$6,525.16

That's the new total! With the anonymous $1,000 donation and a few others that have arrived, we are past the half way point! Only $4,474.84 left to go! Really not even that much! I have another envelope ready to be mailed that has over $100 worth of donations too!

There's still time! If you still would like to get that tax deduction, it just has to be post marked by December 31st! Get that donation in the mail today! Donations can be mailed to:

4 Paws for Ability, Inc

253 Dayton Avenue

Xenia, OH 45385

Be sure you add "In honor of Noah Henderson" on the menu part of your check!

Thanks to everyone who has already made donations! Please pass along Noah's story to others! You never know when we may find our "fundraising Angel"

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

GREAT NEWS!

"Merry Christmas from 4 Paws" was the start of the e-mail! The rest goes on to say that a donation from an anonymous Foundation was received at 4 Paws and Noah was the beneficiary of $1,000 towards his fundraising goal!! That has us over the half way point!! I'm so excited, I can hardy contain myself! Since I don't know of any other donations that are coming in, I suspect we are at $6,408.56 but it could be more if any of the other families that recently reached their goals may have gone over! I can only pray! We will find out for sure Dec. 30th.

On behalf of Noah and his family, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU goes out to the Anonymous Foundation! You have helped to make his dream come true! You (along with many others) have played an important part in providing Noah with the independence and freedom he deserves! And for that, I am truly grateful! You have not only provided this for Noah, but also for our whole family! Thank you!

On a separate note, the dates for 2009 were posted today and the 2 available months for us to be in training (for non tracking) are June (I don't think it's full yet!) or October. So once we finish our fundraising we will be assigned to one of these classes! We are praying for a spot in the June class! This will work out better for Noah so he can have time to bond with the dog before going to school and he won't have to miss any days from school! Although, as I've said before, this is all in God's time, and we will follow His plan!

I pray each and everyone of you have a wonderful and Blessed Christmas! Please remember the "real reason for the season!" Thank you Jesus for being born just to die for us!

Slow and steady wins the race!

I received Noah's new total yesterday. We have raised a total of $5,408.56. As I said before, this will happen in God's time and according to His will! I've placed my trust in Jesus. Although I am praying for a Christmas miracle!!

Please share Noah's story with everyone you meet this holiday season! Feel free to give them his Blog address so they can read about him for themselves.

Do you have someone on your Christmas list that has everything and you are truly having a hard time trying to find just the right gift for them?? How about making a tax deductible donation in honor of Noah in that person's name?? Then you have given a gift to that person and have helped Noah as well! Please remember no gift is too small. Even if you can only give a few pennies, those pennies add up!! Look at our total, we have 56 cents that was given by a young man at our church that wanted to do whatever he could to help Noah! He emptied his piggy bank and brought it to his mom and said, I want to give this to Noah! Could you give the coins in your pocket? Every cent counts!!

Coming together in God's time!

Our original goal was to have our fundraising completed by Thanksgiving. I have come to accept that this whole process will come together only in God's time! I see many things that I believe Noah has to experience before receiving his dog. Not all these things are positive! Noah is going through medication changes currently. He is having many up and down days. I believe all these things are just God's way of confirming to us that we are doing the right thing. God is in control! I believe there are changes to be made in his class at school before we can move on to the challenge of getting his dog in school with him and I believe God is working these things out now so they are not such a challenge later!

We are ready, when God says it's time!

We have also been blessed with a free XL dog kennel for Noah's dog once we do bring it home! There are many supplies we will need for Noah's dog and many people have been helping to provide those. We are extremely grateful to all of you, you know who you are!

We are about half way to our goal! We have tentatively planned a fundraiser for January, also. I need lots of help with this fundraiser and I'm leaning on many of you for that help! I know it will all come together in time!

Please, if you know of anyone who would like to get that last tax deduction in before the end of the year, tell them about 4 Paws for Ability and Noah. Show them Noah's blog, tell them how easy it is to donate in honor of Noah, and tell them how much this will change Noah's life!

