One Candy Bar At A Time
Arianna(Anna) LaBella is a 12 year old from Illia, NY who is currently battling Ewing's Sarcoma. Even while going through her own battle, Anna has always found a way to give back and spread good. She even fundraised and donated a candy cart to her hospital so that other kids can have snacks while going through treatment. Anna was referred to us by Strong Little Souls; a nonprofit whose mission is to brighten the lives of children battling cancer, and their families. After meeting with Anna's mom Jessica virtually via Zoom, I got to learn more about Anna and her dream to visit Disney World.
Jessica let me know that another awesome nonprofit Amazing Gracie's Gift got them set up with a trip to Give Kids The World & Disney World, and they would just have to provide transportation and spending money, so that's where I saw an opportunity for Campaign One At A Time to come in and help! We launched a campaign for Anna with a goal to raise $5,000 to rent their family an RV to travel from New York to Florida. In just a couple short weeks, we not only reached our goal, but we surpassed it!
After so many amazing people came together to help us reach Anna’s campaign goal, I went ahead and booked Anna and her family an RV for their road trip to Disney World! With less than a week before the RV pick up date, the RV owner CANCELLED the booking without warning, leaving us with no RV.
I called Jessica to let her know the unfortunate news, and that we would be able to find something somewhere soon! Jessica was so kind and understanding with the bad news, and let me know that she too would help to source a new RV! Before our team could solidify a new rental, Jessica found another RV rental option through her friend Debbie at Ronald McDonald House Of The Capitol Region! Debbie let Anna’s family know that not only was the RV available, but Aplin Haus RV would like to donate the WHOLE thing!!
Anna and her family picked up the RV this past Friday, April 15th and are now living out Anna's dream in Orlando!! After the donation was made, we came to find out that the owner of the RV also had a son battling cancer, and had received one of Anna's chocolate bars from her donated candy cart! It brought so much joy to everyone involved to see the impact of Anna's amazing heart, and the impact of every single person involved in making this dream a reality!
We can’t thank everyone enough at AlpinHaus and to Debbie RMHC for setting this up! We’d also like to thank Amazing Gracie's Gift & Strong Little Souls for partnering up with us on this campaign as well! And last, but definitely not least, we’d like to thank ALL OF YOU who donated, shared, and helped Anna’s dream come true! Because the RV rental fees were covered, we were able to take that money and send it directly to Anna and her family so that they can have the most amazing OAAT Dream Trip EVER!
We were even able to raise $1,930 in Anna's name for our Dream Bank to help more kids, which was so very important to Anna and her family.
So many people came together to make this happen. THIS is what community is all about!! Thank you all! Be sure to stay tuned for more magical moments from Anna’s trip via our Instagram.