March for Babies ~ Team KRJ

A couple of weeks after we lost KRJ, I was driving through my hometown after dropping Aubrey off at her toddler group and noticed a billboard for the March for Babies walk that was happening at the end of April. I was on my way to Keith's sister, Christina's house and as soon as I got there, we went online and checked it out and Team Keith Ryan was born right then and there. Christina and our friend Katy were the first people to join my team. I posted about it on Facebook and before I knew it, over 20 people were signed up. 


In just a month, we raised over $500 to donate to our walk, which just so happened to be the day after KRJ's ceremony. I figured that weekend was going to take it's toll on me emotionally, and I was absolutely right. But what I didn't know was how therapeutic this walk would turn out to be.

We got to Southern New Hampshire University and registered our team. Since I raised over $200, I got a free t-shirt. We got free food to munch on and hot coffee to drink which we definitely took advantage of. It was freezing!

Our t-shirts were made by a friend of my sister's. I loved how they came out! The text below 2012 read "What an imprint your footprints have left on our hearts". This quote is from a poem that I found online, which I added at the end of the slideshow at the end of the post. This poem is one of my favorite poems about premature loss.

I added Mom, Dad, and Big Sis to our shirts using iron on transfers I found at Michaels. I also   added "Auntie" to the backs of our sisters' shirts. We decided on 36 as the number in the back since 3/6 is the day our angel grew his wings.

Most of our team! A few couldn't make it and a few showed up after this picture was taken.. and of course, it doesn't count the people who donated to our team! Without them, we wouldn't have raised nearly as much as we did!

For only having a month to raise money, form a team, and get t-shirts made, I am so proud of what we accomplished. I am so excited to walk again next year in KRJ's honor, when we will have even more time to come up with ways to raise funds and to build our team some more.