Signature for HOPE, Concert with the Mercer Symphony, and i love macon- and you should too!

Well it's another busy week for this lil lady- tomorrow night do NOT miss Signature Salon and Spa's Signature for HOPE event to benefit Jay's HOPE. But why now? Did you know that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month? I don't know about yall, but once I had my babies thinking about this suddenly made it more real to me. If you look up the numbers for childhood cancer, you can find this:

                      Each year in the U.S. there are approximately 13,400 children between the ages of birth and 19                                  years of age who are diagnosed with cancer. About one in 300 boys and one in 333 girls will develop cancer before their 20^th birthday. In 1998, about 2500 died of cancer, thus making cancer the most common cause of death by disease for children and adolescents in America. (http://www.acco.org/Information/AboutChildhoodCancer/ChildhoodCancerStatistics.aspx)

The numbers suddenly seem more real when you think about your own kids, or a child you know, doesn't it? Which brings me to Jay's HOPE- this local organization is here to help families who are dealing with the diagnosis of a child with cancer. I will never forget the first time I heard founder, Cindy Gaskins, speak about why she and her husband started Jay's HOPE. It was my very first Junior League of Macon meeting, and by the end of her talk I was in tears. To this day, I still cannot hear about Baby Jay or read about him and his family without tearing up. To read more, go here: http://www.jayshope.org/the-story-of-jays-hope/ .

However, to focus on the positive. Jay's HOPE is doing so much good and so is Signature Salon by hosting this event:


                “I realize how much we are all affected when a child is diagnosed with cancer,
                 and I am excited to join friends on the [Jay’s HOPE] Young Supporters Board to
                 support this incredible foundation,” said owner and stylist Nichole Mitchell. After a
                 successful two years playing host to a community of enthusiastic supporters and
                 donating over  $7,000 to two local charities,  Signature is  delighted to bring
                 together friends and other local businesses to gather around Jay’s HOPE
                 Foundation’s mission to support Georgia families with children battling childhood
                 cancer (from press release by Goods PR).

This event is not only going to benefit such a great cause but it's going to be a lot of fun too! The event entry comes with a raffle ticket and it's just $10 for one or $25 for three. Cole Swindell will be playing and really- let's be honest everyone is going to be there so you should too! I expect to see each of you there ;)

Now as for a couple of nights ago, I joined friends Betsy and Keith Fitzgerald and Collin Holder at the Mercer Symphony. It was damn near a full house too! I'm so happy to see Macon support live music, and it was a lovely performance. Congrats to all involved and I am looking forward to going to more of these events. There is just nothing like seeing and hearing music in person.

(Apparently I was not supposed to video tape... I swear I didn't see it in the program until after I had already done it... whoops.)

With so much great things happening in Macon, have you signed the  i love macon pledge? If you have not- shame on you. But it's ok because it's not too late! We are half way to the goal of 10,000 pledges. It's so easy just go to the website and write what you love about Macon. It's time we all started being more positive about the change in our town. And of course, sometimes we must be the change we wish to see in this world. And you can start right now by signing this pledge- by simply being positive about this town in which we live.