Garden Party No.5

My oh my, how things have changed in the past two weeks. I thought 41 tornadoes was a big deal when I wrote the entry for the last Garden Party. Turns out those were not even close to comparing with what happened right after I hit the send button on that entry…

April 27th, 2011 will never leave my mind. It’s been such an incredible few weeks, watching in horror as the tornadoes came in waves over and over on live tv, then witnessing my fellow Alabamians pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get right to work helping one another rebuild. I absolutely love my state right now. April showers bring May flowers, right?

(Source Unknown)

The Amazon Wishlist has skyrocketed into something bigger than I could have ever imagined. Tonight the Christian Service Mission tweeted that your orders from Amazon were so frequent that UPS has designated a specific truck to make deliveries to their location at 3600 3rd Avenue South in Birmingham.

Let that sink in for just a minute.

I’m still rejoicing from the news. I could not be prouder of all of the people who have helped contribute to that wishlist and spread the word to everyone who wanted to help but wasn’t able for various reasons. Thank you so much! I’d also like to remind you guys that I have a succulent wreath up for auction with all proceeds going to help with relief efforts. So far it’s up to $85 and going strong! I can’t wait to see who wins it since we have a bit of a bidding war going already!

So this week, if you don’t mind, I’m going to mix it up a bit. No features, just a request.

In Pioneer Woman fashion I’m going to ask you to share your gardening related posts, and for every single relevant entry that is linked in this blog hop I will donate $1.00 to Rachel’s Mommies Helping Mommies campaign. Rachel was such a huge part of getting the word about the Amazon Wishlist out to other bloggers, so it feels right for me to return the favor. You rock, Miss Rachel. Thank you so much for all that you’ve done this past week.

I’d like for you to invite your gardening friends to link up and let’s see just how many entries (and dollars!) we can get going to help others!

Ok, time to start the party for this week. I can’t wait to see what you all have to show off and see how much we can raise! Five bucks? Ten bucks? $25? $50? $100??!! I’m all in no matter what, so I’m hoping you guys are with me!

I would REALLY appreciate it if you’d add this button to your blog entry or side bar so that other folks can join in the party, too. Thanks so much for spreading the word!

Here’s how it works:

1. In the McLinky below, add a permalink to your specific blog post, not the main page of your blog.
2. Please add a Garden Party button or a link to this garden party directly from your post so others can join in on the fun! You can grab the code in the box above.
3. Tweet it, blog it, facebook it, shout it from the rooftops. Just let people know we’re raising money over here folks! Show us what you’ve got!