Yardsale 2016: Making Money for Merry-making

For the past 8 years, the old guard of the Hawaii ALS Support Group has been fundraising  through a yard sale. We would have made 9 years, except we skipped one. We rested. At one point, we had a little over $3,000 in the bank. We gave it all to ALS Ohana when it started.

Now we are back to $1,000 from last year's sale.  On average, we make that much yearly. It all started with Nancy Fujino and Penny Chun. When I say "old guard," I mean veteran volunteers for ALS families. The kine that hang around even when their loved ones had long passed away. Nancy is a wALS like me; Penny's brother-in-law, David Johnson, passed away from ALS. Pretty soon, more volunteers joined, and now, after 9 years of doing this, we have our act together. And some money in the bank.

Sale earnings has always been used for our annual Christmas party - toys for the keiki's pabitin, Christmas decor, food and sundry expenses, to make our party extra merry, extra memorable, extra meaningful. I think there was also a year we distributed turkey dinners to those who couldn't make it to the party because they were home-bound.

Talk about helping to make the holidays more fun for everyone! The volunteers have a good time just getting together, catching up, sharing stories about our growing families and approaching retirement.

So why not come and enjoy the day? Donate. Volunteer (to set -up on Friday, the 24th). Buy. You won't regret it. Just check out the yard sale! Specifics in the next column.

Here is a picture of the album Penny made of the 2009 Yard Sale. We've lost Robert Burkhard, Vi Jones-Medusky, and hubby, Britt Robillard since. Bob used to be the "night supervisor" of the yard sale. With beer in his wheelchair cupholder, he would sip and watch while wife, Armie, sorted and priced late into Saturday morning. Vi came by to donate money and remind us whom we were working for. Son Daniel and DIL Natalie came by to help as well. And when Britt came home from the office on Friday set-up day, my ALS apron gets replaced by my caregiver togs.

2009: 7 years ago. Less gray hair, less pounds, way younger and sprier but always, our hearts remained the same: with our ALS families.

Widows of ALS (wALS): What can you do to help?

I guess the appropriate way to describe me, is that technically,  I am no longer a client of any organization that caters to ALS families. My husband. Britt, passed away in August, 2015.  Most service organizations such as the ALS Association and MDA identify their clients as the patient with ALS.

I am a widow of ALS (wALS). A different classification, that's for sure. Now what does a wALS like me do? One very common thing that widows do is to keep ALS in the rear-view mirror and drive away into the sunset. Quickly.  Been there, done that. Never again.

That's okay. I'm not in the business of moral judgment here.  

There are also widows like me who don't want waste. Especially good information from learning amassed in three decades+. The landfill of painful experiences is overflowing. I am just too stubborn to let ALS be.

So I am still hanging around the ALS picture thinking of ways I can be of use to anyone who is now living with ALS or is going to.

I attend ALS support groups; maybe there is something I can offer as a timely advice to attendees. I visited three current ALS patients, two at home and one at the hospital. ALS is socially isolating. 

I offer my help. Just let me know how I can do that. Yesterday, I offered to arrange a meeting between two caregivers so they can talk about their concerns. It is always helpful to connect people together. They don't always take the opportunity, but I can only do so much.

There is always opportunity to make a difference. Even just a small one.

What can you do to help? Name one in the comments section below. Then, do it!

Video: 3rd Annual "Lei of Remembrance" Memorial Ceremony

Our BIG mahalo to Jonah Okano and Marlene Nishime of Small Hour Films, LlC for creating the video of our Sign-waving and Memorial Ceremony for us to revisit. Each of the two earlier Memorial Ceremonies (2015 and 2014) were also documented by these young friends of ours and can be seen on YouTube.  Below is the link for your to view our 2016 Ceremony.

 https://vimeo.com/168711927/6254cee233 

Again. mahalo nui loa to all who have made our 2016 Memorial another memorable one.