The following is an excerpt from an original blog post from November 2014, please read through to the end for the most current update and links to purchase tickets to this year’s event.

Last Easter I received a text message with a photo wishing me and my family Happy Easter. It was a beautiful photo of my best friend’s daughters, celebrating the holiday on vacation in Mexico with their counsins and relatives. Just seconds later their lives would be forever changed.

Moments after this photo was taken Maddi, the youngest of the three Raimondo girls took a tragic misstep and fell off the rooftop deck.  Jenny literally watched helplessly as her daughter’s eyes locked with hers as she fell. Racing to the street below it was several minutes before they knew if Maddie had even survived the fall. It took an ambulance, a ferry and yet another ambulance ride over the course of 2 full hours before they could even get Maddi to a hospital in Cancun, all the while not knowing what injuries other than the obvious external had occurred. Admitted to an emergency room in a hospital in a foreign country, they fought the language barrier to try to figure out their next step. Over the next 2 days test were run and surgery was deemed necessary to deal with many broken bones, internal bleeding and skull fractures with an alarming brain bleed.  Dozens of frantic phone calls were placed, x-rays were emailed and financial arrangements were made to obtain a medically staffed flight to transport Maddi to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. They landed in Philadelphia a full 2 1/2 days after her initial fall, exhausted, terrified and grateful to be at home at one of the best pediatric care hospitals in our country. The staff at CHOP saved Maddi’s life.

Today if you were to meet Maddi for the first time she looks like every other happy little girl her age. But her and her family are forever changed. It has been a very long road that has included surgeries and rehab. There are still obstacles, both physical and emotional to surmount, and only time will tell for sure what challenges will appear. Jenny, for sure, has changed, both as a mother and a human being. Time stood still and a new sense of gratitude has taken over her heart. Her and her family were fortunate. They had a lot of support and resources as they went through this journey, she knows that not everyone is so lucky.

As they have continued to move forward Jenny and her family want to give back. Traumatic brain injuries are complicated and unique, and so is the recovery process. Jenny recognized how crucial it was to have appropriate activities for Maddi’s recovery and so she started with a simple concept of a bag of items that could be gifted to each child.

This small start quickly blossomed into something much larger, thanks to Jenny’s determination and community outreach.

The following is a current update to the original post:

As the donations grew in physical quantity, it soon became evident that there were many other things that could help the trauma unit, which meant growing the donations now in monetary quantity. This is where Jenny got the idea to invite vendors into her home for a shopping event. To date, the Shop 4 Chop Event has raised approximately $167,000 since it’s inception 10 years ago, and Jenny has no plans to stop.

Here is the Raimondo family at last year’s event. ( from left; Jenny, Ella, Scott, Maddi and Sammi)

So as crazy as it sounds, the Raimondo’s spend a week leading up to the event moving around and clearing out furniture to make room for 3 levels of shopping and so many amazing vendors. This year’s event will be Thursday, November 7th, for the VIP Sip and See event, and Friday, November 8th, during the day. You can venmo @maddisbag for tickets (see pricing info below).

Please join me in celebrating 10 years of survival, strength and gratitude, and in toasting the Raimondo family. It’s been an incredible journey and I could not possibly be more proud of my dear friend. She has set an example not only for her daughters but for anyone who decides they want to make a difference.