During the month of November, Help-A-Heart will be putting the spotlight on various ways people support and donate to our organization throughout the year.  Obviously, attending one of our annual fundraisers–the Celebration of Life Dinner & Silent Auction in June & the Superhero Heart Run in October–are two big ways you can further our cause!  We also receive several cash donations online through our website or mailed to us throughout the year.  However, we are humbled & encouraged by the unique ways some of our heart families & their friends choose to support us & wanted to make sure they know how much we appreciate these special gestures.  We’ll be posting a few ideas a week as a part of our 30 Days of Thanks!

Thank you to Wendy Schmitt, Landry’s mom, for writing up this blog post about what their family did to honor Landry’s Special Heart!

Tim, Landry (heart hero) & Wendy

Help-A-Heart came into our lives shortly after Landry was born in 2013.  They have been a huge blessing to our family over the last 5 years and we wanted to find a way to say thanks.  Every year, as a family, we use our story and platform to help and inspire others.  This year we created a “Landry’s Special Heart” t-shirt fundraiser as a way for our family to say “thank you”.  Landry’s smile and personality are the driving force behind our successful fundraisers.  Our small family, community, and school rally behind us and in return we are able to give back.  Landry’s two week fundraiser was able to raise $575 for Help-A-Heart.

Help-A-Heart has provided our family with a multitude of gift cards during our seven months of hospital stays, provided meals during surgery days, and blessed us with hospital visits and gifts.  They have been there for us and now we are able to help them support other Iowa heart families.  No one wants to be told their child has a congenital heart defect, but knowing there is a group like Help-A-Heart makes the rocky journey a little less scary.