A few days ago Hugh posted a thread to see how much money OSP could raise to help Robin Depaula... She's struggling to keep her business flowing smoothly and still support her husband through his illness.

They have some really unebelievable expenses on top of all the stress.

Read some of her posts by clicking here: http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index.php?showuser=8690

There wasn't a large response to the post, understandably so considering what we all just went through with TM. We'd like to just give her a Starbucks card to use while at the hospital... But in the event that we raise a significant amount of money, we will do more than just that.

Hugh is sending me the money that he collected, approx $100. I will personally donate $100.... so lets see what we can do for this family. Anything will help her at this point.

ANYONE who is interested, please PM me and I'll send you paypal info or my address if you are anti-paypal.

Thanks in advance to everyone who donates. And thanks to those who donated already!

thanks for doing this jess. your a sweetheart

Hey Jessica,

It is very sweet for you to offer to help. As people mentioned in the earlier post, I think people would love to help if they had a way of knowing everything was legit.

Are they unwilling to set up a trust fund at a bank?

I haven't talked to Robin and I don't know tha anyone else has either. This is just something that got started on its own. I'm very willing to collect donations, buy the gift cards etc, but I do not have time to organize anything more "official"

Here's a quick update. Hugh had collected $130 prior to my post and forwarded that full amount to me today.

Counting my contribution, we are now up to $485! Thats one hell of a starbucks card.

I'm interested to see how high this might go. Thank you go all those who've donated so far!

i sent mine today.

maybe we could split it between a target card and a starbucks card? target has groceries...

I agree. If a significant amount is raised (and it seems that way), then perhaps it could be split between a couple of gift cards? I mean, coffee and scones are great, but $500 worth?

I like Tami's idea of putting some of it onto a card that can be used for some pratical household items and groceries. Or....what about putting some of it onto an American Express or Mastercard (or the like) gift card that can be used anywhere??? I've never done it before, but I've gotten some of these as gifts in the past.

Just a couple of thoughts. We really appreciate that you're doing this Jessica!

i think everyone is super busy right now and laying all these different ideas down is great, but having the time is different.

dont get me wrong melanie, they are great ideas, but implementing them is different.

i think at some point, maybe jessica should just send her some cash via paypal or however. but i agree, $500 at starbucks is a lot.

cool... If anyone else has ideas of what to do with the moolah, post them up and i'll create a poll when we're all done to decide what would help the most!

What about gas cards for somewhere in her area? Are they having to drive back and forth a lot for treatments and stuff?

Speak for yourself. That's only about a months worth of Triple Venti Skinny No Foam Caramel Machiattos.

One of my favorite gifts to give/receive is grocery gift cards or ready made meals - www.alazing.com is a great way to have meals delivered - heat and eat and I hear that they're really good. I believe you can also order gift cards for them as well. VERY practical, something you can always use (food!) and it's great when you are too overwhelmed to make dinner. After my first surgery my PUG group gave me a $150 gift certificate for Peapod - grocery delivery service - and it was FANTASTIC... I couldn't get to the grocery store and everyone else was so busy that they didn't really have time to go... plus just being super tight on money didn't help either.

If I was in their shoes and struggling to pay the bills and buy expensive medicine, I would appreciate gift cards, but I would much rather buy the medicine needed.

Don't let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch.

OMG, I am completely humbled by this.

We just got home from yet another trip to Houston - we thought they were just going to be taking sutures out, but they actually opened it back up & cut out all the skin that had necrosed / died. He's got a huge hole in his back that you could fit your whole hand into. I took photos with his i-phone, but probably too gross to post here . . . definetely not the kind of photos we like to admire here! LOL Since they put a wound-vac in, home health will be starting on Saturday to change out dressings, and do cleanings. Once the wound heals up, we will see the oncologist to begin radiation treatments. Then in November, we go back to the Oncology Urologist, to get started with surgery for the renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer). I am just physically / emotionally worn out!!! All I want is for things to go back to the way they were - I want some normalcy back in my life, but I doubt that is going to happen any time soon.

I want to express from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to everyone!!! I never asked for this kind of help, but it's very much appreciated. I saw that some were questioning if I'm really going through this - YES, we are . . . I keep thinking when will this nightmare end?? I would be happy to scan in our statements from MD Anderson, or even post some images of his incision. Frank has not worked since his first hospitalization in March, and we aren't sure when he will be going back - we are looking into an early medical retirement due to this disability . . . and to think he's only 3 years away from being able to retire with full benefits!!!

My brother-in-law (Frank's brother) has set Frank up an express-pay account for all his medicine at Walgreens, so we no longer have to worry about medicine - thank goodness.

Transportation & lodging is a concern for us - Frank is a lieutenant with our local Sheriff's Office (Tangipahoa Parish), and insists on carrying his gun everywhere we travel, so of course that puts us driving since he'd never be able to board a plane with his gun! All I can do is laugh at him - oh, well - 6 hours in a car with someone will definetly make you closer than ever (or tear you apart) . . . LOL!!!

Well, I'm beat after getting caught in Baton Rouge traffic in a torrential downpour for 3 hours tonight. Going to try to catch some winks!!

Night everyone!!!
Robin

I am always glad to help when I can as I have been on the receiving end of OSP kindness before. Sending over a donation tonight, not much, but hope it helps.

D

robin doll.... I'm so sorry that you're having such a tough time. Kudos for you for keeping good spirits and an upbeat attitude.

Thank you everyone who has donated this evening. Its very appreciated. I'll update y'all again soon...

Ok, so I don't want to be pushy but I also don't know how long this should go..... But I'm bumping it to the top so that there can be a few more people see it. Currently we have 753.33. Any donations are appreciated. I am not going to deduct paypal fees so even $5 is nice.

If anyone else wants to donate, send to jessicamesser@aol.com

I guess I'll let this run for another week or so unless donations stop coming in.

Thanks all!!

I had just about given up when I got another donation. $853.33 is the total now. Thank you guys!

We have decided to do visa gift cards for the donations, that way she can use them however she needs.

Sent ya some cash.

Thinking about you, Robin, every day.

thank you pam and mel!

thank you ginger & dana

wow. this is unbelievably wonderful! i'm so happy it turned out like this.

thank you to the latest donor, who asked to be anonymous, yet still deserves to be thanked publicly.

sooooo what is the total now?

we're just a hair under $1000 so I'm rounding it up.

Thank you Jessica for doing this. You are a very kind and very generous individual.

WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

thanks shane.

Wow!!! $1,000 can be such a HUGE help!! And I think a Visa gift card is perfect. That can be used at Starbucks too if coffee is what is needed....