November 23, 2009

To: You Know Who You Are

From: Cora L. Jackson, Ed’s Wife

Re: Thank You

Well, it has been about a week since the kickoff - auction dinner - bone marrow - sign up event. That evening, Ed had just been released from the hospital, after having received his fifth round of chemo. He was so excited that he forgot to feel tired, queasy or weak. In fact, Ed didn’t experience any negative affect from that round of chemo until yesterday, November 22nd, eight days later!

When we walked into the fellowship area at First A.M.E., it felt like we were at an anniversary or birthday party. Everywhere we looked was in a word, beautiful; everyone we saw had wonderful smiles on their faces. Everything was perfect. And the food…! Our five year old granddaughter had seconds, as in another whole plateful. The Jeremiah and Charlotte crew were exquisite, as usual. The M. C. was great, the music was ‘slammin’ and the program flowed nicely. The evening passed so quickly for us. Before we knew it, we were back in the car thanking God for all of you.

There are some large groups of people that helped to make that event so successful – RHCF, FAME Church and Choir, JudahSong, Seattle Peace Chorus, and Be the Match. If Ed and I said “Thank You” every hour for the rest of our lives, the words could never repay you for your hard work and kindness. So we keep you in our prayers and pray that God will bless you ‘real good’.

Some of you have given your time and talent freely; you procured, tagged and catalogued auction items, garnered donations, set up and manned tables, served food, bussed tables, played music, sang in the choir, gave rides, laminated words, created programs, set up websites, encouraged volunteers, created spreadsheets, spoke words of encouragement and prayed for us. You’ve blessed us with your phone calls, cards and handwritten notes. Many of you donated auction items and there were so many of you that purchased the majority of those items offered for sale. Some of you we know personally, some of you we hadn’t met until that evening and some of you we’ve still never met. You knew that we could not repay you, but you did it anyway. We are humbled by your compassion.

Many of you signed up to be bone marrow donors. Perhaps one of you will be the match that Ed needs, or maybe someone that you don’t know and will never meet will one day have healthy bone marrow and blood because of one of you. You have offered hope, a priceless commodity in our world today.

The EJM fund raising committee has borne and continues to shoulder the burden of walking beside us as we travel this stretch of road. We don’t know the names of everyone on the committee, but to all of you and to the heads, Bob and Carmen Shupe, Judith Hightower and Barbara Lynn, we thank God that you have accepted this responsibility. You have laid down your agendas to help a friend in need. Greater love hath no man than this.

I’m still writing thank you notes – it is a blessing to write so many. But there are many that I can’t thank verbally or with pen and ink because you chose to be anonymous. To the woman I met in Safeway, the people who left cash in my purse (I keep laying it down), those who have sent cashier checks with no name or return address, those who set up the auction but weren’t present at the event and to those who have read about us through email and other computer generated “stuff” that I will never understand, who have responded with funds through Pay Pal and prayers for Ed, me and our family, THANK YOU. We cannot bless you but our Father will.

One of Ed’s favorite movies is called, “It’s a wonderful life”. It’s about a man who ran into some financial trouble and starts to think it would have been better if he’d never been born. The moral of the story is “He who has friends is rich indeed”. The Edward Jackson family is “rich indeed”. Thank you and God bless you all. –Cora-