Another Successful Fundraiser for Power of Elle / More Funding From Power of Elle

It has been a busy summer/early fall for the Fund.

First, some very good news. The Tea for Two Dolly & Me Tea Party held on September 15 raised $1650.62 for the Fund, an increase of almost $200 over last year's event. Sandy Mekonis has our everlasting thanks and gratitude for organizing this event.

And it is because of events like these and donations from so many generous people that we are able to give back.

We recently once again sponsored the 1km fun run called "The Elle Dash" with a $300 donation at the Hugs From Hayley Race for Maine Children's Cancer. Hugs from Hayley is another wonderful organization worthy of your support. You can learn more about them here. We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to work with them every year.

The Fund donated $100 to the Fairfield School in Saco (where Elle attended kindergarten) for their Walk-a-Thon.

And the Fund gave $407 to the Saco Parks and Recreation Department to help buy two bikes for their Saco Bikes for Kids program. These bikes will be used by children in the town's park and rec program.

Again, it is because of the generosity and kindness from all of you that the Fund is able to give this money to so many different and worthy causes. And we cannot thank you enough for it.

Two Fundraisers for The Power of Elle

On Thursday, September 5, Jennifer Skinsacos held her third annual fundraiser for the Power of Elle at Ken's Place Seafood Restaurant in Scarborough. Jennifer takes all her tips from that evening along with any donations from patrons and generously gives that money to the Fund. This year, Jennifer was able to raise $1,142 over $1,300 for the Fund and we couldn't be more delighted. It is events like these that allow the Fund to do things like donating to the Maine Children's Cancer Program, or to buy books for the Fairfield School library. Thank you to Jennifer and Ken's Place for their continued generosity and support!

And tomorrow, September 15, there will be the second annual Tea for Two Dolly & Me Tea Party, held at the North Dam Mill in Biddeford. This wonderful event is run by Sandy Mekonis. Her daughter Laina and Elle were best friends, meeting at age 2 when they first starting dancing at the same dance school. You can read more about it on the Facebook Event page. Everybody raved about the Tea last year and it is sure to be a success again.

As always, the Fund is extremely grateful for the generosity and kindness we receive from so many members of the community. It reminds us that Elle's spirit is still alive and she is still making a difference.

More Donations to Fairfield School

As you may or may not know, Elle attended Fairfield School for a brief time before her passing. It was a very important moment for her and something she had looked forward to for a while. So the Fund always looks for opportunities to help Fairfield School. In that spirit, we can announce the following donations from the Fund to Fairfield:

• $1000 for two iPads for classroom learning
• $500 for the Garden/Greenhouse Project

We hope these donations will help the children at Fairfield continue to grow and learn the way Elle did in her short time at the school.

We will also be announcing the winners of the Bright Light Scholarships and the Heart of Dance winner from the Steppin Out Dance Studio shortly.

Donations To MCCP and the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital

Part of our ongoing efforts at the Fund include a goal of making yearly donations to the two institutions that provided such wonderful care for Ellie during her fight with cancer. As of today, we have reached that goal for the first time.

In late November of 2012, the Fund made it's second donation to the Maine Children's Cancer Program. It was for $1,000.

Then earlier today, the Fund made a $1,000 donation to the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital.

We cannot say enough about the excellent care that Ellie received from these two organizations. The staff at both are dedicated and caring, and they - along with Ellie's indomitable spirit - is why she lived such a full life while undergoing treatment.

We are so pleased to have been able to do this. And we would like to make it an annual event. If you would care to help us in this, or in our other charitable efforts, please consider making a donation to the Fund.

The Eleanor Clare Paye Memorial Playground: Build Day and Dedication

On October 13, members of the community came together in a Build Day to finish building the Eleanor Clare Paye Memorial Playground at Young School in Saco. It was a lot of hard work (and even more mulch), but the results were fantastic.

Then on October 15, the playground was officially dedicated in a short ceremony which culminated with the students of Young School getting to try out the new playground.

The Fund wants to thank not only John Sherman and the Saco Parks & Rec Playground Committee for voting to name the playground in Ellie's memory, but to all the volunteers, donors, other sponsors, KaBOOM!, Let's Play and the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group for making this a reality.

Below are a few pictures taken at the Build Day on October 13 and the dedication on October 15. You can read a news story about the dedication here and view the Saco Parks & Rec Playground Committee Facebook photo album of the Build Day here.

-------------

From Build Day

From Dedication Day

Fundraisers For The Power of Elle This Summer

This summer saw no fewer than four fundraisers for the Fund, all of which were made possible by members of the community who cared enough about Elle and the Fund to go out of their way to raise money.

First was the photo fundraiser held by Nadra Edgerly Photography at the end of May. Giving up a lot of their time and effort, the weekend-long event raised almost $500 for the Fund. And provided some amazing photos for people along the way.

Next was a Lemonade and Bake Sale Fundraiser in late July. Put together by Lori Schraier and Tara St. Onge (and on one of the hottest days of the year), their event raised $750 for the Fund. Not only were they generous in all the work and effort they put into the event, but there were many other people who donated time, items, or something equally valuable. Here is a link to the event page on Facebook where you can find an entire list of who donated what to the fundraiser.

Last Thursday was the 2nd Annual Benefit for the Power of Elle held by Jennifer Skinsacos at Ken's Place in Scarborough. You can read about last year's event here. Once again, Elle's mother and aunt worked tirelessly with Jennifer to make this event a success. Thanks to their work and the generosity of not only the many people who donated but that of Dave Wilcox, the owner of Ken's Place, the Benefit raised over $750 for the Fund.

And this past Sunday was Tea for Two: A Dolly & Me Tea Party. This event was put together by Sandy Mekonis. Sandy's daughter, Laina, was Elle's best friend. This event was held at the North Dam Mill in Biddeford. I encourage you to read the event page on Facebook to get an idea of the effort and work Sandy put into this event. So many people and so many companies donated so much to make this happen. Here is a picture of the poster that greeted people so you can see the number of people and companies involved (you can click on it to make it larger).

Tea for Two raised $1,461 for the Fund. And made a lot of young ladies (and their mothers) very happy.

In all, this summer the Fund received almost $3500 from these four events. We cannot express our thankfulness and appreciation for all the work these caring people did. But that is a testament to who Elle was, and how many people she touched in her short time here. And because of these efforts, the Fund can continue to make a difference in the community.

2nd Annual Bright Light Scholarship Winners and the Eleanor Clare Paye "Heart of Dance" Recipient

This June marked the second year that the Fund worked with Steppin Out Dance Studio in Saco (the dance studio Elle attended for 3+ years) to award the the Bright Light Scholarships and the annual Eleanor Clare Paye "Heart of Dance" award during their annual summer recital in Portland, Maine. The winners of last year's awards can be found here.

The Fund helped to grant scholarships totaling $1300 to the following students:

• Sarah Choroszy
• Lauren Ledoux
• Jaimie Dube
• Kellie Gagnon
• Taylor Picard

This year's winner of the Eleanor Clare Paye "Heart of Dance" award was Dylan Penniman.

As always, the Fund was able to do this in conjunction with Steppin Out Dance Studio thanks to the generosity of people who have donated to the Fund. Through their giving, we continue to ensure that the love of life that Ellie possessed will be remembered.