Saturday, November 17, 2012

2012 Ornaments Released!

We appreciate so many people being so supportive of the new ornaments and our campaign. The Kate Foundation website is now updated and active to receive new orders for the 2012 ornaments. Thank you again!

The link is here:   http://www.katefoundation.org/buy_2012_ornaments.html

Rett Lily Pond

2012 Kate Foundation Ornament
Introducing:  Rett Lily Pond

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Rett Marrakesh

2012 Kate Foundation Ornament
Introducing:  Rett Marrakesh

Here We Go



We had it all planned out.  This year, we’d order inventory early.  This year, all of the planets would align and ornament ordering, distribution and fulfillment would be seamlessly orchestrated with a savvy 2012 marketing effort.  The wondrous hum of ornament packages moving along the conveyor belt and out to eager supporters would fill the air.    

Then we got hit by a hurricane.  Again.  Shortly before our 2011 Gala, we’d been hit by Hurricane Irene.  No power, no cell phones and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  During this year’s storm, we spent some quality time at a Holiday Inn and were displaced a few additional days from our house to resolve some damage to our property.  Just as contractors were about to start working on our house, we were delayed again by about a foot of snow.  It’s become the Land of the Lost Three Weeks.  Look, a Sleestack.

We’re not complaining (too much), but a hurricane will put a wrench in your glass ornament plans every time.   So here we are, almost fully recovered, ready and rearing to go with the new ornament introductions.

We’ll introduce each of the four new ornaments over the next four days, one a day, and by this weekend the website interface will be active and ready to receive orders for the 2012 ornaments.  We will begin shipping the new ornament orders beginning Nov. 26, 2012.

Thanks to everyone who has been asking about the new designs and we appreciate all of your support of the Kate Foundation and Rett syndrome research.

Friday, November 9, 2012

RSRT NYC




Congratulations to Rachel and Jason Rothschild and so many other tri-state area Rett families for spearheading the Rett Syndrome Research Trust NYC event last night.  Despite the last few challenging weeks of hurricanes, snowstorms and power loss in the region, hundreds of people attended.  It was held at a magnificent venue, the Broad Street Ballroom in the heart of Manhattan’s Wall Street district.  Our friend Stefanie Gutierrez, mother of four-year-old Anna who passed away in September from complications due to Rett syndrome, gave a brave and beautiful speech about Anna and the importance of reversing Rett syndrome.  It was a great night and congratulations again to RSRT and all the families and volunteers who organized it.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Vote for the Donut



Kate came with me early this morning to the polling place and was all smiles.  We went to the bakery afterward and she cast her own enthusiastic vote for a honey-glazed donut.  The term limit for that poor donut was about 90 seconds.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Thank You!




As Kate got taller and heavier last year, we realized in slow motion that she was about to graduate out of the standard infant bucket swing at our local park.  It was great while it lasted, but there is no doubt we pushed the swing’s limits.  In the end, if you could manage to lift her into the swing by yourself, the surprise waiting at the end of your swing session was that she was a whole lot tougher to extricate because her legs and braces would get caught in the bucket.  The extent to which strangers will prefer to stare and marvel versus actually offering to lend a hand is a bit of a stunner.

Nevertheless, our favorite town park didn’t have any special needs or handicapped accessible swings, so we moved on and surveyed the dozen or so other parks our town offers and they didn’t have any either.

So we stewed for a couple of weeks.  We estimated there to be more than 50 individual swings in town and Kate wasn’t able to use any of them.  The concept of raging at Town Hall and provoking the local special needs attorney to start a legal light-saber battle with the town seemed cinematically romantic for all of 3 seconds.  Instead, Sarah wrote a great letter to the head of the Town Commission in charge of Our Favorite Oceanside Park.  In a nutshell, they responded in less than a week with this:  “You’re right.  We don’t have any special needs swings in town and we’d like to be pro-active about getting one.  Are there any swings you would recommend?  Oh, and by the way, we just talked to the town Rotary Club and they’ve offered to pay for the swing and the installation.”  Right then, a double rainbow descended the sky and a unicorn walked through it.

Forgive the sarcasm, but in the world of special needs advocacy, no one ever says “yes” off the cuff, trust us.  It’s usually, “No.  Absolutely not.  Well, maybe.  Come get it,” and then you get the opportunity to walk on hot coals.

So a huge THANK YOU to the Branford Rotary Club and our town’s Memorial Park Commission for sparing us the hot coals and, more importantly, for providing Kate and so many other special needs kids (and teenagers) a swing to call their own.  They even placed it strategically under a beautiful tree in the shade.  Thanks again!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Clean and Simple



If, by chance, you have a Facebook account and you’re willing, you can do something good for Rett syndrome research today with your account profile.

The Rett Syndrome Research Trust (RSRT) has been nominated to the Chase Community Giving Campaign which gives out grants to worthy organizations that receive the most votes through Facebook.

We typically don’t like to encourage these kind of voting campaigns, but this one is clean, simple and could mean $250,000 for research.  You can only vote once and it doesn’t require you to come back.  They don’t ask for your email address or require you to set up any kind of account.  You only need to have a Facebook account and the desire to hit the “VOTE” button.

Following the link below will take you to the RSRT voting page.  Sharing the link below with others also counts as an extra vote if friends click through and vote for RSRT.  Thanks again!