My name is Nurse Pat with the Purple Hat when I hang out at Hearts of Hope camp - been volunteering at the camp for about 10 years now. This organization has been near and dear to my heart since I saw a little logo on our local funeral home website back in 2012 when I was looking up the obituary for my godmother. The little logo of a heart and a balloon immediately raised my curiousity and before I knew it, I was submitting an application to be a volunteer at Hearts of Hope camp. I had no idea what was driving me to do this but I just went with it. It wasn't until my 4th camp that I realized my "why" - as I was driving home from camp on Sunday afternoon after a particularly powerful and emotional camp spent with several parents whose children had died. Tears started streaming down my face on this ride home and I heard a voice in my head say "you are one of those kids at camp and those were your parents...". This came as a huge revelations for me - six years before I was born my brother Greg died unexpectedly at 4 months of age. It was after this camp, watching the grieving moms and dads in our group powerfully give expression to their grief, I realized that my parents absolutely were those parents - only they grieved silently because back in the 1950's, there wasn't a place or space for them to give their grief the time and attention they deserved.
My "why" for raising money to support Healing Hearts Connection (formerly known as Children's Grief Connection) is for all of the families who have experienced deep loss and deserve to be seen and heard - to find hope and healing through our camps and resources. My "why" is seeing the amazing transformation that can occur at camp for the families - it is definitely a sight to behold to see the families coming into camp scared, sad and unsure to leaving with smiles and new-found friends and connections.
I turn 65 in a few months and wasn't sure if I was going to do another jump in the lake but here I am - ready to take the plunge into the icy waters of Lake Waconia once again!
BUT I need your help because I only have two weeks to get to my goal so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me go big or go home!
| Supporters | |||
| Name | Date | Amount | Comments |
| Schwab Charitable | 03/14/2023 | $1,000.00 | Betsy Brown Theis | 03/06/2023 | $50.00 | Anonymous Friend | 03/03/2023 | $600.00 | Linda Sadusky | 03/03/2023 | $26.08 | You are such an incredible woman, Pat! You have a heart of gold. God bless you. ? wish I could give more. | Carolyn Duty | 03/03/2023 | $10.62 | Stay warm Pat ??♥️♥️♥️ | Trevor Norman | 03/03/2023 | $250.00 | Shirley Hill-Erbe | 03/03/2023 | $100.00 | Mike & Judy Dahl | 03/02/2023 | $200.00 | Leah Sheveland | 03/01/2023 | $104.47 | You got this! | Tim Hoff | 03/01/2023 | $100.00 | Fornataro Paulette | 03/01/2023 | $25.00 | Good luck reaching your goal Pat | Tonia Pass | 03/01/2023 | $50.00 | Adam Schiller | 02/28/2023 | $100.00 | Kitty Hauer | 02/28/2023 | $31.23 | Jill Sand | 02/27/2023 | $100.00 | Jonette Herbel | 02/27/2023 | $50.00 | Love your courage and heart for a great cause! ?? | Jill Stephenson | 02/27/2023 | $27.00 | Keep up the great work! Thank you for all you do! | Cindy Upton | 02/27/2023 | $26.08 | Barbara Severson | 02/27/2023 | $31.23 | Brrrrrrrrr……. Your Amazing ❤️??? | Dawn Paul | 02/27/2023 | $51.85 | Nurse Pat with the purple hat, you rock. Peace and love. | Kathleen Selenak | 02/27/2023 | $26.08 | Michael Huss | 02/25/2023 | $50.00 | Brittany Sheveland | 02/25/2023 | $103.39 | Love you!! | Julie Loftus | 02/24/2023 | $50.00 | David Mertens | 02/24/2023 | $51.85 | I'll pray for your safe emersion. | Mary Kornder | 02/22/2023 | $26.08 | Aggie Beatrez | 02/21/2023 | $50.00 | Thank you for deciding to jump. I wish Healing Hearts Connection was around when my husband's sister died tragically. | Lori Marden | 02/21/2023 | $50.00 | Michael Johnson | 02/21/2023 | $77.62 | Susan H Marsh | 02/21/2023 | $25.00 | You rock! | Jeffrey Forthun | 02/20/2023 | $129.16 | Aww Pat...I am so proud of you My Dear Friend and Di and I are so happy to be a part of your Special FRUNGE this year. Go Get Em My Friend. | Jody Townsend | 02/19/2023 | $25.00 |
| Total | $3,597.74 | ||