As many of you know, I am a professional fundraiser.  I ask people for money for a living.  That being said, I am ALWAYS uncomfortable asking my friends for money.  So many people have contributed to Maxie's forest either through the original site or through Beth's marathon page.  Colleagues, friends, relatives, even strangers have made a donation.  For those of you who haven't made a donation yet, if you can find it in your hearts (because I KNOW you can find $18 in your pocket), it would mean so much to us to have you support Beth's efforts as the sole representative of "Team Maxie" running the NYC marathon on November 6th.  For our close friends, look at it this way - you don't know what to say and that feels bad, and you will never ever have the opportunity to buy Maxie a birthday, Hanukkah or Bar-Mitzvah present.  This actually goes a long, long way and we notice it and for reasons that are hard to explain, it means SO MUCH to us.  So, thank you in advance.  If you lost the address, here it is: support.jnf.org/goto/teammaxie.  Thank you AGAIN to all of you who have already made a donation!  That is over 500 individual gifts!  Sometimes we feel so defeated and this is the one thing that feels important and hopeful and pulls us together as a family over and over again.  Please look at Maxie's beautiful face and then ask yourself if you can really NOT plant at least one $18 tree in his memory.