Community, Love, Support- That’s what life is all about!

Lizzy (a local 14 year old battling her third round of stage 4 Ewing’s Sarcoma) and her family really wanted to go to the U2 concert in Denver this past weekend, but it was out of reach financially, until the local community came together.

Tricia Canonico a Fort Collins resident and one of the great ladies behind the Suburban Bitches Blog, (who did not personally know Lizzy and the Lawtons, besides taking Meredith’s great spin class at the gym!) heard about this and thought…

“WE can make this happen” and she started brainstorming and talking to others here in Fort Collins.

Tricia launched a Crowdrise campaign (https://www.crowdrise.com/U2forLizzy/fundraiser/triciacanonico) to support the efforts and raise money to send this sweet family to the show. At this point they have raised over $5000 in honor of Lizzy and her family…and we hope this keeps growing with a new goal of  $10, 000!! (So PLEASE pop on over and donate at Crowdrise)

So with this great support, the Lawtons had their dream of seeing U2 in Denver come true. BUT, the story doesn’t end there.

Not only did the Lawtons get to see the U2 concert but Crowdrise founder, actor Edward Norton heard about this fundraiser and was so moved by the story that he offered his help!

Tricia received an email from Crowdrise, Saturday morning saying they liked the fundraiser and they’d “really love to try to do something nice for [Lizzy] connected to the show.” To paraphrase Tricia of Suburban Bitches: “Here’s the really unbelievable part – in just a couple short hours they managed to pull together some absolute amazingness. They got Lizzy and her family passes to the pre-show hospitality suite! That didn’t just mean hanging out in the VIP lounge before the show that meant actually hanging out with Bono and the gang.” And Crowdrise was also able to get Live Nation to upgrade their seats to right up front next to the stage!

Besides raising money to send the Lawton’s to the U2 concert, the community also came together to make their day more fun before they took off for the show Saturday afternoon. Local businesses donated goods and services to get them all dolled up! Laura of GG Boutique dressed the girls in new outfits, Gallipot Salon did their hair and makeup, Sonja Jenkins of Stella and Dot gave them beautiful jewelry to wear, and I did a quick portrait session with them before they got into their limo sponsored by A Child’s Dream to head to Morton’s Steak House in Denver for dinner before the show. And when they arrived at the show Dave Reeder of the Pepsi Center put together gift bags for Lizzy and her family.

Here are some of my favorite shots from our quick (windy) portrait session before they headed down to Denver.

And here are a few shots of the Lawtons with U2 and Peyton Manning!!

Even though the U2 show has come and gone, we don’t want the fun to stop there! We want to raise as much money for this family as possible.

TribU2 (a local U2Tribute Band) will be performing a benefit concert for Lizzy on June 25th from 4-6pm at O’Dell Brewing Co. in Fort Collins. All proceeds will go to help Lizzy and her family with medical expenses.  Please donate HERE.

Every time I talk about Saturday and and the goodness of this community, I start to cry. One little idea turned into SOOO much more than we ever expected.

There is serious power when people come together to love and support one another… that is life at it’s best.