Walks, Parades and Churches...oh my!

Kudos to all the families who are making this October's Rett Syndrome Awareness Month ROCK!

We started with Golf for a Cure for Kylie in Michigan. Then up to NY for Rockin' for Rett for Emma! Last week, Angola, Indiana rocked for Brooklyn.

Coming up.... Toast for a Cure in Dallas for Juliana and Win for Brynn 5K in Columbus, OH!

Aside from our events, there are three other great activities I just have to share!

ONE: Last week on October 8th, St. Joseph's School in Malone, NY held a "Rock the Walk" in honor of Emma Dalton. It was a simple concept that really had an impact. About 300 students, grades 3-5, all pitched in to create a Garden of Hope at school (raising $300!) and walked around their community in honor of Emma.















TWO: Then on October 9th, a Girl Power 2 Cure parade float came to town in Topton, PA in honor of Emma Shubert! The Shubert Family worked with 38 Brandywine Heights Girl Scouts, 14 moms, 6 dads and 2 little brothers to build an amazing awareness float that had photos of 9 Rett girls on it. They designed, built, painted... they put together 2,500 lollipop/awareness cards to hand out to the crowd...and even came up with a great chant to sing to the 10,000 plus spectators. Way to go Shubert Family and Girl Scouts!
















THREE: Well, then the Shubert's lollipops got Amanda Reid's mom, Ronna, thinking... and she is now putting together lollipop cards to pass out at their church's "Pierce of Darkeness" (a Trunk-or-Treat event) on October 30th. This is an event planned for the kids to be able to trick-or-treat in the church parking lot in a safe environment. Oh, and they also plan to grow a Garden of Hope on their van! Looking forward to pictures!

One Big Goose Bump

Last Friday I started my adventure up north from Florida to Saranac Lake, NY for Rockin' for Rett 2.0 organized by the Daltons in honor of their beautiful daughter, Emma.

I say "One Big Goose Bump" because all day long I kept experiencing one amazing thing after another: meeting new Rett families, hearing supporting words, watching the droves of people arrive to share the day, taking in the view of the vast expanse of corn fields, seeing the Girl Power flower pop up all over the event on faces, shirts, a puppy!, a huge rock, cookies, sun catchers.....



The video below will give you a peak into this amazing day!

Before I get to the video, I want to showcase some amazing GIRL POWER at the event!



First, let me introduce you to Rachel and Mariah. Mariah moved away to another state and came back to visit and support the event. She surprised me with a check for $500 that she raised holding a bake sale back home in Washington State! Rachel, Emma's cousin, put together the bake sale at the event itself. As you will see in the video, she had the back of the truck FILLED with baked goods - literally hundreds of cookies, cakes, and other goodies that she and her friends made. Her bake sale raised over $800!



Another three girls came to volunteer from a local high school. We put them to work selling paper flowers for our Garden of Hope for $1/each. They sold about 30 and then said they had about 40 minutes left in their time. We told them to go and enjoy the music. BUT more than one hour later, they were still walking around selling flowers! They were up to 118! You can see the amazing Garden of Hope they helped grow at the event in this photo!

This is what Girl Power 2 Cure is all about. Bringing together families and their community in hope and joy. Inspiring young girls to get involved to help fellow girls who are suffering. Raising awareness for Rett Syndrome and funds to support our vision to make Rett Syndrome the first curable neurological disorder. Thank you to the entire Dalton and Cheney crew for putting together an amazing event!

ENJOY THE VIDEO!




- Ingrid Harding