SHAWANO, WI (WTAQ) – After a successful New Year’s Eve fundraiser, a Shawano family is moving forward with their plans to help ease the pressures that families face when their children have to stay in NICU.
“We had grossly underestimated the ability of our community.”
Chad Kary and his wife Cheyna plan to purchase a home that is located next to HSHS St. Vincent’s Hospital in Green Bay, after the family that owns the property, let them stay there for free while their daughter Georgia was in NICU right after she was born.
Kary says the cost to purchase the home and cover taxes and maintenance so families can stay there for free is around $75,000.
He said the word about their fundraiser spread quickly, and the outcome exceeded his hopes.
“We walked into this thing hoping for $10,000 dollars and we hit $45,000 dollars, he said. “We hit a number that was so far beyond what we were hoping for, it was unreal.”
That money was raised in one afternoon from cash donations, bucket raffles, 50/50’s, silent auctions and paddle wheels.
Cary said the restaurant was packed from start to finish.
“People out of the kindness of their hearts, just straight community goodwill.”
The family went out and got a few donations, but the rest came in as word spread around Shawano and beyond of what the Kary’s were hoping to do with the money.
“The biggest difficulty for us was trying to figure out how to utilize all the donations.”
The Kary’s also have other fundraising events planned and a Go Fund Me page has also brought in over $18,000 dollars.
The Kary family was inspired by the generosity of Anderson family, who let them stay in a home that owned while they stayed in Green Bay with their daughter Georgia.
Sadly, the Kary’s lost their daughter Georgia who passed away due to complications from phenomena after being born premature but were inspired to take what they were given and pay-it-forward.
Kary said he feels that people were looking for a way to reach out and offer support for them during this difficult time.
“Because we were able to find a need that we were able to attach our situation too, it became an outlet that people sometimes need to pick other people up.”
He says the response means so much for his family.
“If anything, helping somebody else makes it a little more tolerable.”
The quick fundraising response has also allowed the Kary’s to possibly increase their goals, giving them the desire to complete their plans and maybe take it a step further.
“Is this bigger than what we think it is? Is this more than just one house needed, or do we need this in other communities?”
Chad Kary said right now doing more than the original plan is just an idea that he and his wife Cheyna are having, but all big things start small.
“If our little community can open their hearts and feel so connected to our family and our cause, then what is out there for other communities?”
First thing’s first, The Kary’s plan to start the process of purchasing this home and calling it “Georgia’s House” after their daughter.
I didn’t expect that it would be this meaningful for so many. I feel like we have tapped into something that we didn’t realize we tapped into.
