A week and a half ago I shared a little video introduction of our friend Claire. So many of you immediately opened your hearts (and your wallets!) and offered love, compassion, letters, packages, and support for the Fuchs (“fewks”) family. I can’t thank you enough for your kindness, willingness to serve, and sweet gestures. I know Karlee + Chris (Claire’s parents) + Jacob (her brother) feel incredibly blessed through this whole experience. Karlee + Claire have been working on many, many handmade thank you cards lately.

Guess what? Claire Bear is now HOME from the hospital! I will fill this blog post with pictures from our visit yesterday but first … have you noticed the sidebar on my blog? Looks a little different, right? When I introduced Claire, I also announced an Ads for Claire campaign to help raise dollars for Claire’s newly-acquired needs. We were completely blown away by the number of individuals and companies that contacted us. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to all of these sponsors! 100% of what they paid to have ad space on my blog went straight to the Fuchs family.

Everyone: Please click refresh to ensure these ads show up the way they’re supposed to.  : )

Readers: Please take time to click on the ads and see what fun things each sponsor has to share with you as far as inspiration, products, or services. These ads will be here for just this month of February … and then they go away.

Advertisers: If you notice anything at all that needs to be adjusted with your ad, please email karolyn@beckyhiggins.com so we can fix it straight away. This is our first time placing ads on my site and it’s definitely a new experience for us.

Note: Because of the nature of this fundraiser and the need to keep the entire process very, very simple – we are not taking any more sponsors at this time. Anyone who wants to reach out to the Fuchs family with a note of encouragement, or a letter in the mail, or even a cash donation, can find that information HERE.

Special thank-yous: In addition to the sponsors, I am so very grateful to Karolyn + Brandi – two of my very dearest friends who managed this whirlwind project – Ads for Claire. They are amazing. I am eternally grateful to my brother Andrew who constantly works his magic on my website, and especially for staying up super late last night to get all of the ads in place in time for today. And a huge, huge thank-you to David. He is always thinking inside the box, outside the box, on top of the box … he’s seriously genius. As we were brainstorming how we could help the Fuchs and pull off some sort of fundraising effort, it was David that thought of doing the ads. Smarty pants.

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Before Claire returned home, there was so much work to do to make their home wheelchair accessible. There is still work to do, and it’s not quite finished yet, but so much progress has been made – thanks to many volunteers in our community. Her bed/bath area is nearly done.

I wish I had a before picture, but their driveway used to be pavers and now they have a beautiful concrete driveway that makes it easy to get Claire safely between the front door and the car safely in her wheelchair. So many people (adults + youth) worked hard to remove + stack all the pavers in preparation for the cement to be poured over the weekend.

You can imagine my delight when Karlee busted out Claire’s baby album and some old scrapbook pages she made. I am loving the pictures of little Claire! And I am loving that Karlee is ready + motivated to pick up where she left off. As soon as the dust settles in their home, she’ll be getting loads of pictures into a Project Life album.

Love, love, love this girl. Oh – and this family picture? This is the MOST RECENT family picture they have had taken. (Not including the very impromptu picture I snapped yesterday, at the top of this blog post.)

Um. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yeah. I totally know that we are so going to make sure that this darling, amazing family has a darling, amazing photographer in Arizona take pictures of their family soon. Are you with me on this? I’m giddy about the idea, actually.

I would love for you to get to know someone very special to our family. Her name is Claire. She recently fell out of her 2nd story bedroom window (you can read the full story HERE) and broke her spine. Claire and her family already have a life full of very intense challenges – and now she has lost the use of her legs. The accident could have been much more tragic and we are all grateful it wasn’t any worse. There have been lots of little miracles the past few weeks, and her stay at the hospital is coming to an end soon. But Claire has a long road ahead of her. She is embarking on a new chapter of her life, which will be spent in a wheelchair.

Claire is one of my favorite people ever, and I’m not even sure I can articulate why I feel such a connection with her, but I just do. I love her, and I love her family. In fact, some of you may remember from a few years back when I shared some cute handmade bags made by Karlee Fuchs (pronounced “fewks”). Karlee is Claire’s mom and one of the most selfless people I know. For sure.

I made a little video from my recent visit with Claire at Phoenix Children’s Hospital so you can get to know Claire.

Naturally, the Fuchs family is facing a very expensive transition with having to remodel the main level of their home, making everything wheelchair accessible. Chris (her dad) even has a video on Claire’s BLOG right now that shows the current progress with that. They’ll need to purchase a wheelchair van and of course all sorts of other expenses are piling up.

Today I am presenting a very unique opportunity that some of you may be interested to know about.

We are launching an “Ads for Claire” campaign.

Logo design by Kristina Proffitt  |  Design elements by Crystal Wilkerson

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Here’s the scoop.

I have never monetized my blog. I’m certainly not against doing it, but it’s just not something that I have implemented as a part of my brand or my business. However … for the benefit of Claire’s family … and for the benefit of (hopefully) many small businesses, I am going to open my blog for advertising!

Important notes:

- This will be temporary + the ads will run for one month – February. Then we’re back to no more paid advertising on my blog. Unless I realize after this experience that I can make millions that would help with huge manufacturing costs.   : )

- 100% of the ad fees will go directly to Claire’s family.

- Ads are due SOON – January 30 – so that we can launch all these ads on February 1.

- Ads will be positioned on my blog sidebar based on a first come, first served basis as well as the largest ads at the top, and so forth.

Interested?

Oh, I hope so. Of course we would love to raise money for Claire’s family, to help lighten their burden even a little bit. Additionally, I love helping small companies. If you have a blog, or an online shop, or any sort of business that you would love more people to check out, this would be a great opportunity to increase your exposure. Please email karolyn@beckyhiggins.com and she’ll give you all the nitty-gritty details you would want to know as you decide if and how you want to do this.

Want to help, but not through advertising?

The Fuchs family would be grateful for any kindness sent their way. Even if you wanted to just send a note of encouragement (Claire loves mail!) or perhaps donate a small amount of money (it all adds up!) … go HERE to see several ways that you can help.

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Thank you for taking time to get to know Claire.

Thank you for considering this as a potentially fantastic advertising opportunity that doubles up as a wonderful service for a remarkable family.

Thank you for spreading the word to your favorite businesses (blogs, etsy shops, other businesses) so they will consider the opportunity as well.