For the first time in months, Noah got away from me again the other day and my heart just sank to my feet! We were out shopping with my parents on Thanksgiving day and when walking out of Big Lots, Noah wanted to run to Memaw and Papa who were already at the car. I was holding our bags and opening the door when he took off! If you know where Big Lots is, you know there is a "road" before the parking lot. When I caught Noah, he was in the middle of this road! Needless to say, he got his bottom popped right there in the middle of the road! All that was going through my head was, Thank you God, my baby wasn't hit! Then, my thoughts went straight to, Lord, please help us get this dog home quick! I'm afraid one day I won't be so lucky to catch him!! I just thank God for each day we get and for good running shoes!

I pray each of you have a Blessed week! I'll update again once I have new totals!

We are getting there!

I got the e-mail today with our latest total! We have reached $5,363. We are starting to move up more slowly but we are still going up!

I have decided to start collecting drink cans and veggie cans to recycle as donation money. If you have any drink cans or veggie cans, would you please save them for Noah? I will be more than happy to pick them up from you, just contact me when you have enough for me to pick up! Please, rinse all the cans out and if possible, separate the drink cans from the veggie cans as they are different types of metals and go in different places at the recycle center!

Don't forget, we have planned a fundraising dinner in January too! The date is not nailed down just yet but we are thinking January 17th. I'm thinking we will have soups and stews! Please let me know what famous soup or stew you can prepare for that day! I'm thinking of doing an all you can eat dinner, but I'm afraid I'll run out of food before everyone is served! Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!! Please e-mail me at pittil8@aol.com with any ideas or with the type of soup/stew or other item you can donate!

Also, if you or someone you know is looking for a great cause to make your end of the year tax deductible donation to, please consider making a donation in honor of Noah to 4 Paws for Ability. Please help us bring Noah's Fur-ever friend home!!

Newest Totals! - $5,206.56

I just received the e-mail with our most up to date totals! We have know raised $5,206.56. We are getting so close! Thanks to every one who has made those donations! Every little bit helps! The 56 cents was just as important as the $60 check that was sent in! Each got us that much closer to our goal! I also just mailed another $132 worth of donations this past Friday. These totals do not reflect that amount!

I have tentatively scheduled another dinner fundraiser for January. I'm not sure of an exact date or exactly what type of dinner we will have. This will just be a dinner and maybe a couple of raffle items. Maybe even some karaoke!! I'm thinking BBQ, or spaghetti, or "poor man's dinner" and have pintos, chili beans, soup, stews, and breads! If you have any ideas, or want to help, please e-mail me at pittil8@aol.com

If you, or someone you know, are interested in getting those end of the year tax deductions, it's a great way to help on your taxes and benefit Noah at the same time! Donations can be sent to:

4 Paws for Ability, Inc
253 Dayton Ave.
Xenia, OH 45385

Be sure to put "in honor of Noah Henderson" on the memo portion of your check!

Thanks for all your support!

Noah in the Hometown-News!!

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE SO YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE!

100 x 60? Is this you?

We have had a very successful benefit dinner and received many personal donations, but we have not met our goal of $11,000. We need about $6,000 more to reach our goal! If just 100 people could make a tax deductible donation of $60 or more we will have reached our goal and can move to the next step of our service dog journey! Could you be one of the 100? Maybe you can't donate $60 but you can donate $10? Any amount you are able to contribute is that much closer we get to our goal! You can donate online HERE. You may also mail a check or money order to 4 Paws for Ability, Inc. 253 Dayton Ave. Xenia, OH 48385. Please be sure and write "In honor of Noah Henderson" on the memo portion of your check so Noah will receive proper credit for our fundraising. Please see Noah's story on the right to learn more about him and his need for a service dog! Also please visit this web site often for up to date details of our journey! Thank you for taking the time to read this today! I pray you have a very blessed day!

Sweet story!

I just had to share such a touching story with all of you today!

