On the afternoon of August 16th the board members of For the Love of Grace and a few volunteers gathered together at a park in Aurora.  We met for our 3rd annual Celebration of Life.  This is where we are able to reach out to the families we have helped in the past and celebrate their children.  It is an amazing event each and every year.

As a board member, this is truly my favorite thing that we do.  We are just as, if not more, blessed by being around these families as they are when they come.  Every one of them are so special to us.

The children were delighted as they hit the pinata, had their faces painted, ate snow cones and cake, and blew bubbles.  The smiles on their faces as they received their certificates, balloons, gift bags, and backpacks were priceless.  Each family expressed appreciation and gratitude.  But really, it was our honor and privilege to be there with them.  We are so thankful that we were able to spend an afternoon with them simply celebrating the life of their child who has struggled with illness.

As we planned this event we watched how God provided again and again.  Mimi’s Cafe donated catering for the event, but based on our numbers we had planned for 50.  We had about 60.  When our board member went to pick up the food he was told that they had given us enough for 65!  We had ordered a full sheet cake to celebrate.  When we went to pick it up, they had made a mistake and not given us the right design on the cake.  Because of this mistake we were told that the cake would be 50% off.  This made the cake the exact amount that we had gotten donated in a gift card by King Soopers!  We decided to have backpacks for the children and their siblings filled with supplies.  Based on our previous numbers we had targeted 20 backpacks.  Friends, family, and a local church donated enough to supply us with 37 filled backpacks.  We ended up giving away 32 of those!  We found an amazing deal on backpacks where we were able to get ones originally $10.99 for $2.75 each.  We were in awe as we saw the faithfulness of our God throughout this event.

Be sure to look at the pictures from this year’s event!

Consider volunteering with us next year.  You will be blessed!