Help for the Goddard Family

I received this email last week from a dear friend of mine...this family needs our help and our prayers. I felt like the Lord was asking me to share this and if you can provide any help, please contact my friend Jamie or contact me. We all have problems, I know that some days my problems seem really huge, and then I'm reminded by a family such as this that my problems are nothing. I am blessed. Please join me in lifting this family up in prayer.

Dear family and friends,
Many of you are familiar with the situation of some friends of ours, the Goddard Family. For those of you who are not, I would like to share their story and ask for your help if you feel so compelled. Roger and Maryanne Goddard live out here in the boonies near us, just NW of Argonia. Last week Roger had went to the doctor complaining of chest pain and the doctor dismissed it as stress. Early Saturday morning, Roger died of a sudden heart attack…leaving behind Maryanne and their 7 children (the oldest whom is married with two children of her own). He was only 50 years old. As if the death of a husband/father isn’t enough to deal with, Maryanne is currently in the midst of battling cancer…again… and is scheduled to have ANOTHER brain surgery next week, on Good Friday. (She has been battling cancer for years now and this makes for multiple bouts of cancer after a clean bill of health several times.) You can only imagine the phenomenal health care bills this family has endured after multiple surgeries for Maryanne, making it extraordinarily difficult to make ends meet. To make matters worse, the Goddards received notice about 2 weeks ago that their home has been repossessed and they have 60 days to move out. This situation is indeed dire, but Maryanne’s optimism and faith have been such an inspiration through the ordeal. She just keeps saying “God has been good to us. We just need to have faith”. That kind of confidence and trust has really moved me to do something to help the family. So… I am organizing a fundraiser to help the Goddard Family. On Saturday morning, April 17th, Chris Cakes will be descending upon the Clonmel Community Hall (K-42 highway and 71st St. South) for a rollicking good time of pancake flipping and sausage eating. If you’ve never been to a Chris Cakes fundraiser, you are in for a treat… half the fun is watching them cook, flip, and then toss the pancakes to unsuspecting patrons as all involved get their stomachs filled with all the pancakes and sausage you can eat. All the while, fun music is playing and the cooks are joking around with everyone. We will be serving from 8am until noon. In addition to the pancake and sausage feed, we will also be having a raffle, silent auction, and bake sale to help raise even more money to help Maryanne and the children. Obviously, I am going to need some help and I’m praying that there are some of you out there who are nudged by the Holy Spirit to assist me in one way or another. J Whether you can assist with a gift of time, money, or prayers, all help will be welcome. Below is a list of needs:· Chairperson or co-chairpersons for the raffle, silent auction, or bake sale· Donate prizes for raffle or silent auction· Solicit prizes or donations of auction/raffle items· Donate baked goods for the bake sale· Money to help pay for the raffle/auction items· Print up bid sheets/descriptions for silent auction items· “Man the booth”/oversee/help the morning of the fundraiser in any of the areas needed (raffle, silent auction, bake sale, payment table for the pancakes/sausage…and probably a jillion other areas that I’ll think of in the meantime- I can split all this into shifts if necessary)· Volunteer to help serve coffee, make juice, refill syrups, etc. This would be great for a youth group to take on…· Set up Friday night (setting up tables and chairs mostly)· Clean up Saturday after the event· Contacting winners and delivering silent auction and raffle prizes· Publicity· Hosts/hostesses- clear off and wipe down tables, empty trashes, etc.· Someone to draw/announce winners of raffle and silent auction at noon· A couple of people to collect money for the silent auction ‘checkout’ and hand out prizes to anyone present· *******Like I said, I’m sure there is much more that I haven’t thought of yet, so please let me know if you can think of anything else that needs addressing. I’m just now getting the ball rolling on this… Again, any help that you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Multiple people in each of the areas would be ideal. I’ll especially need help with the gathering of prizes and baked goods, as well as persons to help on the morning of the 17th. It was suggested that perhaps some of the prizes for the silent auction could be gift baskets, which would be fabulous with all the graduations/weddings/Mother’s Day/Father’s Day, etc. coming up. A gift basket is something that one or two families could easily go together on to donate and we could have some really great prizes. A few gift basket ideas would be: gardening basket, coffee lover basket, chocolate lover basket, hot chocolate/cappuccino and bookstore certificate basket, baskets for men: golf, tools, fishing, hunting, camping, etc., cooking basket, gift baskets of certain brand items (Pampered Chef, Scentsy, jewelry, etc), kid baskets of any size, sort or shape- coloring, bubbles, arts/crafts, painting, beach toys, etc., graduation gift baskets, scrapbook lover basket, wedding gift baskets with his/her items, bathroom baskets with towels/soaps/lotions, etc., any sort of gourmet treat baskets, family fun baskets with movies/popcorn, etc., date night at home basket with movie/candle/wine, etc., ….basically the sky is the limit when it comes to gift baskets. The silent auction will by no means be limited to just gift baskets, but it’s pretty easy to throw one together and have a fun prize that is ready for gift giving. We will gladly accept any sort of donation for the raffle as well…ideally with a few big ticket items as grand prizes. Gift certificates of any type are good for a raffle, as are gift baskets too! I also need your help in spreading the word! I will be sending out a separate e-mail that will be great for forwarding on to family and friends (though you are welcome to forward this one as well in hopes of stirring up some more help/donations!). I will also be making up a flyer if you would like to distribute or if you have a place of business where you can display them or hand them out. Thanks so much for all your help…it’s times like this that we are reminded to stop and count our many blessings and friends and family like all of you are at the top of my list!
Love,J
amie Stolz
620-478-2744
stolzclan@havilandtelco.com
40000 W. 119th St. SouthNorwich, KS 67118

P.S. Maryanne mentioned to me earlier this week that when all is said and done and she is recovered from her brain surgery that she would LOVE to take the kids on a little vacation. Obviously, funds for this are quite a problem. If you have any connections in the travel department/industry to make this happen, I would love to chat with you…