My Good Deed

Emma Lawrence - 3 Years Old

Back in early June I contacted friends and colleagues to help me assist a family who had lost their 25 year old daughter due to domestic violence.  She left behind a 1 year old boy named Peter and a 3 year old girl named Emma.The grandparents were devastated and were dealing with making their home, the children’s home.  Peter, at 1 year old didn’t understand what happened, but Emma, even though 3 years old, was very aware of the loss of her mother and her life as she knew it.One way the grandparents hoped to bring some joy to her life was to make her bedroom like that of a “princess” - bright, happy and cheerful!  - That’s where I came in.  I knew I could pull my resources together and make this happen.What I didn’t expect was the generosity and outpouring of donations from so many people, many of whom I had never met.  I received a call from Barbara English who runs to the trade only who offered to contact her resources (she has a LOT of them) to see if they would be willing to help.  She sent a message in her monthly newsletter and within minutes, I received several emails and phone calls with offers to help.

Barbara English from To The Trade Only.

One of my first calls was from Kathy O'Malley with The Closet Factory offering anything we could use for storage or organization.  They kindly made custom bookcases for the room.

An incredible artist that I am so proud to have met, Jay Scott approached me and wanted to do something very "special" for this room.  While he is mainly an abstract artist, I asked if he could paint a princess on a 36 x 48 canvas.   This is what he created!!

One of the members of our "team", Joan Borawski who does  a lot of whimsical painting for us, created this masterpiece

One of the highlights of the room was this "princess" bed donated by my brother and sister-in-law, Gil and Monica Kandrac.  The full mattress was furnished by Lynne Scales and the pick up and delivery of the mattress was done by Ben Colson and Lauren Mitchell.

I received another call out of the blue from Sam Sheron of Lewis and Sheron Textiles who was willing to donate "anything we needed"  After shopping there for many years, it was great to finally meet one of the owners in person and to personally thank him for his fabric donation.

Our seamstress, Sue Cruickshank, wanted to help even though she had out of town visitors.  She took the time to fabricate the window treatment and window seat cushion.  She is an integral part of our team and we appreciate her so much!

Our installer, Chris Ray, who is our right hand man, helped with the installation

There are so many people to thank so here I go:

Kass Wilson of Wallstreat Studio, an amazing artist who painted this lampshade.  You need to check out her website to see her marvelous talent.

Our good friends Don Schoenberger and Shane Meder of Black Sheep Interiors purchased this ceiling fan for the room.

Robin Barbaree, sales rep for Paragon donated this adorable framed art painted by Vikki Mancil Weigel

Another great vendor Oopsy Daisy sent a personalized canvas growth chart for Emma.  It came in beautiful packaging and would make a great gift.

A wonderful client of ours, Heather Rees, contacted me twice to contribute something.  She supplied the comfy bean bag chair and some faith based books.

I also received so many monetary donations.  Thanks so much to:  Seth and Amy Pennington of Insidesign, Sumari Stamps-Henderson, Allie Wansky, Lynne Dougherty, Nancy and Kevin Prochaska, Traci Edwards, Jamie Morgan, Amy Goodall and  Lisa Toth

Others who were very generous were Ann Gerringer, who donated a $100 gift certificate to Decorating Mart.  Other offers came from the team at Spiffy Stuff , Danielle King Chizzolin from Kings Home Furnishings, Vicki Posey of Legacy Design Group, John Kelly of Pro Coat Painters, Amanda Poole, Oana Hogrefe, Gregg Marcus and Lori Brothers.  Susan Wilson donated an adorable piggy bank filled with change.  Kelli Wallace from Rustique donated a red oar to go in Peter's room.  Tinsley Dempsey of Pattern Design donated fabric and painted a small table.

This project was very meaningful to me.  The range of emotions was extremely varied.  I felt very disappointed and angry about what happened to this young mother.  I also felt so much compassion for the Grandparents and the road ahead of them raising children all over again.  What I didn't expect was the overwhelming response and generosity from so many people.  It has really renewed my faith that there is a lot of good in the world.  To all of you who supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

This quote by Tony Robbins sums it up for me:

Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more"

Joann Kandrac

Emma's Grandparents - see their thank you message below......

"Our entire family would like to thank you for all the prayers, acts of compassion, and gifts that you have given to Shannon's children.  Words cannot express the sorrow our family feels still today; yet our faith in God sustains us, and the support we have received from family, friends, and the community have helped to lessen the pain as we witness God's mercy through you.

It is a pleasure and honor that you are part of our lives at this time.  For all of you who have given freely of your talent and time to bless these children, may God smile upon you forever and bless you for the love you have shared with these little ones.  

Randy and Karen Lawrence