Things are getting more finalized!

Okay, everyone. We are all learning about fund raising as a non profit organization as we go. Thank you so much for your patience!

So many people and businesses have been so very generous to our cause. I told one of the secretaries today about the item that a music store donated and she burst into tears - she was so completely overcome with gratitude and love for those willing to help these families and others like them. It was a very sweet experience.

Here is an updated schedule for you all:

MONDAY MAY 14

- Bake Sale and Wrist Band Sale during the school day

- FUN RUN Event
- 6:00 at Bluffdale City Park (14400 South 2395 West, Bluffdale)
- Cost is $5 per person or $20 per family

- NYPD Pizza profit share/give back night
- A portion of ALL proceeds for the night will be donated to the Helping Hands Fund (in the American Preparatory
Education Foundation).

TUESDAY MAY 15

- Bake Sale and Wrist Band Sale during the school day

- Chili's Give Back Night (South Towne Location AND Riverton Location)
- A portion of proceeds (with a flyer attached to the receipt) will be donated to the Helping Hands Fund (in the American Preparatory Education Foundation)
- An electronic copy of the flyer will be available soon. Please disburse them to anyone you wish.

WEDNESDAY MAY 16

- Bake Sale and Wrist Band Sale during the school day

- Rumbi Island Grill Profit Share/Give Back Night (Draper Location only)
- A portion of proceeds (with a flyer attached to the receipt)will be donated to the Helping Hands Fund (in the American Preparatory Education Foundation).
- An electronic copy of the flyer will be available soon. Please disburse them to anyone you wish.

THURSDAY MAY 17

- Bake Sale and Wrist Band Sale during the school day

- Sweet Tomatoes FunRaiser Event (South Towne Location)
- A portion of proceeds (with a flyer attached to the receipt) will be donated to the Helping Hands Fund (in the American Preparatory Education Foundation).
- An electronic copy of the flyer will be available soon. Please disburse them to anyone you wish.

FRIDAY MAY 18

- Bake Sale and Wrist Band Sale during the school day

SATURDAY MAY 19

- Silent Auction Begins at 6:00 pm at Bingham High School (2160 West 10400 South, South Jordan).
- There are several really great items up for auction so far!

- Benefit Concert begins at 7:00 featuring:
- American Preparatory Academy Band, Choir, and Orchestra students
- Bingham High School Band
- Quintessence
- Calee Reed

- Wrist Band Sales and Bake Sales will be ongoing through the night (before/after concert and intermission)



I think that is everything. Flyers will be available very shortly, as soon as I have received all of them.


We are still in need of donors and sponsors! Please share this information with anyone you know!

Thank you!

Things are coming together!

Hey folks!

Here's a little more of an updated schedule for the week of caring. There are some things that I will be adding, but please start putting these on your calendars!


MONDAY 5/14

Bake Sale at APA Draper during lunch and after school.
Fun Run at 6:00 (Location TBA) Cost - $5 individual, $20 family
NYPD Pizza in Draper will be doing a profit share with us that night - after your run, go grab some pizza and part of the proceeds will go to the Stones and the Hartungs!

TUESDAY 5/15

Bake Sale at APA Draper during lunch and after school.
Chili's (South Towne and Riverton locations) Give Back Night. More details to come!

WEDNESDAY 5/16

Bake Sale at APA Draper during lunch and after school.
Rumbi Island Grill Profit Share, Draper location. You MUST have a flier for the proceeds to go to the Hartungs and Stones.

THURSDAY 5/17

Bake Sale at APA Draper during lunch and after school.
Sweet Tomatoes FunRaiser (South Towne location). 5 - 8 pm. You MUST purchase a drink with your meal for the thing to work. Fliers will be available soon.

FRIDAY 5/18

Bake Sale at APA Draper during lunch and after school.

SATURDAY 5/19

Bake Sale at Bingham High School before and after benefit concert.
Silent Auction and Wrist Band Sales at Bingham High School before and after benefit concert.
Benefit Concert - Starring APA Music Department, Bingham High School Wind Ensemble, and Calee Reed! 7:00 pm Bingham High School Auditorium.

WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!

We are still looking for businesses who would be willing to sponsor these events or donate things for our silent auction! Please let me know if you know of anyone who would be willing to help!

Coming Together for Caring Updates

We have had such great responses from APA families and friends. It's been inspiring to see so many people come together to help care for these people who have had such great influences on so many lives.

We will be having a committee planning meeting on Friday April 27 in our band room. So much more will be done and we will have a better idea of everything we need. Here are some things that HAVE been decided...

- The benefit concert will be held on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the Bingham High School Auditorium.
- The performers there will include Calee Reed, The APA Music Department, and the Bingham High School Band. More may
be joining us, but we aren't positive of all of those details just yet.

