On Thursday, March 15th (note the date change), we will be celebrating Maxie's life and raising money to plant many more trees in Maxie's Forest.  The event will take place at the famous Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip.  Doors open at 7 and there will be a silent auction and a raffle with lots of great items to bid on to start the evening.  The comedy show will start at 8 pm.  The price of admission is $40 with advanced purchase and $50 at the door.  This does not include the club's two drink minimum (including non-alcoholic beverages).  To purchase tickets ahead of time and ensure a seat at the event, please call the JNF office in Van Nuys at 323-964-1400 and make sure they know that you are reserving your spot for the Night of Comedy event for Maxie's Forest.

My sister-in-law, Beth, is also gearing up Team Maxie again for two runs - a 5k on Saturday the 17th and the LA marathon on Sunday the 18th.  We know she might be the only marathoner again (but encourage others to join her if they can), but hope folks will consider participating in the 5k.  You can even walk a 5k.  This would be a great opportunity to join the Team, and get coworkers, friends and family to sponsor you by making a donation to Maxie's Forest.  If you are interested in participating in one of the runs, please let us know by emailing teddyabby at gmail.  We will have more information soon about how you can be part of the fundraising effort.  You can find out more information about the LA Marathon here: http://www.lamarathon.com/runner-info/register/ and the 5k here: http://www.lamarathon.com/event/la-5k/.  It looks like you can register for the 5k the morning of the run and you can register for the marathon online.  We have nothing to do with the marathon, so rather than coming to us with questions, we encourage you to contact the LA Marathon organizers directly at: 213-542-3000 or email info@lamarathon.com.  


Today marks six months since the last time Ted and I were with our Maxie outside of a hospital.  For the two of us and our families, raising the funds to be able to plant a forest in Maxie's memory has been a small ray of light in our otherwise very dark lives.  Our goal is to raise $100,000 for 20,000 trees to be planted in the Carmel region of Israel, where I used to live, and where over six thousand acres of trees burned in a terrible forest fire in December 2010 - two months after Maxie was born.  This is a place where we will visit with Maxie's siblings (even writing that reminds me that Maxie will never be there with us and it breaks my heart and causes me physical pain) when they are old enough to have bar/bat mitzvahs.  It will be a place that we send our friends and families.  It is a place where we can celebrate Maxie's brief but wonderful life.  


Thank you so much for supporting us, our families, and our Maxie.  We look forward to seeing you the weekend of March 15th - 18th.  If you cannot be at the event or participate in either run, we encourage you to consider supporting a runner.  We will send more information about how to do that when we have the fundraising page for the LA runs set up.