This past Sunday as I was selling the left over baked goods from Noah's fundraiser the night before, one of the ladies at church asked me for a copy of Noah's story to share with her co-workers! So I get her a copy and off we all go to enjoy our Sunday afternoon. I get back to church Sunday night and didn't get 15 steps in the door when the ladies son (who is six and just cute as a button) comes up to me and is tapping my pants leg saying something to me. Now I can't hear him because we were in a crowd of Youth and we all know how loud teenagers can be! So I get down so I can hear him and he's saying, "can I help your son?" This is when his mom comes up to me with tears in her eyes and says, "He over heard me telling my mom about Noah and his dog today and he asked what he could do to help." She told him that we are trying to get a dog for Noah to help him and he asks if he can give Noah his dog to help him! Now as sweet as that is the next part is just touching! She explains that his dog can't be Noah's dog because Noah's dog has to be a special dog that is trained just for him. So he asks her again, "what can I do to help Noah get his dog?" She tells him that we are collecting donations to get Noah a dog. She tells him that a donation is money to help pay for his dog. So he goes to his room and gets his piggy bank and says, "mommy, I want Noah to have all my piggy back money!" She said she just cried!! So last night, he comes in with a little baggie with 56 pennies in it. All the money in his piggy bank! He proudly takes it to Noah and says, "here Noah, this is for your new doggie!" Noah gives him a big hug and tells him thank you as me, my husband, and his mommy all are teary eyed! How sweet that a six year old is so grown up that he gives my son all he has!! I proudly took the baggie and told him that I was so proud of him for thinking of Noah and sharing his hard earned money with him! I have to say this, that's 56 cents closer to our goal but that's also 56 pennies that I'm not sending in. I'll send it in with the next donation checks I send but I'm keeping those pennies! They will be put up with a special note for Noah to look back on and remember how his little buddy at church loved him so much that he gave all he had just to help someone else!! If only some of us adults could make a sacrifice like that! Sounds like someone has really been teaching Jesus to that little boy!

I pray this story has touched your heart as it did mine! Have a blessed day!

Whew! That was fun!

Well the fundraiser is over! I have gotten a total of $2,426 from the dinner/auction/raffle/bake sale! There is a little more that will be coming in after the last few baked goods get gone this week!

Wow what a ride! I can't speak for anyone else, but I can say this...I had a blast! The dinner was great, the baked goodies were awesome, and the auction and raffle was a blast!! I kept telling everyone to buy, buy, buy cause I wasn't taking it home with me! I only brought home the wedding dress and some left over food! The break down goes something like this:
$175 - Baked Goods, Wendy's Chili, fruit bowls, tomatoes
$364 - Raffle
$ 689 - Auction
+/- $350 - Hot Dogs

The rest of the money came from donations!!

God's Little Haven was absolutely wonderful! They all were such a blessing! If you missed them, I'm sorry to say, you missed an amazing blessing! Katherine, from Katherine's Heritage in Chesnee, was wonderful as well! She was also a blessing with her voice! And for those who stuck around long enough, even Edwin was a blessing! I get to hear him sing quite often but he has not publicly sang in over a year!

I truly believe everyone who attended had a great time! No one looked bored, even for a moment!! We had many items that folks got to fight over including a few golf packages that both sold for $98 each! There was a pink video chair with built in speakers that sold for $40! That was our last second bid! I had to give a count down just to get some people to speed up so we could end the auction!! Our raffle was a huge success and I think everyone really enjoy it! I hope everyone walked away with something Saturday night! If nothing else, you walked away with the satisfaction of knowing that you have helped Noah and 4 Paws for Ability!

Thanks to everyone who came out, everyone who donated, everyone who is praying and will continue to pray, and to 4 Paws for Ability for giving Noah the opportunity to have more independence and safety with the help of his service dog!

I have not received the most recent totals yet but according to my calculations, we should be close to $5,000. That means we only have about $6,000 to go!! If just 100 people could make a donation of $60 we would be done with the fundraising and could move to the next step in this journey! Our next step is finding out when we get to go to training!! Then we wait for those days to get here, then we find out about a week before training which dog gets Noah! Then 2 weeks of training in Ohio and we come back home with our newest family member and begin a new chapter in our lives! Oh I can't wait! Won't you be one of the 100 to give just $60 today??

