Our Benefit on the 18th of July was a big hit made some new friends and ate some GREAT Chicken.
We had a raffle of several really nice items and made some money for Multiple Sclerosis.
We our a huge Thank-You to a lot of people for the first event
Andy and the staff at WESTGATE for all they did.It went on without a hitch. Thanks  and I am looking forward to next year; Tiffany , Liz and DJ Phil Austin. You all did a great job and we have a lot of ideas for next year. With-out you it may not have happened.
People who donated Thank-you
Dehavens home and garden centers for the zero gravity chair
Treasure chest for the print of the Browns Stadium
The Cleveland browns and the Cincinnati Bengals for the autographed footballs
The Cincinnati Reds for the 4 tickets
Lucielle Meyer( amy's grandma) for the hand made afaghan
Salim and Karen Alam for the Changeable Purse
Ashley furniture for the beautiful Lam
and a lot more people that donated
And most of all ; all my volenteers who donated their valuable time and many stayed from bell to bell;To name a few Deb Pepple, Terri Dawson,Mark and Rhonda Hendricks; Betty Gibson, Colleen Miller, Beth Joyner and Heather Fixx, Wow theres a lot more Thank-you to everyone

To all the dads out there I hope you all have a very Happy Fathers Day!
This day comes around one day a year; But so does your birthday and your annivesary; and mothers day and every other day of the year;So why wait  to show your appreciation and love for that one person you are honoring on this day.
Wouldn't it be nice if every day was a special day:
For MS patients every day that they are having a "good" day or an "on" day is a celebration in it's own right.
Far too often these days are few and far between:
Bad days or "off" days are the norm, I can tell you now that they SUCK!
MS patients along with about every other neurological  disorder patients struggle every day, I even heard from one young lady ," I wish I were obviously disabled"!
Where did that come from i asked, her reply" people think that I am a B---h, or I just don't pay attention, no one knows how I feel unless they have "it" too.
As a caregiver I do know how they feel and even for me it is frustrating not only for the patient but for myself;  and for many other caregivers. There are so many aspects of this type of disorder that it is really hard to diagnose that it often goes untreated.
The medical community is making strong strides and they have come a long way in treatment, research and development of new drugs to combat the disease.So the patient doesn't combat themselves!
Check out http://www.patientslikeme.com .
This site is a medium for those who don't have a care giver or maybe they do but just need someone to talk to,Some one who won't judge them but what they really need : someone to listen; After all God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason;
do twice as much listening and not so much talking.
Happy Fathers Day. Or what ever day it happens to be

The most recent up date for the benefit at the Westgate entertainment Center located at 721 N. Cable rd here in Lima, Oh.

So far all is a go starting at 10 am or there abouts.We have many activities planned and are hoping to raise monies to the national ms society.

Some of the events will be a silent auction, raffles, 50/50 drawings.Chicken dinners ,Live entertainment by Amys dad aka Country notes;  Some of the donations came from Dehaven's ,Cincinnati Bengals Salim and Karen Alam,  The Lima Moose, Treasure Chest  in the Lima Mall near Macys  along with many others. As well as a car show, and I am working on a motor cycle show also with prizes for the top 3 entrants( the latter is still in the planning stages... I am quickly running out of time.) That may be next year along with the Linda Lou memorial stay tuned for that! We are hoping for a dunk tank as well . How would that be in mid July, an election year and get the mayorial candidates  to sit on the  dunk seat.

If anyone has any ideas that you think  would be  a good addition and will generate funds ,Please call me and let me or Amy know ASAP,  land line number for MS is 567-712-7385.

I really had no idea of what went into planning a benefit of this size, Although I've had a lot of help  and I can not find the words to say thank-you enough.

The two car washes , to date anyway ; have raised a few hundred dollars alone with 2 more to go.

Check out the fundraier page and you'll see how busy we've been.

And I think the pizza party at the end has helped to... lol

In all honesty there have been a lot of very good helpers that haven't missed one yet.Bob and Heather, Amy,Dillion and Sharon, and Shannon.Maureen and Mayleen and of course all the customers that stopped in and donated.

We look forward to your continued support.

