Jason's brothers and sister and spouses all worked extremely hard in a little over a month to pull this fabulous evening together. There is nothing worse than the helpless feeling we all had after Jason's accident and Jason's siblings and their spouses put all their energy and love into doing something positive they knew they could do for him. I can not be prouder of the love and commitment they have for their brother and each other.
Brian and Jenn , Aaron and Lindsay, Andre and Allison
They all spent the whole day getting things ready and setting up
Jenn designed the centerpieces herself
Next to set up were the raffle items. Thank you again for opening your hearts and buying so many raffle tickets! What a great idea to be able to put tickets towards only the items you wanted. Lots of people went home happy with Vera Bradley wallets, Chipolte gift cards, Ruby Tuesday gift cards, baskets filled with special items, passes to Skate Frederick, assorted other certificates to local restaurants, and more.
Even before 7:00 people started arriving and Shirley Moore and I were busy checking the pre bought ticket guests in, helping people who were paying at the door, and selling additional wrist bands, raffle tickets, and giving out auction numbers.
A highlight of the evening was being able to tell everyone of you who have been prayer warriors for Jason that he had arrived at Carolin's parents house in Lancaster that morning and would be sleeping in his own bed that very evening. When Brian made the announcement it was awesome to listen to the cheers and yells!
Next up were two performances choreographed by Jason's cousin, Chrissi Shepard Haines, who is the second oldest of the 9 Shepard cousins. Just as all of them, she has been praying hard as well as starting prayer chains at her church. Her team of dancers from the Mid Maryland Performing Arts Center did a great job with a jazz number.
But it was the second lyrical piece that had me crying from the moment it began. Especially when Chrissi introduced it by saying she had choreographed it in honor of a student at the dance studio who was fighting against cancer last Spring.
Brian was a phenomenal Master of Ceremonies who kept the evening lively and moving and used his DJ skills as people danced in between the dancers and Rich Cook's moving performances.
Rich Cook has been friends with all three of our boys since elementary school. He graduated from high school with Jason and even beyond that stayed friends with him. He and Brian shared a townhouse together for several years and even now he and Brian play softball in a league together. Rich is an incredible singer and made for another emotional part of the evening when for his 3rd song he surprised us with turning the Shepard family "anthem" - Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi - into a very moving acoustical performance.
Everyone next had fun with a live auction for three huge baskets put together by Katie Schwartz who sells Tastefully Simple items - yet another friend of Jason's since high school who also did a Disney internship with him. I had my heart set on one with all kinds of sweet cookies and brownie mixes and drinks such as Hot Chocolate and Chai tea and ended up in a bidding war for a bit - I was so relieved when I won it! ;)
Our awesome auctioneer, Jon, and his wife, Krasi, are old high school and college friends of David's and mine. We hadn't seen each other for many many years but reestablished a connection thru FaceBook. As soon as Krasi read about Jason's accident she has been emailing and messaging me almost daily with support and prayers. Once they learned about the kids doing a Silent Auction they insisted on donating their time and experience as this is something they have done for many large events.
The silent auction was a huge success - all of you were so truly giving and our hearts were full of excitement as totals were added up and the realization of just what had been accomplished for Jason hit! Here are just a very few items that were being bid on along with 3 and 4 day weekend trips, signed Broadway memorabilia, a beautiful original painting of our cottage in Maine, and on and on.
Signed Redskin Mini Helmets donated by Brian Shepard
Since Jason was so active in both high school and college in theater it's no surprise that several friends went on to work on Broadway. One of his college friends, Ariane, was able to get us two tickets to see Wicked on Broadway.
Jenn was able to get the Redskins to send a signed football and there was a lot of beautiful jewelry donated by a friend who didn't even know Jason who sells Cookie Lea jewelry.
There were Vera Bradley purses donated by Catherine, who works for a PR company in Seattle, WA, who David has worked with, (she also very generously donated the VB wallets). Amongst other collectibles there was also retired Disney memorabilia.
There were so many times I was brought to tears, as I'm sure many others were. It really hit me hard when seeing Aaron and Brian doing things together through out the evening and not seeing Jason's familiar face with them as it usually is. It was especially moving when Kevin Moore took the mike. The Moores and the Shepards have been like family since Jason's freshman year of high school when he and Kylene Moore (Beshore), did their first theater production together and then went on to also do a Disney College Internship together. He tearfully described how much he was affected when hearing about what happened. He was temporarily working out of the country at the time and he described the nights he stayed awake praying for Jason's life and recovery. We will never be able to come close to showing our appreciation for all of your selfless giving, prayers, and thoughts.
Jason is really just beginning the hardest part of his journey. His fight for full recovery is far from over and we continue to need your prayers and support. Starting Tuesday he will be going to outpatient rehab all day five days a week. Jason's brothers and sisters have decided to leave the donation button up at www.thejasonshepardbenefit.com, and Matt Kinney, who started the Jason Shepard Fan Page, as well as pulling together the last Ruby Tuesday's fund raiser has done it again and the first weekend in November Ruby Tuesday's will once more be donating 20% of all sales at both Frederick locations. (I'll post more information up in the next day or so and it will also be on the Jason Shepard Fan Club page.
I promise to keep you all updated on his progress every few days. Here's to all of you who continue to stand by Jason's side and believe me he can feel it!
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