Fundraiser For My In-Laws

On May 2nd, life changed…drastically and permanently. Around 7:40 AM, my next door neighbor, Magali, was taking her two children and my niece to school. She accidentally pulled out in front of a 18 wheeler truck, killing her and her 6 year old son, Abner, and critically injuring her 9 year old daughter, Magalita, and my 6 year old niece, Delanie. The two girls were air-lifted to a children’s hospital over an hour away and have been there since.

Magalita, who was sitting behind her mother, had a concussion, shattered jaw, broken ribs, bruised lung and lacerated liver. Delanie, who was in the back, right passenger seat, had a concussion, bleeding in the brain, a diffuse axonal brain injury, bruised lung, tears on her spleen and liver, and a severely broken leg.

I have been writing about their recovery at a Caring Bridge site, as well as sharing pictures of them and now videos. Magalita has recovered very well and we hope will be released from the hospital next week. Delanie, on the other hand, just moved out of the pediatric intensive care  unit on Thursday; her road to recovery has been much longer because of her brain injury. Magalita has a different, and probably longer recovery to start – that of dealing with her mother and brother’s deaths.

As soon as they have Delanie more stable, they will be transporting her to an in-patient rehabilitation center in Charlotte, North Carolina, about 2.5 hours from where we live.

My in-laws, David and Linda, have raised Delanie since she was about one year old, and it is Linda who will be going with Delanie to the rehab center. I would like to get an iPad for her to use, to email her family and friends, pay bills online, make videos of Delanie, enable Delanie to do web-cam chats with her brother and cousins.

This is where the fundraiser comes in. I am hoping to raise enough money to pay for the iPad for Linda and Delanie, but I am not just asking people to donate, I want you to get something too. So, I put together a package of actions and coupon codes from me and two other vendors, and the value of that package will exceed the cost of it.

The packet I am selling for the fundraiser costs $10, and purchasers receive:

• 5 new, custom actions (both PSE and PS) from Everyday Elements
• $10 coupon code off anything at Everyday Elements
• $7.50 coupon code from Pretty Presets (beautiful ACR and LR presets)

Editing to add that Madison will not work in PSE, no matter how many times I’ve tried to fix it. So, I added Austin to the new packets. If you are reading this after 11:30 AM EST on Monday, and  you purchase the packet, your packet has a newly revised Austin action.

Here is an example of the actions in the packet:

Now, for those who are new to photography and editing and may not be interested in actions or textures yet, I am offering another choice. I am doing two live “watch me work” sessions and the cost to attend one is just $15. The classes will each last 1.5 hours, limited to 24 attendees each and I will record them for future viewing (attendees will be sent a link to the videos). Attendees will get to see me editing pictures, and I will be explaining what I am doing as I go along, stopping now and then for questions. If you cannot attend the dates I have listed, but would like to watch the videos, there is a separate purchase for that. Two days after the workshop you will be sent the link to view the recording.

The Watch Me Work sessions are for Photoshop Elements, but if I have enough interest in Photoshop or Lightroom sessions, I will open up workshops for those as well.

If you are not interested in any of these things, but would like to donate, there are donate buttons at the bottom of the post. I will let you know how much was donated and when the funds are delivered to the different families.

Thank you all for support and help during this difficult time. I have been touched by the love and prayers so many from Everyday Elements workshops and Facebook page have given me. I really *heart* you all!!

UPDATE!! Linda has the iPad in her possession and is loving it!! I bought the 32G iPad 2 and warranty, the lime green Apple cover that snaps on and works as a stand also, and the Apple wireless keyboard for when she has a lot of typing to do. Thank you for making this possible!! The extra proceeds from the sale of the packet are going to my in-laws to help cover expenses during and after this long hospital stay. I will be going to visit them in Charlotte soon, and will buy some restaurant and gas gift cards with the money and then give them the rest in a check. The funds for Magalita (from donations and workshop/videos) will be given to Jose in the form of either a check or a Visa/MC gift card.