Friday, January 02, 2009

New Update on Katy & Liz

Real time Updates:

10:15 a.m.: Breaking News. Good Morning America wants to have Katy on their show. Katy & Liz are moving their things from their old apartment with the help of some angels with SUVs in the area. While they are busy with those details, they would like me to be in contact with GMA to work out details of interview. Will post/Twitter updates as I can.

10:45 a.m.: I am trying to work with a bank to set up a special account for donations for Liz & Katy. If you are sending donations, you can continue either sending a check directly to their P.O. Box number, or use my Paypal account for now. Please bear with me--I've not done this before, and this story has unfolded so quickly. As this story goes national, Katy and Liz will need to have a way of directly receiving online funds.

1:15 p.m.: I have been on the phone with a bank and Paypal, and have now set up a Paypal account that feeds directly into Liz's bank account. To make donations, please log into Paypal and send funds to this address:

hugheselizabeth (@) rocketmail (dot) com

Or you can still send a check directly to:

Elizabeth Hughes, P.O. Box 111525, Campbell, CA 95011

Bless all of you helping angels out there!

4:30 p.m.: Talked to segment producer from Good Morning America. All people who make decisions as to which day a segment runs are out of the office. The producer will call me Monday to confirm date of the show.
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Wow, another busy day. I haven't gotten any writing done for three days now, as I've worked to keep up with all of this. People are stepping in to help Katy and Liz. It's wonderful to see the generosity. Thanks to all of you are donating, praying, and helping to spread the word!

I have received more Paypal donations today. These funds will go to Liz and Katy tomorrow. Thanks especially to those of you who don't know me for trusting me with your donations. Every penny is going to Katy and Liz--no Paypal fees have been taken out. I have personally emailed every one who sent a Paypal donation. If you didn't receive your email, please check your spam folder.

Some new happenings today:

As of this post writing, Katy's blog hits are over 24,500.

The NBC news segment is now available for viewing here.

CNN also picked up the news story.

Julie Bonn Heath is the wonderful PR person on our team who has been making all the media contacts. Please visit her blog for more of the story. Julie's Twitter name is @juliebonnheath

@kikarose (Twitter name)--This writer was a godsend to Katy and Liz on Tuesday night, taking them money for a hotel room for the night (until I could drive to them the following day, hand-carrying the first donations). She wrote a beautiful, thoughtful post here.

More blog posts about the story:

http://spaghettipie.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/who-deserves-a-10-blessing/

http://cjdarlington.blogspot.com/2008/12/chance-to-be-christs-hands-feet.html

http://stoncray.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/homeless-teenager-on-twitter/

http://www.mahalo.com/Katy_Hughes

http://lettersoflove.net/scarscanspeak/2009/01/01/liz-and-katy/

http://littlenuances.blogspot.com/2009/01/brandilyn-collins-helps-homeless-woman.html

Katy is receiving some interest in her art pieces. We still have to see how this works out.

Finally, to clear up questions from some readers: I don't live near enough to Katy and Liz for them to stay with me. They need and want to stay in their area and find housing and a job for Liz there. Katy is homeschooled and meets with a homeschooling mentor in the area on a regular basis. This is a good situation for her, and in the interest of her education, they want to continue it. For the same reason they are not considering moving out of the area.

If you have blogged about this story and would like your link listed here, please email me with the URL. I will be happy to post it.

Blessings to all of you for helping to make 2009 a much better year for Liz and Katy. This story shows how much difference one person can make. Each of you has a sphere of influence of your own. When you tell this story to others, you can know that is having a domino effect. Thank you so much for spreading the word.

5 comments:

JBarWriter said...

Thank you for spreading the word about their situation and getting help for them. You are an angel.

C.J. Darlington said...

Thanks so much for all the updates (and link back to my post). I really am amazed how much of a domino effect one person can create. Thank you, Brandilyn!

Joe said...

Brandilyn,

What a blessing this has been not only to Katy and Liz....but to everyone involved. It is so good to see strangers blessing those in desperate need.....and to see how God uses the internet for His purpose.

Blessings!

Diane
http://prayingforaprodigal.blogspot.com/2008/12/tackle-it-tuesday-its-another-snowy-day.html

Rene Perez said...

Thank you so much for updating. I have posted on both of my blogs and if you want to list them, you can...I'm not trying to seek recognition. I'm not in a position to help with money, but I can send a book. I hope it lifts Katy's spirits for at least a couple hours. (I know she's really smart and it's a tween book) ;-) They have my prayers and may God bless you for bringing this to light! What if you had said nothing?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link back! I'm so behind on everything (I've been sick and stuck in Twitter world).

Do you know if either Liz or Katy need any kind of clothing? I know someone who would like to send them clothes if they need them.