To the Editor:
Please accept this hank you letter with the huge amount of gratitude we can try and give you in a letter. Our hearts are filled with joy and hope due to the huge outpouring of old friends and new-found friends who were complete strangers a few weeks ago to our family.
We owe thanks to a very important person Walt Schember as well as the Bayonne Elks and the Elks Brothers in the Cranford Elks who participated and the many attendees who came to support my daughter. They all donated and volunteered out of the goodness of their heart. Along with the Bayonne Elks Lodge #434 who donated their fine Elks Lodge which served as the venue where they held a barbecue fundraiser on Saturday, October 12 for my daughter Jocelyn who suffers from a rare brain disease.
Also, in that time, Mary & Chelsea Curtis along with Nora Kahle founders and leaders of Facebook group page “Moms On A Budget” steered the inexpensive donation drive called “Just a Dollar for Joceyln,” along with the Bayonne Tenant Organization who volunteered and collected get well cards, notes, and drawings along with small gifts as donations to Jocelyn, which all put a smile on her face.
This event helped Jocelyn and our family to be a little cheerful and happy despite our difficult medical situation we found ourselves in. We have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition and all the good that came from various people offering to help us sure helped make a tough situation a lot better.
We cherish the fact that so many different groups such as the Bayonne Elks Lodge # 434, the Facebook groups “Moms On A Budget” and the Bayonne Tenant Organization voluntarily came together to help our family. These people are true down to earth loving people, each one of a kind amazing generous people.
We really appreciate all the anonymous and other un-named food donors but we must single out the local Bayonne businesses who sent trays of food and pizza pies to make the BBQ even better such as: Blimpie Base, Bonnie’s, Joe’s Pizza, La Guardiola, Little Food Cafe, Mona Lisa, Paesano’s, Pizza Master, Pompeii, Sarelli’s, Shop Rite, Stop N Shop, and the Venice. We also appreciate and would like to thank the few families that donated the Lillo’s, Abrams’s and Massa’s.
Last, thank you to everyone who came out to support the cause.
In the face of this medical crisis, we have been blessed with meeting so many who came forth to try and help us get through this. They helped to relieve a bit of the stress involved by rallying around our family and they all make the situation a bit easier to handle. The thing I loved most about all this was to see Jocelyn’s happy face when she learned of this barbecue and the happiness she felt that all the donors made her feel special and well deserving. Jocelyn has always made my heart swell with happiness and pride but people be aware in the blink of any eye it can change. I know you all worked hard on the barbecue and it was a wonderful thing to do for Jocelyn. We are very grateful to be given this unconditional love from the public.
LISA TOCZYNSKI