(Episode #4 of 4)
Melanie’s Love Drop was a lot of fun, guys! We had yet another big turnout of friends and family who came to celebrate with us and provide extra help, gifts, and general goodwill. We were also able to do something we’ve never done before . . . we worked with Kim, Melanie’s sponsor, to live-stream the entire event! We had a laptop set up to watch all the action, with viewers taking part of the Drop from all over the country. Very cool.
Our goal was to provide Melanie with a way to get back some of her “regular” life during her recovery period, and we’re happy to say that you all made it happen! We were able to give her three brand-new appliances (washer, dryer and stove) with front-facing controls that she can operate from her wheelchair (with a fun little “move that truck!” cheer to boot). Check out the video to watch how it all went down :)
Total stuff given to Melanie:
[To check out the pictures, click here.]
- An $1,800 Washer & Dryer set!! – We did it guys! We raised over $3,000 to make this Drop special for Melanie and family! And part of that went to picking up this “sexy” (as Melanie called them) front-loading washer and dryer set so she can super easily do laundry again. We even got to shout “Move That Truck!” when we were presenting them to her, haha… it was brilliant. HUGE shout out to Lowes for hooking us up with a *crazy* discount too. They made it their mission to help us after hearing Melanie’s story, and really went above and beyond for us. Also props to Anthony for INSTALLING these after the Drop was over! We got a killer community my friends, way to go :)
- A $1300 Slide-in Electric Stove! – With front-facing nobs so Melanie can now COOK again!! Something she is incredibly passionate about, and something she couldn’t do for the past 2-3 months because of her wheelchair. We hope you’re making great use of it, Melanie!! And way to go again, team, for pulling off that $3k goal of ours — that helped facilitate this purchase too.
- $300 Grocery Store Credit – Since Lowes gave us such a discount w/ all the appliances, we had a few hundred dollars left over which we wanted to spoil Melanie with once her stove was installed all the way. So we got her $300 worth of credit at her local store so she can stock her fridge full of ANY food she wants! Kid-friendly, or not ;)
- $200 MORE dollars at her grocery store! – The ladies of Galtime also had the great idea of stocking her fridge, and donated $200 more to her food passion :) Thanks Galtime! It was awesome seeing you at the Drop too – meant alot.
- A brand new iRobot Roomba! – The folks over at iRobot were also moved by Melanie’s story and wanted to help out as well! So they donated a VERY cool top of the line Roomba to help out with vacuuming her house. Automatically too! Very cool idea – thanks iRobot!
- A TON of wheelchair-friendly gifts – A few of our Love Drop members are in wheelchairs themselves (and also just love shopping for cool stuff!) and were kind enough to mail over some fabulous accessories for Melanie :) Including a cup holder (awesome!), lap-desk, saddle bag, and more. And when the Drop was all over, Melanie told us she will be donating ALL of her wheelchair stuff – including the chair itself and her entire electric system for her stairs – to another person who can use it once she’s out. She’s calling it her own “Mini-Drop,” Yay!!!
- Bags full of Boston Redsox items ;) For all of her kids. Hats, jerzies, you name it. It’s a good thing they’re huge fans or that could have been troublesome! Haha… Thanks for doing this Jessica!
- A ton of other gift bags. – Everyone who attended the Drop brought some goodies of their own to present – including snacks, gifts, and a whole bunch of other great stuff. Thanks so much everyone! And for being their in person too – that was incredible :)
- 6 Tickets to the New England Aquarium — Thanks so much Aquarium!
- 6 Tickets to their IMAX Theater- Also courtesy of the New England Aquarium :)
- $75 Gift card to Lowes – Awesome! Great job, guys!
- $15 Gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond – Always a great choice ;)
- A Coach Bag!! – Sent in from our good friend, and Love Drop member, Trinnie Doo (Thanks!)
- Family tickets to an outing of their choice! $100 worth – Courtesy of Goldstar.com (thx guys!)
- 6 months of meal plans courtesy of MealPlanRescue.com (Thanks for always participating!)
- 6 months of coaching services from JRRSEHopeCoaching.com – Solutions for midlife parents, troubled teens, single moms & career challenges.
- A photo book from GroupStory to capture the entire Drop’s celebrations.
We also live-streamed the whole event! Out totally awesome friend, and sponsor of Melanie’s Drop, Kim from Mommycosm hooked us up w/ the technology to steam the whole 1 and 1/2 hour event to those online who wanted to participate but couldn’t be there in person. It was fun! Thanks so much Kim! (And if anyone ever needs help/advice with that stuff, make sure to give her a shout.)
Kim put together a VERY touching movie compilation too. Which we all sat around to and watched on TV as a handful of Melanie’s close friends wished her the very best in recovery. It was beautiful :) And at the end Kim’s daughter sang an *amazing* rendition of Lean On Me for Melanie too – an absolute highlight of the day’s celebration.
Great job everyone! We pulled through yet again, and really surprised Melanie and family with some incredible stuff. You all are getting good at this ;) See you next month! (Special thanks also to our two awesome photographers who came out and gave their time (and skills) for the event: Sage Brousseau and Isabel Furie. Y’all were great!)



Awesome Video…..and I love what you do!!! Well done!
Even though I was there in person, this video made me cry still. :-) So glad to be a part of it!
Awwww, it touched us a LOT too :) Sometimes Nate and I get so caught up in making sure everything goes smoothly (and we don’t forget to give everything!) that it’s hard to take it all in while there. It’s refreshing/exciting for us to see the final video too! Something nice to look at whenever we’re feeling down or sad… glad you all like it :)