- We will not be holding a raffle, per se. We will be selling wristbands, and those wristbands will give you the
opportunity to be entered into a drawing.

- The discussion had happened once upon a time that there might be a fun run, but this may or may not still be
happening.

- We will be looking for restaurants to partner with us. What we mean by that is at certain times, restaurants will
donate a certain percentage of their proceeds to our cause. More details on that one to come.

We will definitely need more help with publicity and other things. Again, if you are at all interested in helping, please let me know!

Try a little somethin' new!

I'm trying a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. I added a little extra spice, as per usual.

4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia
1/2 cup sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
kosher salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste

It smells great so far! I'll let you know how it goes!

(Few Hours Later...)

So, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Turns out I'm not in love with tilapia. Oh well.

I AM trying something else that is SURE to be delicious..."Perfect Chocolate Brownies".

This recipe I stole from my new magical possession, "Chocolate Never Faileth". Basically it's brownies made with hot cocoa mix. Genius, right?!?!?

Anyway, Thanks!

A Time for Caring

My dear friends,

I have a lot to say and a lot to ask in this post, and I pray that the point I am trying to make will come across.

This year at American Preparatory Academy we have had our fair share of challenges. We had a flood at the beginning of the year, which was crazy enough. But then some very sad and trying times came to the lives of our faculty and friends.

In February, as you have seen from previous posts, our friend and colleague Melissa Stone was in a serious car accident and lost her little girl.

This past Friday, April 20, one of our 5th grade teachers (Emily Hartung) lost her husband to a tragic automobile accident while he was out of town on business.

Our hearts are absolutely aching for our friends and coworkers. I personally cannot even imagine what either family is going through or has gone through in the past months.

We, as students and faculty of APA, are going to be running a week of caring for these families - We will be hosting fundraising events through the whole week and will finish it off with a benefit concert starring our music students, the music students at Bingham High School, and an up and coming inspirational vocalist, Calee Reed. We are so blessed to have gotten in touch with Calee and are very excited to have her help us.

Here are some of the favors, now, that I will be asking of you.

We are in need of sponsors and donors.

At the benefit concert, we will be holding a raffle, and those attending and participating in the events will be
able to purchase raffle tickets. What we need are people or businesses willing to donate services and or products to raffle off at the event. Things we thought of were iPods and iPads, gift cards, etc.

If you are in a position to donate these types of things or know someone else who is, please put them in touch with me or get in touch with me yourself through whatever means you have to get a hold of me.

As this continues to snowball, please watch for any other posts regarding this myriad of events.

Thank you for your compassion, prayers, and whatever else you are offering for these families. They need our love and support more than anything in this world. Thank you for allowing us to help make a difference in the lives of these people and their families.

Emily

Been thinking of these lyrics lately...

I heard this song on the radio for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and I loved it. The words continue to sing in my head, so I thought I would share them with you. Normally I don't seek out Jason Mraz's music, but here you go.

"I Won't Give Up"

Hmmmm ... Hmmmm ... Hmmmm ... Hmmm ...

When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
There's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find

'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up

I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use
The tools and gifts we got yeah, we got a lot at stake
And in the end, you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I've got, and what I'm not
And who I am

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
Still looking up.

I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)
God knows I'm tough enough (I am tough, I am loved)
We've got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)
God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...

I'm here waiting for my work day to really start and have a lot of thoughts running through my head.

The past few months have been full of sitting and thinking, waiting for answers, and wishes for things to change or to make sense.

- Waiting to hear how my grandma's chemo treatments are going.
- Waiting to hear how my mom's test results are going.
- Wishing things could have turned out better in regards to JJ.
- Waiting to hear back from someone who could join us for a benefit concert for the Stones.
- Wishing for peace.
- Sitting up late at night, waiting and wishing for sleep to come.
- Sitting deciding how to help plan Ben and Jacquelle's wedding.
- Waiting for people to make up their minds.
- Waiting and wishing for answers.
- Sitting making plans for my future.
- Waiting for parts of my future to unfold so I can better plan.
- Wishing I could achieve my goal to become debt free more quickly.

I know that I may not get many of these answers when I want them or how I want them, and I'm just being incredibly impatient. Through priesthood blessings I've been told that the Lord is aware of the thoughts and pains of my heart, and that in His own time things will work.

In the mean time, I'm still hurting, sitting, waiting, wishing, for something to suddenly make sense. Thanks for your patience with me.

While I'm still hurting, I'll still be a little crazy. But, as I've said before, I try to only surround myself with awesome people, and they usually know how to help me feel better and learn the patience I need.

I know this is kind of a downer - post, and I apologize. I just needed to get a few things off of my chest. Thanks.