DeLanee's Story

10 years ago, Becky and Tommy, were blessed to be pregnant with their second child. Shortly thereafter they learned that they were going to be parents to a little girl, but the probability of their daughter living for very long was extremely low. Their daughter was diagnosed with a condition called Dandy-Walker Cyst. The doctors believed that their baby girl would deteriorate and pass away during pregnancy, but much to their surprise DeLanee developed until 28 weeks gestation when she was delivered and lived for three hours. As you can imagine, these 3 hours was precious time that they spent as a family with their daughter taking pictures, bathing, dressing and holding her until she passed away in their arms. Upon DeLanee's passing, the nurses brought the family a box to put their daughter’s belongings in to take home with them. Because DeLanee was born in January the nurses were able to find a leftover Christmas box. That Christmas box became extremely special to them and they clung to it and the contents inside that held their daughter’s precious belongings as they left the hospital without their baby. It was because of this box that the inspiration for Lanee’s Legacy began. . .



Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Sponsor a Box(s)

There are many ways to assist and help our organization and we particularly love this idea and wanted to share. Although Lanee's Legacy began in remembrance of DeLanee, it is something that we would like ALL moms, families and supporters to feel a part of. Last fall, we received a very generous donation from a loving family who wanted to do something in their baby's honor, Gavin Macrae. We received a check in the amount of $1,000 to our organization. We were overwhelmed with their generosity and wanted anyone who received a box to know that the box that they were receiving was made possible because of Gavin. Since that time, we have donated 40 boxes in his name to our list of hospitals.
This is what 40 boxes looks like:

When a mom receives a box, she will notice on the bottom of the box that a fellow mom who has also experienced a loss gave back to her. I hope that when she sees this that she will know that she is not alone. That she will feel the love that Gavin's family had for her by helping her to receive a box.


One of the labels on 40 of Gavin's boxes:


If your interested in doing this, here is how the numbers break down. One box costs approximately $25.00 to create and fill. When we hold a box making, we put together 40 boxes. . .which equals $1,000.00. We welcome your sponorship in the form of just one box or you can host a box making night by helping us to complete 40 boxes. We have also received donations from businesses who would like to show mother's their support in this same way. Recently, Drs. Bock and Connel at American Family Chiropractic and Rehab also donated $1,000.00 in which we will put a label on the bottom of the box so that mother's know that their business is one that cares for them and what they are going through. If you have any questions about this or would like to host a box making night, please don't hesitate to contact us.


************************************************************************************ On another note, our two box making nights for the month of April will take place in Snowflake Arizona. A portion of the boxes we put together will remain in the White Mountain area at Summit Hospital and the rest will be distributed to valley hospitals. If you live in the White Mountain area and would like to come, here's the details of these box making nights:


- Thursday, April 28th at 6:30 p.m. will take place at the LDS Chapel by Pioneer Park in Snowflake, AZ.

- Saturday, April 30th at 9:00 a.m. will take palce at the LDS Chapel near the golf course in Snowflake, AZ.


Snowflake and Taylor is actually where a lot of the Lanee's Legacy board members have grown up and still have roots to. I just love how in small towns, no specific address is needed. Directions are always given in the form of "go past the big oak tree, turn right after the cattle guard and then left when you see Mr. Flake's old red horse". HA! Totally off the subject though, right?


Anyway, feel free to come, participate and bring whoever you would like. Can't wait to visit our home town and put these boxes together with so many familiar faces!



3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Becky, I just wondered w/regards to hosting a box making event, how many volunteers do you typically need?

BeckyinQC said...

Hi Becky! We've done box makings with very small groups before (10 or so) which makes for a very intimate setting (and gives us an opportunity to actually help too). :)

We've done them with crowds as big as 60 or 70 too. We prefer to have a larger crowd (not necessarily that many), but either works fine.

Hope that helps.

Unknown said...

Cool! Maybe I could see about having our ladies group at church host an event sometime. I know I could recruit some others outside our church too. It might not be for a couple months though- but I will let you know. Feel free to follow up with me if you don't hear back from me in a reasonable amount of time! :)