Today is a very bitter sweet day for us. Our first casket was donated today for a little 7 year old boy. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Ellsworth family.
This is how it all came to be:
If you remember I posted a while ago about our nonprofit. I expressed my frustration about not being able to raise enough money to finish even one casket. From that post we receive 2 donations. They were not large amounts of money, but they were very much appreciated and any amount is wonderful and more than we had before. I then received a tip from a friend of mine that has also lost a child. She steered me towards the Desert Club. This women's club does the Christmas Idea House each year around Christmas time. Maybe you have heard of them? They usually find a mansion and move the family out for a week and transform the home into a Christmas Wonderland. They are able to raise money this way and they do a wonderful job. They also give grants for nonprofits and scholarships to High School graduates. I was told to hurry and send in an application and give it a try for a grant. About a month later we got the phone call that we were chosen and that we need to come to the awards ceremony to receive our donation and talk about Kamber's Kaskets. We are pleased to say that we received enough money to finish the 5 caskets that we had already started. This could not have been achieved without their help. I spoke with the director of the Desert Club and she told me how it touched her heart to see our application come through. She also lost a son about 20 years ago . He was 11 years old and was hit by a car while on his bicycle. I'm finding that there are so many who have gone through this devastation, people you would never even think of. We all have our own story.
So when we got a call on Saturday about this special boy we were heartbroken for this family, but so grateful that we could finally donate to someone that needs it. I feel that this little boy was to be our first donation. Everything worked out just perfect. We had time to finish the casket, the little boy even has my husbands name, and they lived right across power from where we lost Kamber. We have friends that know this family personally and our in laws have friends in their ward that are good friends with this family. Everything seemed to come together without any hiccups or flaws.
I of course wish with all my heart that those who have come to me before this that I could have had a casket to provide for their loved ones. I think it will forever be heavy on my heart that we couldn't help before now. Even now as we were able to help this family we are finding out how emotional it is for us. Emotions come flooding back, feelings sink deep into our hearts as we hear of these sweet children that pass on. I can't explain our true feelings, but it does feel good to know that we can help and we hope that in helping others it will help to heal our heavy hearts.
So a Big Thank You to all who have helped us get to this point. We couldn't have done it without you!
