food is love

the PLaiD foundation is hosting a soup drive for patients at UNMC tomorrow.  here is a little bit of what co-founder, jenn timperley, had to say when recruiting help:

Becki, my partner with PLaiD, spent last Christmas in the hospital as her daughter Abby had received her transplant just days before. There are many families stuck in the hospital over the holidays and although it's never easy to be in the hospital it is especially hard over a holiday.

One thing we thought PLaiD could do to make one day easier for these families would be to provide a meal for one day. It is so hard sometimes to get the chance to leave the hospital room and grab something to eat. You rely on family and friends a lot to stay with your child so you can run and grab something or you rely on them to provide you with picking up some fast food. I know from experience with Joe being in the hospital multiple times that something that seems as simple as grabbing something to eat...well its just not simple! 

Luckily our longest stays were only two weeks, we have a 2 parent family, are local, and have a strong team of family to help when we call on them. So many families are inpatient for extended periods of time-months or more and do not have family support. It is difficult for them to get away take care of themselves and grab a meal-not to mention very costly to eat in the cafeteria for an extended time.  
i absolutely love this awesome idea and the opportunity to take part in such a kind act.  i believe food is love. i know the families will appreciate eating a cup of home cooked soup that was lovingly packed for just them.  the PLaiD foundation is planning on doing more of these events in 2012, so i will keep in you updated on ways you can participate.  in the meantime, check out their website for more info. about what they do: http://pediatricliveraid.org/
in the meantime, we have some family friends that are going through a (unrelated to the above) hospital stay.  so please send lots of prayers and positive energy out into the universe for all people and their families that are dealing with illness and hospital stays over the holidays.