The Bell Center and The Mercedes Marathon

*Update*
Thank you so much to the wonderful person who donated $300 last night! It's and anonymous donation so I don't know who you are but thank you!!!

*Original Post*
Let me start by first giving you a little information about The Bell Center. You can click on the link to get more information but this is a nonprofit organization that provides early intervention services to children three and under who qualify for services in any of the major developmental areas. Isabelle obviously qualifies for physical therapy but one of the really great things about The Bell Center is that regardless of what area you qualify in you get therapy for all of them. Depending on the child's age and need they go either 2 or 4 days a week for one to two hours a day. They have many different programs for many different needs.

I can not stress to you how wonderful this place is and what a blessing it has been to Isabelle and me (not to mention the thousands of families they have helped since they were founded). Let me tell you a little bit about how The Bell Center has affected our lives. As many of you know (and for those of you who don't) Isabelle has been receiving therapy at The Bell Center since she was six months old. At the time she was not rolling over, not sitting, and could barely pick her head up off the ground while laying on her tummy. Within a month she was able to roll over and within another month she was sitting with very little assistance. Not only did the therapists at The Bell Center help her during our class time but they gave me exercises to do at home with her to speed along her progress. They have always been there for my daughter and are always full of ideas of how to help her do the best that she can. Currently Isabelle is able to stand, cruise, and walk short distances with her walker. Although Isabelle also receives therapy privately and through the state I feel certain that she would not be where she is now with out The Bell Center.

With all that being said I now want to share some very exciting news about a very important event coming up. Every year Birmingham plays host to The Mercedes Marathon. Thousands of runners train for either the half or full marathon and many of them run to raise money. The majority of the money received goes to none other than The Bell Center itself. Because The Bell Center is a nonprofit organization it relies solely on donations to fund itself. As you can imagine with the economy being as it is for the past couple of years donations are hard to come by and everyone, nonprofits especially, are struggling. The Bell Center has had to cut down on the children that they are able to serve and make many other cut backs.

This is where ALL OF YOU come in. I received a call on Friday from a wonderful woman named Ellen letting me know that her husband Nick and she are both running the half marathon and have chosen Isabelle to run in honor of. You can check out her blog here and watch their progress while they train. Many of the runners pick children from The Bell Center to run for so we were very excited to hear this news. We went out to their house Sunday night to meet them. We had a great time and Isabelle especially loved their adorable puppy Cody.

So you may be asking, why I said this is where ALL OF YOU come in. The runners who are sponsoring children from The Bell Center all set up a fund raising page and set a fund raising goal. Ellen and Nick have set a goal of $5000 dollars and we are all planning on working very hard to meet or exceed this goal. But, we need all of the help we can get. So, instead of getting that $6 McDonald's meal or that $4 Starbucks (guilty!) hop on over to their FirstGiving fund raiser page and donate that money to The Bell Center instead. Every little bit helps whether it is $1 or $100.

The race is February 14th, 2010 so there is still plenty of time to save up. Any of you that I do not know if real life who donate please leave me a comment and let me know in case I don't recognize your name on the FirstGiving site! Thanks in advance for everyone's help and don't forget to check back every once in a while to see our progress.