THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Here is the email I got today from our tiny but MIGHTY Elkhart HUGS project and the best cheerleader for all of this (plus the one responsible for getting us into the the Pepsi Refresh in the first place!)
I think it is something you all need to read too for sharing her thanks!
Dearest "HUGGERS" ~
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!!!!!
What a ride these last few months have been! As of 12:01 this morning, 1/1/11, the ELKHART HUGS PROJECT was a "finalist" in the PEPSI Refresh Everything contest. What does this mean? As far as we know.......WE WON!!!
In the next few days (due to the holidays), Pepsi will send me a message officially stating that HUGS is a "finalist" (finished in the TOP TEN).....we must then submit necessary paperwork which will then be reviewed, confirmed and then we will officially be announced as a "grant recipient" for December. YAHOO!!!!!
I cannot find words to say all my heart feels....you have been amazing. You stuck with us and survived my daily barrage into your email box. You took time (sometimes hours) to vote and leave comments. You helped us make "Pepsi friends" who brought us votes. You told your friends and even complete strangers about our cause. Some of you learned how to text for the first time. Many of you now know what "FB" stands for and have your own account! (Facebook) Some of you voted in a ROCC church service or at a high school basketball game. Some of you withheld Thanksgiving and Christmas meals until family members had voted!
But ALL OF YOU HELPED MAKE A DIFFERENCE - AND THAT DIFFERENCE WILL NOW SUPPORT AMERICA'S FINEST OVERSEAS, FIGHTING FOR EACH OF US - OUR U.S. TROOPS!
From the bottom of my heart, Thank you. May God bless each of you and your families as we enter 2011. Whatever you face this year, look it straight in the face and believe.....Miracles do happen!!
Nancy Mast
Elkhart HUGS