What is the Jake Jr. Amish Quilt Raffle?

As you may well know, I work with an Amish community in southern Michigan. I try to help them out by selling eggs, quilts, furniture, etc. But this time, we need to raise a large amount of money in a short time for medical help. So I tried a charity quilt raffle and we had a huge success! Thank you Neal Rubin from the Detroit News for helping us out with his news column.

Jake Jr. Surgery

Jake Jr. had his eyelid surgery Tuesday morning, December 13th, 2005, at Mott Children's Hospital. The surgery was outpatient and everything went according to planned and all was well. (I am so relieved that it is over and seemingly sucessful.) The family was able to go home at around noon. His eyelids were a bit puffy and swollen, but he was otherwise fine. The father, Jake, called me a few days later to tell me that the baby looks very happy and can see better all ready. His eyes are blue! Thank you again EVERYONE for making this possible.

The doctors have also since volunteered to donate their services, and all we have to cover are the hospital costs. So thank you, Dr. Christine Nelson at Kellogg Eye Center. I also would like to thank Len Pytlak's Accounting firm who is donating its accounting services to make sure the money all gets handled correctly. And a special thanks to Neal Rubin from the Detroit News.

Proceeds from the raffle are going towards the raffle expenses and Jake Jr.'s eye surgery and subsequent eye/medical care -- I have set up a new non-profit organization called Jake Jr. Amish Quilt Raffle.

It is now February, and little Jake is growing big and looking all around. One of his eyes is still kind of droopy, but at least he can see! It is likely he will need additional surgeries as his face and eyelids grow. He will need at least one follow up surgery when he is 5 years old and we have that covered as well now. It is wonderful that we were able to raise enough funds to cover not only this surgery but all subsequent care for little Jake.

Raffle Results

The raffle was held at Sunward Cohousing at a community meeting December 13th and was witnessed by twenty plus people. One person who did not enter the raffle mixed up the tickets and another person drew the winner blindfolded. The grand prize winner is William Bond of Ann Arbor. I don't know him. I decided to have a second prize winner since we had over 1400 participants and the second place prize goes to Roger and Charlene Hall of Montgomery, MI. They will receive a small baby/wallhang quilt. See pictures of some of the winning quilts.

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