The Fundraiser was a success!

Hey everyone! I know you all are curious about the fundraiser totals, so I just wanted to let you all know that we made about $2,400 tonight!! We had a great turn out and I think everyone had a great time! I'm going to work on getting some pictures downloaded tomorrow (Sunday). I'm exhausted and mine, Noah's, Memaw's, Edwin's, and I'm sure everyone else who helped tonight, bodies are wore out and hurting terribly! It was all so worth it though!! I'll update with more details Sunday! For now, I'm going to bed! Good night all and thanks for everything!!

Are you ready for some Hot Dogs?!?!

Well, It's almost time! The hot dog dinner is this Saturday! It seems like so long ago that I kept saying, "it's over a month away, we've got plenty of time!" Well now it's here and the time is quickly approaching!

I'd like to thank everyone who has rallyed around us to help make this happen! We have a long list of donations and if it wasn't for all the help I've received, that list would not be so long! And there is even more coming that hasn't made it to the list yet! I only add things to the list once I "have" them, not a promise of them! I appreciate everyone who has helped to pass the word about Noah's dinner! Please continue to remind everyone about it!!

My goal for this fundraiser is $8,000. I've said I wasn't going to put an amount on it but that is about the total we need to finish our fundraising! So everyone, bring your cash, bring your check books, and do some shopping! There is something for everyone! If nothing else, we all like to eat and I've got plenty of gift certificates for food!!

I look forward to seeing you there!!!

We are on our way!

We are on our way! I have just received the most recent totals!! We now have $2,260 towards our $11,000 goal! Do you know what this means?? It means, we only have $8,740 left to raise!! Thank you to everyone who has already made a donation and to those who are sending their's soon!

Don't forget the Hot Dog dinner/auction/raffle on Saturday, October 25th from 4 - 8 PM! We have lots of great items for the auction and raffle! Take a look towards the bottom of this page on the right and you can see the most up to date list! This list is updated often so please stop by daily to see what has been added!! Thanks to all the businesses and individuals who have helped so far! With out all of you this fundraiser would not be possible!

If you would like to help with the dinner fundraiser, please contact me. I can use all the help I can get!!

New Totals!

$560!! We are getting there!! I know $560 doesn't sound like much but that's $210 more than we had 2 weeks ago! Every little bit helps!!

Plus, I know there is a $1500 check in the mail too! Proaxis Therapy employees sponsored a "Jean Day" on September 17th! For a $10 donation the employees got to wear jeans for the day! The employees donated $750 and then Proaxis Therapy matched it for a total of $1500!! A special thank you to my good friend, Dana H, for sharing Noah's story with the HR department and getting the ball rolling for the fundraiser!! If your company would like to sponsor something like this, please let me know and I'll get you any info you may need!

I've added many new items to the auction/raffle list so make sure you take a moment to check it out! And remember, if you want to help with the auction/raffle in any way, please contact me

If you would like to purchase tickets for the dinner, or wish to sell some for Noah, please contact me at the above link also!!

Thank you to all those who have already donated either monetarily or for the dinner/auction. Your generosity is greatly appreciated!! I pray many blessing for each and every one of you!!

The tickets are in!

Ok everyone!! I now have the tickets!! I'm selling them beginning ummm NOW!!!

If you would like to help sell any please let me know and I'll get you some to take to work, church, school, where ever!!

I've added more items to the list below and should be adding more by the end of today so please be sure and take a look then check back this evening to look again!!

We still need more donations for our auction/raffle!! Please let me know if you can help with this!!!

Have a great day!!

Counting down!

We are counting down the days until the Dinner/Auction! I am having tickets printed soon and we will begin selling them just as soon as we have them! If you would like to sell some for us please contact me.

