We Got the Grant!

Can I say that again? We got the grant! $5k from the BJ's Charitable Foundation! I was getting really anxious because I hadn't heard anything. On Friday, I was on their website to see if there was a number that I could call, but the website specified no phone calls. Saturday morning came and I was rushing to meet my friends, I went to the post office, opened up our box and there- among a few other pieces of mail- was an envelope from the Foundation. It was a very thin, lightweight envelope and immediately, I thought it was bad news. I leaned against the wall of post office boxes and felt a wave of sadness come over me. I opened the envelope, neatly as I always try to, and there was no check inside. I was almost ready to cry. I didn't even want to read the letter, but I opened it (not even all the way) and started to skim the first sentence- and then the words I was longing to read "we are pleased to inform..." I still wanted to cry, but this time tears of happiness. I stood there for a few moments, just to take it all in. It is hard to explain how I felt- it is such a relief to have this grant. It is so personal too- our successes with Project Smile are very personal, as are our lows. My personal success is also intertwined with Project Smile's success.

Continuing with the good news bus- on Friday afternoon, I received an email from a producer at the Wendy Williams talk show in NYC. They found our date auction online, love the event and will be having one our bachelors come to NYC to be on the show and say a few words about our date auction! How awesome is that? I am totally excited. I'm going with the bachelor as well. I told Katie, the marketing director at Sofft Shoes and she was really excited about it too. She offered to have our bachelor bring Wendy a pair of Sofft Shoes to give her on-air. The producer loved the idea, so we'll be doing that too. This is our first time on a national show, so it is really great. The Wendy Williams show airs at 2pm on the CW channel in the Boston market. I sent the producer the photos and info for 2 bachelors that I think would be a good fit, I'm waiting for her to make her decision.

So last week, with that awesome Yelp event, the online donations, the talk show news and the grant, was a pretty fantastic news week. I'm working on keeping this week on a roll- it's off to a bumpy start, but we'll get there. There is a lot more to write about, but I'm getting tired. I wanted to share this great news with everyone! Until tomorrow friends...