"Hope to Heaven" balloon release 7.9.2011 @ AZ State Capitol

We are celebrating our progress in safeguarding our canals!! Brenan touched so many hearts in his short life and he continues to make an impact by encouraging all of us to come together and let it be known that we will not stop until canals are more safe.  This balloon release will mark 4,000 supporters on facebook and 14,000 views on this blog.  BYOB (It's not what you think...bring your own balloon) and if you do, bring a few extra for those that might forget or can't. :)

We also want to mention that there are others who have lost or nearly lost their life in a canal because it had no easy way out.  We would like this event to also bring more awareness and support for all of those people!! I encourage those who have a story to tell, to come and do it at The Capitol! I encourage you all to bring your questions about why we are told to put gates around our pools, while miles of open canals can be left as an open invitation!! We want everyone's thoughts, stories and questions to be heard....so please join us in conveying this message to the people who should be helping us do something about it and who can do something about it.

Finally, we are working on and hoping for the press to air this event so we need all the supporters possible to be present!

When: Saturday, July 9th @ 6:30pm
Where: Arizona State Capitol map
            1700 W. Washington St.
            Phoenix, AZ   

Thank you for your continued help and support!!! Hope to see you there!

Celebration of Brenan's Life 6.19.11 @ The Ritz, Okoboji, Iowa

When:   Sunday, June 19th

             2p.m.-7p.m.

Where:  The Ritz

             394 Okoboji Grove Road

             Arnolds Park, IA

All are welcome!!! Please come and help us share memories and say goodbye to our angel Brenan with all of our midwest family and friends. We will have munchies, games for the kids, a balloon release to send all of our prayers and love to Brenan in heaven! We will have all the "brenan gear" available!! We appreciate all the love and support!! Hope to see you there!!

Link to facebook event page:  Celebration of Brenan Thomson's Life

From Blog Administrator:  It is truly amazing how special Brenan's story has become!  There has been so much support here in Arizona (and around the world with views of this blog coming from all over) and now it will continue with a beautiful celebration in Iowa (Cody and Jamie's hometown).  I have heard already that flyers are up all over town and I have seen a picture of an ad in the paper promoting this event as well.  I bet it truly is a site to see! I only wish I was there to see it in person! Please keep coming back to see the update on this event and I will also be posting a copy of the ad and the flyer as soon as I have my hands on it. :)

Keep spreading the word!!! Enter your email to side, it goes directly to the blog email where I am tracking names of supporters for the future petition of Barriers 4 Brenan.

Update to Golf Tournament and Village Inn

Thank you so much to Josh Frazier and the Ocotillo Golf Club for hosting the BMT Memorial Golf Tournament, we had such a great turnout and it was lots of fun!  Those of you who missed it, you may have a chance to make up for that next year. :)  Those of you who did make it out this year, feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts on how the tournament was.  **I heard that there was a really amazing arm wrestling match post golfing and you definitely want to see the pictures that are posted in the event photos page on that.

Another big "Thank You" to Stephanie Knight of Village Inn (Power and Ray) for putting on the fundraiser for the Thomson Family.  There was lots of delicious food being served in honor of Brenan that night and it's always nice to eat in good company. :)  AND who doesn't love breakfast anytime they can get it!

Updates!

Keep checking back as I am working on the final steps to getting a Thomson Family slide show up. :)

**Finally, blog views and online donations have dramatically slowed down since the events cleared last weekend and although there was allot of support by so many people, The Thomson Family is still pretty far from meeting their needs for covering medical bills left over and getting through the next few months. If you can continue encouraging others to make donations or come out to future events, it would be so very much appreciated.  THank you!!!!!!!!

Follow up to car wash and SK8 ASYLUM

It was AMAZING to see how many people came out to support the Thomson Family yesterday. I am not sure I have seen this many people coming together to help someone else in very long time.  All the time and effort put in to both of the events on Saturday was felt by everyone who was able to witness it first hand.  The car wash actually had two lanes of traffic moving through it and the organization was as if it was a well oiled machine, with the scrubbers, dryers and detailers.  WOW! You all did a phenomenal job!  SK8 ASYLUM had tons of activity as well with so many kids and families enjoying the energy from the generosity of our community. It looked like a skaters Disneyland in that place!  The raffle was a great success, thanks to everyone that provided items to be given away! Can you just imagine how happy Brenan was that so many people were there or in spirit celebrating his special day? I also truly believe that the work of angel Bren in all this was evident in that all these people were there to surround Cody, Jamie, Madison, RyRy and the rest of the family to help them through.  

Things coming up:
Don't forget about the Memorial Golf  Tournament coming up in May.
Check back frequently, there will be more artwork and a photo slide show up very soon. 

*Keep passing the word along about Brenan's blog.  I know how important it is to mommy and daddy that everyone knows how special their little boy was, so it has been my goal that his spirit reaches far and wide and it's getting there.  I am happy to announce that his story has made it to 7 other countries so far. Keep it up!!

God Bless!

Response to inquiries on how to help.

Hello everyone,

The Thomson Family can't express enough gratitude for the tremendous outpouring of love and support during this difficult time.  There are a lot of people coming forward expressing a desire to help in some way. As a result, many of the physical needs of the family are currently being met.  Specifically, dinners have been provided through May 9th and the freezer is full of frozen meals too (Thank you! Thank you!). There will also be a lot of volunteers assisting with the car wash and the other events being planned.  We would like to ask individuals wanting to help to consider making a financial donation to the family, even if it's only $5.  This would truly help in addressing the outstanding medical bills for Brenan and also to allow them the time to focus on dealing with all aspects of their loss without the added pressure of financial concerns.  Truly, thank you for anything you are comfortable with and please pass this along!  We also want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the large amount of desire to help this family.

Blog tutorial. :)

Hi everyone, I just wanted to put it out there that when you click on one of the other tabs above i.e. Condolences, Memories, etc..... you will need to scroll down to view the information for that page and to post a message.  I am seeing lots of views for the pages, but no postings and was informed that it might be a little confusing because all the pages look the same until you scroll down. :) ~Thanks for all of your support! Keep it up!