The Pink Brigade

You may have seen bright pink posters adorning shop windows and doorways around Martinborough lately, in support of my beautiful daughter Emily.  Emily was born profoundly deaf and was given the gift of sound through a cochlear implant this year.  We are currently in the process of fundraising for a second cochlear implant.  A task seeming such a feat that we have never been quite sure if we could actually raise the $50,000 needed. 

But how we underestimated the generosity of a small community such as Martinborough. 

On Labour weekend Helen Kirk organised a small home and garden tour on Oxford Street, where we call home. 7 properties were on show in a bid to help raise funds for the ‘Ears For Emily’ campaign. We were optimistic about the day, although weather reports were mixed we crossed our fingers for sunshine. 

The rain held out but the infamous ‘Novembers’ came early to blow a few pink balloons skyward. However there was a great turnout in spite of the weather and we raised an incredible $2500. 
What I would like to say is how humbled we are by the kindness and support of our local community. Firstly a heartfelt thanks to Helen for organising such an event. To the extended Kirk and Cox family, for not only opening your homes and gardens but for providing your families to help support the cause. 
It was wonderful to see everyone wearing some sort of pink, pink ribbons, balloons at the gates and pink name tags for everyone. A massive thank you to everyone who allowed people through your properties we can’t thank you enough. 
 
And of course a huge thank you to those who braved the wind and ventured out and about on the day.  Without the generosity, kindness and compassion of you all, Emily’s future in the hearing world would remain uncertain. 
We’re excited about other events planned for the near future as we now have hope that we can reach our target and provide the best hearing chance for our daughter. We’ve been amazed at the donations and support that we’ve received already and when people say Martinborough is great place to be we’ll say “We hear you” and so will our Emily.

Corina Lawson