Helping Fellow MS'ers

A few months ago I called the MS Society to find out how I go about opening a non for profit account for donations if I was to do a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis. They willingly said they would open an account and that it would be donated at their discretion to research. I explained that this is not where I wanted the money to go.

When I was going through the process of being diagnosed it took about 7 months and another 2 years before I was under more control where I could work part time. It started in August of 2006. I was quickly not able to work. This took our family from a two income down to a 1 income family along with all the medications and Doctor visits and co-pays. This put a major strain on our family and quickly affected our abilities to pay bills along with food and my medications. Christmas holidays approached us very quickly and we were having enough financial trouble let alone trying to give my kids a "good" Christmas. We were already having to borrow money from our parents to help pay our bills. Most people do not go through life prepared for the day that something like this happens and when it does, it is a huge devestation on yourself along with your family. Not olny that but it is a disease that is life long and progressivly gets worse. You are not given a timeline as to how quickly or slowly it will progress and what your needs will be.

That first Christmas I recieved a phone call from my Boss that said not to worry about Christmas and that the Company I worked for was taking care of my kids Christmas presents and also raised some money to help pay a few bills. I was so emotional about that. I was so greatful but also embarressed that people were doing this for me. Some that I knew very well and a lot were strangers that just knew our story along with friends and family. A few days before Christmas the tree was filled with presents for my kids. Nicely wrapped and labeled. Between my Family and Friends and work almost all my bills were paid that month along with help given to our family throughout the years by my family and friends. It gave me a new outlook, as we all know about Santa. That year I realized that Santa doesn't have to be a big jolly guy in a red suit.

I will never be able to repay every person that has helped our family over the years nor do I believe they expect me to. All I know is that whenever I can and in whatever way I can, I have wanted to be able to help other people with MS and their families any way I can.

When I called the MS Society and asked abut the account, I explained that there is enough money going into research and that my goal was to raise money and take item donations, to help people and families affected with MS and help them. I was told that if I wanted them to open a non for profit account. The Society's way is the money would be used the way they wanted to use it (Mostly for Research). I was so frustrated and discouraged but have never given up on the idea. When you are diagnosed with any desease, in most cases those families will have to face very hard decisions. Decisions such as buying medicines or food for their family, bills or shoes to put on their childs feet, etc... My hope for the future is to find a way to make this dream of mine a possibility and to help families in their times of need because of Multiple Sclerosis and hopefully in time they will try to pay it forward when they can. I will never have enough money that I can give out due to the fact that we still struggle, but there are times that I can buy some extra food or put some money away or even buy some extra clothes off the clearance rack and donate to other families. Or even if there is someone that needs help paying a bill or medications, maybe there would be enough money in the fund to help with that.

I am still looking for the answer as to how to go about doing this as I know there are a few other people that I have talked to recently that also have MS and are trying to find ways to help others in need of assistance. I just need some direction on how to go about starting this and setting up an account. I have been given a location to store donated items and to have a drop off location. I just need to figure out how to set up the account and then to get the word spread. Some how some way, I will figure out a way to make this happen. We all deserve to have help when it is so desperately needed.