I have added a list (close to the bottom of this site) with a current list of some of the items we have had donated. We still need many more! If you would like to donate something please let me know ASAP. Please check back often as I'll continue to add things as they come in! This way you have an idea of what you may want to bid on or buy raffle tickets for! Just be sure to bring your wallets and check books!!

We should have a new total amount by the end of this week and I'll post just as soon as I have it! Thanks again to all those who have already donated!!

New Totals!

We have our new totals!! As of September 18, 2008, we now have $350 towards our $11,000 goal! That’s an amazing jump from the $60 just 14 days before! Thanks so much for those donations! Please keep them coming!

Our hot dog dinner/auction is scheduled for October 25th from 4 – 8 PM at Woodmen of the World on Hwy. 9 in Boiling Springs. We will have hot dog dinners for $5 for adults and $3 for kids ages 3-10. Adults will receive 2 hot dogs, chips and a drink; children will receive 1 hot dog, chips and a drink. We will have individual baked goods for $1 each also. The silent auction will begin at 4 PM and end at 6 PM. We will also sell raffle tickets 1 for $1 or 6 for $5 for various items and gift certificates. We are still in need of many donations for our raffles and silent auction. If any of you creative minds out there would like to make a “themed” basket (ex: Christmas, Spa, Movie, etc.) to donate for the auction please feel free to contact me. Also, if anyone wants to donate baked goods that would be great too! Remember all donations are tax deductible!!

Just to add a sweet story about Noah: Noah is always asking how everyone and everything is doing. Every day he asks how I did at home, daddy did at work, me-maw did today, and even how me-maws dogs are doing! It’s so sweet!! Well just yesterday, out of the blue, Noah asked how his Special Dog was doing. (Noah doesn’t understand that his dog has not been chosen yet and that we won’t know what dog he is getting until right before we go for our 2 week training session) I told him his special dog was doing great and working really hard on learning how to be his special dog. He wanted to know how the people are doing who are taking care of his dog too. I told him they are all doing great! I thought it was so sweet that he wanted to know that who ever is taking care of his doggy is doing well! Noah has such an innocence about him! I just love it!! He just wants everyone to be happy and every one to be OK!!

Thanks again for all the ones who have already made donations to help bring Noah’s special dog home! Also, Thanks to those who have promised to send donations soon!! I pray that number just keeps growing!!

The Date is set!

I have reserved the place and the date for the Silent Auction/hot dog dinner!! The event will be held at Woodmen of the World on Hwy 9 in Boiling Springs on Saturday, October 25th. The times and all the details have not been ironed out yet but will be coming soon!

If you know anyone who would be interested in makeing any donations for the Auction/dinner, please feel free to contact me at pittil8@aol.com

Check out Noah's story on the 4 Paws web site's "Dream Page"

The FUNdraising has begun!

Fundraising total as of Sept. 4th: $60.00 A good start for only 2 weeks!

We currently have an active fundraiser going with "Jewels by Park Lane". If you would like to see a brochure or are interested in selling it for Noah please e-mail me at pittil8@aol.com 4 Paws will receive 50% of all sells towards Noah's $11,000 goal. This fundraiser will end September 30th.

I am in the planning stages of a hot dog/bake sale/silent auction in October. The date is not confirmed yet, but just as soon as it is, I'll post all the details!!

I have been out in full force visiting many different businesses asking for donations for 4 Paws and for our sale and auction in October. If you know of any places or if you would like to donate and item or food, please contact me ASAP. I have already received many donations for the auction and the hot dog sale but need many, many more!! No offer is too small! Remember all donations (even for the auction and sale) are tax deductible. All proceeds will go directly to 4 Paws for Ability and Noah will receive credit towards our $11,000 goal to bring his new fur-ever friend home!

If you would like to help Noah achieve the independence, safety, and support a Multi-purpose assistance dog will provide for him, please consider making a tax deductible donation to 4 Paws For Ability, Inc at 253 Dayton Ave. Xenia, OH 45385. Be sure to include “In honor of Noah Henderson.” on the memo portion of your check.