The Little Red Wagon Inc.

THE LITTLE RED WAGON INC. MISSION STATEMENTEnriching the lives of those we serve with respect, encouragement, integrity and hope.The organization has three main areas that we serve. First is to build a 5,000 sq ft home for homeless veterans and their families in Port St Lucie, FL. It will have the same concept layout of a Ronald McDonald house. It will provide transportation for the residents and any services they need, such as individual/family counseling, parental coaching, job search/job training, etc. No such home exists in this area, and these men and women that have served our country and defended our freedom deserve respect, honor and something done for them. The second area is to grant a Wish Trip for children in the Treasure Coast of Florida that are ages 5 to 18 that have a life-threatening medical condition as determined by an MD and have not received a Wish from a different Wish granting organization. They will receive an amazing trip to Give Kids The World and tickets to all the amusement parks in Orlando, FL for the patient and their family. It will provide a rental car, spending money for food and gas, and medical supplies as needed. This will also allow the family to visit many other parks throughout the country and world for the entire year.The last area is to give handmade blankets to these same children upon admission into a hospital. We hope it will provide some comfort to them in the often frightening and sterile world of a hospital.As for how these areas became the mission of the nonprofit is that we have lived through many of them and instead of letting it bring us down, we wanted to use our situation and make others going through something similar a little easier.My oldest daughter had extensive brain surgery and rare complication at age 4. She was grated the same Wish Trip that the nonprofit will give to other children and their families.My middle daughter was sick from her first day and it took many tests, surgeries, hospitals to finally diagnose her with the rare condition of Abdominal Migraines and a megacolon. She has a G-Tube into her stomach for specialty amino acid formula feedings. Both girls received handmade blankets at some of the hospitals they were in, and it provided such a comfort to them.Their father is a disabled retired Army veteran and has had 3 back surgeries in the last 2 years. My middle daughter wanted to do something special for disadvantaged children and their families and with a passion for supporting our troops, that is how the development of such a house that doesn't exist anywhere near us was created.The name of the nonprofit came from the fact that many hospitals provide little red wagons to pull the patients around in. In the thousands of hours that I pulled my children and saw other parents doing the same, I realized that we each had to figuratively decide what we filled our wagon with. I wanted to fill it with Courage, Hope, Perseverance, Patience and Faith. It was and still is a daily battle. Not everyone is pulling a sick child around in a hospital, but we all are facing difficult challenges of health, finances, relationships, faith, etc and we are pulling our own little wagon and have a choice as to what we fill it with! Instead of letting others fill our wagon with negativity, I hope we each choose Hope, Faith and Joy.I hope this nonprofit changes the lives of so many people, the patients and families that receive the Wish Trips and blankets, the nurses that present the gifts of the blankets, the doctors that refer the patients, the volunteers that help make the blankets and present the Wish Trips to the recipients and to the staff of the house and all the contractors and volunteers that will be involved to make their lives better. And for the residents of the home that they can regain self-confidence, stability for themselves and their family and joy.Please help us achieve this. I've made it this far with my own money and volunteer hours. But, I have Advanced Lyme Disease that has created several other diseases and conditions which are very debilitating. I plan to hire a staff of passionate, respectful, encouraging and skill to provide any and all resources. I will continue to seek out every grant and donation possible and make sure the funds are used wisely. Please help me make this become a reality and change the lives of so many people.