To all my volunteers for the first fund raising car wash this year. THANK YOU!!!! Namely Heather Fixx, Amy's life long friend Kimmie, Maureen, and of course Bob Mussleman...and I can't forget my daughter Beth. These people spent the entire day washing cars and putting up with me. We had a good time and enjoyed a pizza party at the end at the Westgate Entertainment Center, www.westgate-northland.com. A big thanks to Andy for the pizza. We will see you at the next one June the 6th at the Burger King on the east side of town, Harding Highway, just east of I75

Not that long ago I was at one of our local  grocery stores, Going to the grocery is one of my least favorite things to do simply because I cannot get out of the store without spending way over the budget. I told my wife I'll run in real quick and grab what we need. Ha. She knew it wouldn't happen but she let me go anyway. She was right,  man I hate saying that,  But .... After a long and treacherous hour to pick up a few things , you know just run in..I finally made my way to the check-out.
There was a young lady  ringing us all up,when I noticed her having a rough time handling  the currency, I watched till it was my turn to fork over the 125.00 that should have only been 35.00 at the most,  I very relunctantly  asked the lady "How long since you've been diognosed?" She was a little taken aback and asked What do ya mean? I said MS,  She was being watched over her shoulder by  a supervisor; I said take your time I'm in no hurry ; even though dinner was only half done and I was on a time frame,
They both smiled and said thank-you But how did you know? I told her  my wife is affected to. She said 3 years ago. " I told her to take her timeand that she was doing a   fine job, With a smile she handed me my change and said thanks again.
I went home and told my wife about it all and she kinda smiled and said and all it  cost ya was a little time out of your day.I said ya thats all. We ate and the meal seemed to be just a little better.

I guess it was during the summer of the mid 80's Thats the 1980's but I ran into a girl from my childhood who I thought could not live without me. lol.She was working at a local bakery. Hey Barb whats been going on since it's been several years since I've seen her I thought that greeting was appropriate. Not much she said, with a very discouraged look on her face; I said whats wrong? It's too hot I can't handle the heat. Now it was in the mid80's but I said what do ya mean, I mean she did have a huge fan blowing on her  and there was a breese blowin, She said chuck I have MS.I said  ya and whats the problem?
Well I had no idea what MS was and I was quite ignorant to those 2 letters. She said we can't handle the heat the way you guys can. I thought oh well ok We talked for a few mins.caught up on some time that we missed And I had to leave being on my break from my job, I mean after all I just stopped in for a mountian dew anyway.
It was about a day later I saw my oldest sister and I mentioned that I had seen Barb and she didn't look very interested in her job and then Sis said Chuck she has MS. They can't handle the heat like we can...
Theres them 2 letters again MS,and they and us. What is MS and who the hell are they and us????
We did as kids have MD carnivals in the neighborhood, But there again MD . There was a kid at the same time that had CP.
I thought  MD MS CP.  Like I said I was ignorant to the meaning of 2 letters
MS  Multiple sclerosis
MD> Muuscular Dystrophy
CP Ceribral Palsy
It's been Many years now and all too Well do I know the meaning of MS.
I met a young lady that has been inflicted with MS. But I didn't know, Hell neither did she..
We soon became "an item,"
On a Sunday morning during our weekly Breakfast at the Westgate Bowling alley Amy didn't look too good. I said honey whats wrong, I don't know I feel weird! was her answer I said whats up with the drooling?She wiped the corner for her mouth and then I noticed her face sagging.
Now I'm concerned, I said you stay home from work today and lets get you to the hospital... I did Know her mother had MS... You know those 2 letters!
Relucantly I agreed to let her go to work 40 mins. up I75. I don't think she was there an hour and half before my son broke every  Driving law there was to go get her.
Later in the ER the doctors were like flys.. Literally everwhere,
 In the early days of our relationship I did notice a "tic" in one of her fingers but thought nothing of it.
After alot of tests the doctors ruled out a stroke  but came back  with Amy you have  Multiple Sclerosis you know MS.
It's been almost 4 years now and Amy and I are getting ready to celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary!
She"s on her meds and doing pretty good.
Ya see Barb was right ,you guys{ us not inflicted with this horrid disease} Don't understand The heat as it affects them ,you know them{those who have been inflicted} much differently and the mood swings! I had no idea what it was all about.
Doctors said it's really not hereditary, But as I mentioned Amys mom has it. Or Now Amys Mom had it!She passed away at the tender young age of 49 only 6 weeks ago.
Face MS is not about Amy Her Mom Linda Or even Barb. It's about the 400,000 Americans inflicted and more importantly those  who were like myself didn't understand those 2 letters MS
Take a little innocent survey, Ask 3 people do you know any one with MS? You will be surprised.
Stay tuned to facems.org