Dear Families:

On June 21, 2010 a little boy named Matthew stood at the front door of Kinderseeds at 2:50pm with a big grin on his face, telling me how he was so excited to grow bigger so he could ride on the bus to his big school in September. I gave him a big hug and watched his proud face as his mommy strapped him into the back seat of the car with his baby brother. That sweet little face is still in my head… Matthew, baby Christopher and Mommy Trish were in a car accident on Hwy 6. Matthew died just mere minutes after leaving Kinderseeds that day.

Matthew loved his firefighter rubber boots. He wore them rain or shine and he made sure that he jumped in EVERY puddle he could. With Matthew as our inspiration, we developed National Puddle Day! National Puddle Day 2012 will be on Thursday, April 26^th. This is a day to honour those children whose lives were cut short and to raise funds to support a local charity, Bereaved Families of Ontario-Hamilton/Burlington, the only local community resource that provides free grief support programming specifically for families who have experienced the death of a child of any age.

How to Get Involved
1. On April 26th each child and adult will wear their rubber boots to school or work and join in the fun of jumping in the puddles.
2. We ask that schools get involved by asking their students to help fundraise to add to our donation to Bereaved Families of Ontario-Hamilton/Burlington. This could be done many different ways i.e. A Jump a Thon, make any amount of donation and jump in a puddle, using our pledge form students could collect donations or even just jump and have fun. Whatever you think would be best for each school.
3. Hamilton Police Officers would like to come to the participating schools and jump with the children at some point throughout their event. Please let us know if you would like to add this special feature so we can make the necessary arrangements with the Police Department.
4. Rubber boots make puddles more fun! Consider organizing a rubber boot drive by donating outgrown rubber boots to National Puddle Day. We will share them with other kids who can enjoy them.

I would be pleased to meet with you to discuss this event further. You can contact me by calling Kinderseeds at 905-679-5437 or by emailing me at kinderseeds@hotmail.com .

Sincerely,
Sherri Crechiola
Owner of Kinderseeds and National Puddle Day Founder