Hey guys,

Thank you so much for the donations, the guestbook posts, and the wonderful e-mail in response to my post about http://LungsForJennifer.com. I already knew you were the greatest readers on the planet. But I got a big reminder! I cried a lot yesterday. But in a good way. :->

I’m going to be spending all weekend writing thank-you cards. Every donation, no matter how small, will get a card from me. And — I feel kind of silly offering this, but just in case — I have a bunch of book plates. If you’ve got a copy of one of my books, and you’d like an autograph, let me know and I’ll send you a signed bookplate in with your thank you card.

Many of the e-mails I’ve been getting have been along the same lines so I wanted to answer some questions here.

Have you contacted Ronald McDonald House?

No, because Jenn doesn’t qualify! She’s in her late 20s and has a child of her own. (Confidential to the person who referred to it as the “Ronald McDonald Hizzy”: thanks. I spit tea all over the monitor. :->)

Can I send a donation via PayPal?

Um, well, see, it’s like this. This is kind of an analog fundraising effort. Jenn can’t really do too much because she’s in the hospital about half the time now. So I’m coordinating with Jenn’s grandmother, who is one of the most wonderful humans in the world but not too into computers. The nice thing about the Deposit A Gift registry is that it can send her a check without her having to log in, provide banking information, etc. (If you don’t want to use the Deposit a Gift registry, please don’t! There’s a lot you can do without spending a penny. Read on!)

Yeah, I tried that Deposit A Gift thing, and it didn’t work.

I’m sorry about that. Apparently it went down for a while yesterday. The direct link for a donation is here. We have premade items for donation in the amounts of $5, $10, $20, and $50, but you can donate any amount you want. Even a dollar helps. You can even make stuff up when you do a donation — one person donated a very cute $4.90 “Puppy”! I wish I’d thought of that!

I’d like to help, but I’m broke.

That’s okay. You don’t have to donate anything to help but a few minutes of time. Here’s what you can do.

Prayer Circle — Several people asked if it would be okay to add Jenn’s name to a prayer circle. Of course! Whatever your faith, kind thoughts can do her nothing but good. So prayer chains, prayer circles, prayer rhombuses, it’s all great! (And if you start a prayer rhombus please e-mail me. :->)

Guestbook — As I mentioned earlier in this post, Jenn is in the hospital about half the time now, where she gets bored and sometimes discouraged. I think it would help her a lot to know she’s not alone, and that there are plenty of people who care and hope she does better. Could you take a minute and sign her guestbook?

Facebook — Jenn’s got a group on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111540178869011&v=wall. You can leave her a message there if you like. We’ll post updates there too. Oh, and if you play Zoo World definitely send her a note… I think she’s level two zillion or something.

Thanks very much for helping my niece. ResearchBuzz will return to normal on Monday, though I will try to do the occasional brief post to keep you updated on Jennifer’s progress.

Gratefully,

Tara