some positive responses I decided to invite a few more people. One of those people was a lady that lives in the neighbourhood and also worked with Trevor and Brad at Brown. No sooner had I emailed Dallas she replied with enthusiasm for the idea and said she was going to forward the email on to a few other "browners' as employees were affectionately called there. Well all of a sudden I had emails from people wanting to donate, wanting to come, wanting to help in any way. Brown employees even got the powers that be to agree to match what they raised. At this point I realized I better get started on some baking as I had promised cookies to all jumpers and I wasn't sure how many people were going to attend.

July 5th, finally arrived and it was a beautiful night. The weather couldn't have been better! The cookies were baked, the juice was chillin', the trampoline was cleaned off and at 7 o'clock the jumping began. The event was attended by 30 people who were all very generous in their donation and their time. Sometime around 8 it turned into a wet and wild Jumpathon as the hose was added to the trampoline and more fun followed. In the end with a huge portion of the donations coming from Brown employees and Brown itself, we raised .... $1625.00 !!! Wow. That was awesome.

On a sad note, after the Jumpathon Brad's cancer was determined to be terminal. We are deeply saddened by this news but continue to pray for him, Tracy, Josh, Jake and Jeremy as they face the end to this horrible journey. Our hope is that the money raised at the Jumpathon and the housewarming will at least alleviate some of the financial stress that was adding to an already unbearable time. Thank you to all who donated and participated. Your generosity did not go unnoticed and was truly appreciated by Trevor and I as well as Brad and Tracy.