Early Saturday afternoon, I had the pleasure to sit down with a young lady from here in Littlefield who has been busy with her Senior Year of Homeschool classes, but actively collecting shoes for a fundraiser as well, through Funds2Orgs.com
Ceci Schroeder is a Homeschool High School Senior, and is the daughter of Chadd and Nancy Schroeder of Littlefield. She also has two twin sisters, Morgan and Natali.
I was first introduced to Ceci’s beautiful fur pal, and soon to be Service dog, named “Gracie Mae,” which is a Great Pyrenese, that can melt your heart from the very first meeting.
I asked Ceci why she began the fundraiser and what were the funds to be used for, and Ceci replied, “I was born with Cerebral Palsy and it affects my ability to walk. I need a Service dog because due to my illness, I fall down a lot, and I have a lack of stability too.
With Gracie Mae, and this Service dog training, she will be able to go to College with me in time and anywhere else I go, and I want to attend Texas Tech College. If I fall, Gracie can help me get back up to my feet, or if I fall and were to be unconscious, she can alert someone to help me, and she will also be fitted with saddlebags in order to carry my books and she can pick things up for me if I drop them. Gracie will also help me stand and balance, and she makes walking much easier for me. Service Training with Gracie is a 2- year process, and the cost will range from $10,000 to $12,000, and the money I make from my shoe fundraiser will go to help defray that cost. The money I can make is based on the weight of the bags of shoes.”
Ceci explained her fundraiser saying: “ When you begin, you have 60 days to collect a minimum of 100 bags of shoes. We stay in contact with funds2Orgs, and once the shoes are collected, they will send out a truck to pick them up. This current fundraiser drive will end Oct. 18th, but we can still collect shoes until the truck gets here. From the shoe drive, I can receive a check of $1,000 for 100 bags of shoes up to $3,000 for 300 bags of shoes, and we have 70 bags at the present time.”
KCBD did a story on my fundraiser not long ago, and after that, shoes began pouring in from all over, even from different states, and everyone has been wonderful in helping me with this. When I told my parents what I wanted to do, they said they’d support me 100%, and they sure have.”
I then asked how she came across this beautiful dog as her Service dog, and Ceci replied: “We found her on Craigslist, and then Dana, with the Littlefield Animal Project, helped us. All dogs have to pass assessment tests in order to become eligible to be a Service Dog. They mustn’t bite, or be aggressive and Gracie Mae was just the perfect fit for myself and our family”. Ceci continued, “If someone goes and buys an already trained Service dog, it can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 and programs can be months to years long. Gracie and I train once per week, but she and I work together at least 6 days per week on our own. Gracie and I train with Raylee from South Plains Service Dogs in Lubbock.”
Ceci explained that the collected shoes go to “Funds2Orgs” who will pick up the shoes, and they will be distributed all over the world to places like Haiti, the Ukraine, and many other places. The people that receive them will then start up micro businesses with the shoes and will be able to use the money to provide for their families.”
This is a wonderful fundraiser and I encourage anyone who has shoes they would like to get rid of, to donate to this wonderful cause and let’s help Ceci get her goal and beyond, to raise the money for her Service Dog training.