You Did It!!!!!

Love Without Boundaries won the Facebook Challenge!!!! Thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful organization. Now, in addition to the funds donated by folks like you, Facebook has awarded LWB $50,000 to help the precious orphans of China. $50,000!!! But it is so much more than money. It's lives that will be forever changed.

From Amy Eldridge of Love Without Boundaries:

Has everyone come down to earth yet? What an AMAZING final day of the Facebook contest. Did anyone else hit the “refresh” button every 2 seconds today?

My family was heading to Texas today, but there was no way we could pull away until the final tally was in. Our hearts were pounding as it came down to the last minutes and when it ended…there were screams of happiness and tears of joy, and such unbelievable gratitude for everyone who helped.

Tonight while we were at a rest stop in Antlers, Oklahoma (isn‘t that a great town name?)….the ending of “It’s a Wonderful Life” just washed over me. You know the scene…when George thinks he is going to jail and the police are there, but then his front door opens and the entire town has come to his home to donate all their dollars in order to help a friend. That is exactly what we saw in the last 24 hours for ten orphaned babies in China….the “whole town” coming out to tell them how important they are to this world. We were absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness of our friends.

Today I heard of a college student whose niece was adopted from China, going door to door in her dorm and convincing over 200 people to help our cause. I learned of an ICU night nurse who recruited hospital staff, of men who called meetings at work and then convinced their co-workers to join Facebook. I heard of sororities and fraternities signing up friends, of grandparents emailing everyone they knew, of moms driving to Starbucks to convince the people sipping coffee there that they needed to give. I had message after message from friends who said they had taken the day off of work so that they could man the phones for the kids and find new donors. And in our adoption community, truly the entire town was there helping today. Adoption agencies, bloggers, yahoogroups, and even other charities working with orphans…all sending notes and letters asking their supporters to donate today, because we all share the same belief that orphaned children matter. It was so humbling to watch it unfold. The last 24 hours have shown that we are ONE COMMUNITY, tied together with love for the children.

And so from all of us at LWB, to all of our friends who helped make this possible….THANK YOU so sincerely. We all know who the real winners were today…..the beautiful children who will now have a second chance at life. What a story they will someday be told, of how “the whole town” came out to change their futures. For us, the Facebook contest has ended, but for Cong, Ying, Shan, Yun, Yu, Xiang, Ya, Zi, Hua, Ling and more…..their story of HOPE has just begun.

Amy