CHaD Battle of the Badges 2013

On the heels of my March of Dimes post (more to come on that soon!), I wanted to share a little bit about another great charity!  CHaD stands for the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth.  This is the hospital where my boys spent their entire lives.  I haven't really known what else to do with myself other than to work with charities and this is another great one.

Last night I went to the Battle of the Badges game.  This is a game where police officers and fire fighters play hockey and raise money for CHaD.  In previous years it has been police versus fire, but for multiple reasons this year was East versus West.  We are on the western part of the state, so naturally, everyone we knew was on West.


In order to help these guys fund raise, they are given a "buddy."  Their buddy is a child that is or was treated at CHaD.  Of course, this means that I know plenty of the buddies, too!  I was lucky enough to go with one of them, my friend's little girl, L.  LOVE this little girl to PIECES!  Such a miracle for a 25-weeker!

 

 

L being L

I finally got to meet so many of the moms I had talked to through our ICN connection page last night.  It was so nice to put faces and names together and meet outside of the online world!  All your little ones are such miracles!!

The game was a success, raising over $180,000 for CHaD.  You can still donate by going to http://www.chadhockey.org/

L's sponsor, Derek, was the goalie and played an awesome game.  But even better, one of my very closest friend's boyfriend did amazing and made MVP.  Way to go, Mike!  I'm so proud of these guys and not only for playing a great game, but doing it for a great cause and raising an amazing amount of money for CHaD.

Mike playing a great game! 2 goals & MVP!!

Derek defending West's goal

A win for Team West!!

Throughout the night, I couldn't help but think that if things had been different, I wouldn't have known any of these people.  I probably wouldn't be going to this game.  I would still be oblivious.  It's hard to think that way when I also think sometimes, if I had them, I wouldn't be here and I'd still be happy.  So many thoughts like that have been going through my head...but at the same time, I'm thankful for these friends and these people who have come into my life.  I was watching TV this morning and it said that people see things as less of a burden when they are with friends.  I can admit that this is 110% true.  My burden in my life is so much less because of my fabulous friends, both new and old and get to spend time with them doing wonderful things at events like this.