What an exciting year 2013 brought to our family. We have come a long way since we started on this journey and have great hopes for 2014. I do realize that it is already March, but we have just been busy planning for 2014. We want to make sure we take every opportunity to make a difference and we will do our best. Our family, friends and foundations we are connected to are all on board and many have already started off the year in a sprint.
Dance Parties!
Most of you know that Sutton is one of four 2014 Miracle Children for Children’s Miracle Network in support of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The support and dedication of CHOA has been amazing and we want to do our part to help support them in return. Take a few minutes and check out her story on the Children’s Miracle Network website. (click here for Sutton’s story)
Emory University Dance Marathon
We had a great time at our first official Dance Marathon at Emory University. To see the passion of college students focused on kids is inspiring. To see college students make children with health struggles feel on top of the world is something very humbling. We had a great time and can’t wait to go back next year.
UGA Dance Marathon
Although it is normally against our family values to celebrate anything UGA, we can’t help but celebrate the the AMAZING accomplishments of UGA Dance Marathon. The students were so engaged and very enthusiastic about raising money FTK(For The Kids). They treated our family like royalty for an entire day. We were so encouraged to hear so many other CHOA success stories at UGA. The most incredible part of the day was the accomplishment of students raising over $500,000! Truly amazing and a well deserved “Go Dawgs!”
GT Dance Marathon
The Georgia Tech Dance Marathon was like being at home for us. We encountered another group of students with the same passion and caring as we did at Emory and UGA. We were once again blown away by the selfless efforts of college students raising money to support CMN. We had the opportunity to hang out with some incredible students and hang out with Buzz! Hiatt spent most of the morning chasing around Buzz and sitting in the drivers seat of the Ramblin Wreck. Sutton was loved on by just about every girl there and even had a chance to hang out with the GT cheerleaders. We found out that there is a Sutton on the cheerleading squad this year and can’t wait for the girls to meet! It was truly a special day and one we will never forget.
Fundraising and New Opportunities
The Burnetts dont divide our efforts, we multiply them! We have so many great opportunities in store to help support both CFF and CMN/CHOA. Every opportunity we get to help raise funds and awareness for CF is one step closer to a cure along with so many more tomorrows for Sutton and every other CFer out there. Team Sutton Grace made such an impact this past year on raising money, awareness and hope. It is truly amazing to see how so many of you are already planning and fundraising with new ideas and expanding on the many events that we will participate again in support of CFF. There are many new ideas that are under way and we can’t wait to share them with you as they develop and raise even more money in 2014. $60,000 is a big number to beat, but we have confidence that we can do that and more this year with the support of all of you. We will be sure to keep you up to date through our many networks so that we can have a blast while also wiping CF off the map.
This years calendar for CFF is already filling up and we would love to have you join us at any of the following official events. As always, you can join our team by searching for Team Sutton Grace or emailing us at teamsuttongrace@gmail.com.
Shamrockin for a Cure – March 8, 2014 at Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre
The DEFINITIVE party on the north side is BACK for it’s sixth year at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta. ShamRockin’ For A Cure will rock again with our live 80s band, incredible food and drink, live auction, silent auction, and more entertainment in one night than you can imagine!
http://www.shamrockinforacure.com/
Great Strides Walk – May 17, 2014 at Georgia Tech
Great Strides Atlanta Presented by Snellings Walters Insurance Agency is proud to be the largest cystic fibrosis walk in the country, raising over $1.4 million through the help of 2,500 walkers. Walk day is a fun, family-oriented event with a healthy 5k walk, children’s activities, food, and festivities that the Atlanta community looks forward to year after year.
http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/GreatStrides/40_Georgia_Atlanta?team_id=17880&pg=team&fr_id=2047
Wine and Roses Gala – April 26, 2014 at Atlanta Athletic Club
Black-Tie Optional Dinner Dance, Silent & Live Auctions, Heads or Tails Raffle, Champagne Reception, Seated Dinner with Wine Pairings, Live Music, Dancing Until Midnight! It’s your chance to be high class and in style all while curing CF. An amazing night worth every penny!
http://www.cff.org/Chapters/georgia/index.cfm?ID=26501&blnShowBack=True&idContentType=1328&Event=26501
Battle for a Cure – 2014 date TBD
An amazing night of food, drinks and fun! Atlanta chefs from you favorite well known restaurants battling it out for the best dish. The best part is that the guests are the judges. Keep and eye out for this years info for a great time you won’t want to miss.
http://www.cff.org/Chapters/georgia/index.cfm?id=24088&event=24088
Cycle for Life – November 8, 2014 at Serenbe, GA
Get your wheels in motion and join us for our 11/8/2014 annual bike tour as we ride through some of the most picturesque and scenic terrain in Atlanta, Georgia. CF Cycle for Life is a fully-supported ride with route options of 15, 30 & 65 Miles miles. From breakfast to our cycle post party, you can enjoy fully stocked rest stops every 10-12 miles, bike mechanics for bicycle maintenance and repair, ride marshals to cheer you along the way and plenty of support vehicles to help you complete the ride. This unique event empowers participants to take action and demonstrate their fight in finding a cure for cystic fibrosis in a tangible, emotional and powerful way.
http://fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/Cycle/40_Georgia_Atlanta?fr_id=2550&pg=entry
We are going to DC!
Not forever, but some of you were thinking it… Brittany and I are humbled and honored to be invited to the 2014 CF Foundation National Volunteer Leadership Conference in April. It is an amazing opportunity to connect with other dedicated volunteers from around the country and share ideas on how to win our battle against CF. We are going as guests of CFF in Georgia and can’t wait to report back to all of you on what we learn.
We are excited about the year to come and all of the great opportunities to make an even bigger impact on CF than before. We couldn’t do this without all of the people we like to call Team Sutton Grace which includes you! Be on the lookout for news to come!
65 Rosebuds 
Wow!! That sounds like a busy and fun way to help our little Sutton Grace and all of those with CF. We will continue to support you in our love and prayers and try to make it to an event in 2014. Y’all are such amazing parents and Sutton, (as well as the CF Foundation) are blessed to have you. We were planning to come to the Great Strides Walk, but it turns out that Trevor has his RunHard 5K that morning in Columbia. Keep us posted:)
Thanks Silly—we appreciate all of the Schnabel support and hope Trev has a great run that day! We will miss you!
Hey lady! amazing stuff you are doing and look how big little miss sutton is getting! Please let me know if there is anything that I or ITTC can do to support any of your events!
Thank you Loni! ITTC has a special place in our hearts (and our tummies!) Would love for you to come join us on May 17th at the Great Strides Walk at Ga Tech!
Wow! What a great update! I love the dance marathons By the time Sutton attends all of the University dance-a-thons, my little Suttsy is gonna be choreographing like Cris Judd!
Can’t wait to attend all of the fundraisers and events to support Sutton!
Sutts needs you to come teach her some new dance moves Aunt Cici!