Smarties, let’s lift up the Isabella Santos family!

When I think of hospice, I think of aging parents or grandparents, never a small child. Unfortunately one of Charlotte’s own families is going through this right now with sweet Isabella Santos, just 7 years old. Isabella has been fighting neuroblastoma for four years and her fight is coming to an end.

Isabella’s mom, Erin, has been writing about her journey on her Caring Bridge site. Her open and honest dialogue will bring you to your knees. Even though I don’t even know Erin personally, as a mother, when I read the pain that she is enduring, it feels like somebody is stabbing me in the heart. What Erin is going through is every parent’s nightmare. Although she writes with strength, courage, passion, fear – all raw emotions that she is feeling on a daily, no hourly basis. We want to lift this Smarty Mama up in any way we can.

Erin and her family want to share their fight with the Smarty community, in hopes that we can rally together to raise funds for a cure. Children’s cancer research is one of the most under-funded cancers.

So what can we, Smarty Charlotte, do to help?

1) We can donate to the Isabella Santos Foundation – www.isabellasantosfoundation.com. If all 26,000 Charlotte Smarty Pants readers skip our weekly drive through run this week and donate $25, imagine what we could raise! Every penny counts and there are families out there who are running out of time.

2) The Santos family has two younger children (ages 5 1/2 and 2 1/2) who will need some fun in their lives during this grieving process. Gift cards, classes, camps to any of the following activities would be welcome. Keep in mind they live in South Charlotte, so these activities should be centered there.

-Monkey Joe’s
-Sports Connection
-Art or dance classes for a 2 1/2 year old girl – think Miller Street, Noah’s Art or anything like that
-My Gym, Gymboree
-Movie gift cards (Regal cinemas, etc)

3) If people would like to contribute to meals, gift cards would be the best way to help. They shop at EarthFare, Harris Teeter, Target and Trader Joe’s. Gift cards to any restaurants in the South Charlotte area would be great as well. Some of their favorites are Cantina, 131 Main, Kabuto’s, Asian 18, Salsarita’s, Zoes Kitchen, and Newk’s.

Any vouchers/gift cards can be mailed to:
The Santos Family
526 Briar Patch Terrace
Waxhaw, NC 28173
Questions? Contact Charlotte Shackleford cjshackleford@gmail.com.

Please share this on each of your facebook pages. If you know a business owner to one of these establishments listed above, please forward to them. Do you have other ideas for ways to help – maybe through your company, or hubby’s company or friend’s company? We’d love to hear from you – email us! We want to do EVERYTHING in our power to help this family transition through this grieving process. Let’s do a Smarty pay it forward in a massive way.

Hug your children tighter today and every day. God bless the Santos family.

This week’s fundraising efforts include:

Flywheel Sports
On Saturday, June 23rd Flywheel Sports will be hosting a Flywheel ride at 12pm and a Barre class at 1pm to benefit the Isabella Santos Foundation. They will donate 100% of the proceeds (we can raise $1600, roughly, with a full house!) and are asking for a minimum donation of $25 per class. All checks can be made out to The Isabella Santos Foundation and people can reserve their spot by emailing charlotte@flywheelsports.com. If you, or others want to learn more about their workouts or facility you can go to their website at: www.flywheelsports.com

Flywheel Sports
2907 Providence Road
Suites 103 and 104
Charlotte, NC 28211
(980)-819-8501

The Olive Branch – A Body Studio
On Wednesday, June 20th, ‘The Olive Branch- A Body Studio’ in Cornelius, will be donating 20% of all services to the Isabella Santos Foundation. Santos Family Friend, Jennifer Militello, will be there for the day with purple cupcakes, a donation basket and information about Isabella and her foundation. Visit the website for more info: theolivebranchlkn.com.

The Olive Branch – A Body Studio
21314 Catawba Avenue
Cornelius, NC 28031
(704) 892-0060