On July 11th and 12th 2009, we held our 1st Annual “Rope for the Cure” benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). With your help, we raised $9600.20. What an awesome thing we all accomplished. We are truly amazed at the outpouring of support, donations of time and money, and contributions to the silent auction and concessions.

We had the silent auction on the first day of the roping. It was hot…103 degrees. But that didn’t stop anyone. We raised almost $2600 on the silent auction alone! A one-day private lesson with professional team roper, Cory Koontz, went for $1000. Thank you Cory! We had hamburgers, cooked by George and his crew from Bell Helicopter. Both days, we drew people in from the stands for an egg toss with Texas Roadhouse gift certificates to the winners. “ Bounty steers” in each roping netted the ropers additional prizes if they drew and caught that steer. Handmade buckles, made by Joe Barela, went to the winners of each roping and Cactus Saddlery donated a saddle for the high money winner, congratulations to Brandon Brown for winning the saddle. We all worked hard, but we had a lot of fun. Knowing that all the proceeds went to a great cause made all the work worthwhile. 

When Chance was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes last year, we were shocked to say the least! What do we do? How do we do this? As parents, we have no option. We continue to love and support him each day. We do as the doctors say. We learn as much as we can each day. And we never give up!! We do what we have to do to help find a cure. It will happen, and when it does, we can hold our heads high and know that we made a difference!