Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Lana Hollingsworth

I just wanted to say thank you so very much for everyone who helped Jay and I with the Love for Lana benfit. I wanted to let you know we raised over 10,000 for this cause and I was so overwhelmed with how many people offered to jump in and help me. I know Marv and the whole family are so extremely grateful for the countless hours of service and I wouldnt have been able to do any of it without all of your help. For those of you that didn't know about it. Lana a neighbor of mine was attacked by a bear at her mountain home in pinetop, Arizona. She underwent several surgeries to fix the damage that was done. She was in critical but stable condition. I knew Marv would need help with the many hospital expenses so I talked to my boss Dr. Heap to see if we might be able to open up our dental office on Friday and Saturday and do cleanings, exams,xrays, and whitening. And then donate the money paid for these services to Lana. He excitedly agreed and thats where this amazing benefits started. I had so many people wanting to help it expanded out of the dental office to the outside parking lot where the Gilbert fire department was doing a car wash, there was a bake sale, and just lots and lots of different booths. I was amazed at the turnout. Lana's story was a breaking news story on all the news stations and they soon learned of the benefit as well and helped us out so much by letting everyone know in the community about this benefit. I did several news interviews trying to get the word out and again it was incredible the turn out. As I was running around a lil crazy at the benefit making sure everyone had enough water and that everything was running smoothing, I took a turn at the car wash to let the others take a break and as I was washing cars a man drove through and handed me a check for 600 dollars. He wouldnt even let us wash his car. He said he had heard the story on the news and wanted to help out. It is so nice to know there are still christ like people like this man in the world today. I was brought to tears by the generosity of everyone and also ALL of the help I received setting up this even and making it happen. Shortly after our benefit Lana's brain started to hemorrage and shortly after she passed away. She was such a great example to many and dedicated her life to serving others. I will never forget her example and I will strive each day the rest of my life to live a life full of service and love as she did. I did the video that was playing at her viewing and funeral and I wanted to share it with you all. The comments on her video are taken from her facebook as this was all going on. NEWS ARTICLE http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/07/11/20110711gilbert-bear-victim-0713.html

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