Gratitude Day 880

Psalm 23:6: Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of my life, and I will live forever in your house, Lord.

When a tragedy happens to a family, the family decides their response. Will they take their awful situation, their lemons, and turn it into lemonade that helps someone else?

Jackson Spark’s family were determined to do this. And they have.

Their story is one of heartbreak. Jackson was the 8-year-old son of Sheri and Aaron and younger brother to Tucker. The boys loved baseball. They played in their backyard, on video games and cheered local teams. They also played competitive baseball on their local traveling baseball team, the Waukesha Blazers. When Jackson’s team won the league championship in 2021, he was living every 8-year-old’s dream.

The baseball team marched in the annual Waukesha Christmas Parade in November 2021. Unfortunately, a man driving an SUV plowed through the parade. He stuck participants and bystanders. Both Jackson and Tucker were hit and sustained severe injuries. The Spark’s family believe a miracle of God  saved Tucker’s life. Unfortunately, Jackson was not able to overcome his severe injuries and died three days later.

While going through their darkest moments, the Sparks family never felt alone. In fact, the entire country came together in a special way. Jackson’s mother requested that children attending his funeral wear their baseball jerseys to honor Jackson and his love for baseball. The movement when viral with the #jerseys4jackson social media hashtag. On the day of Jackson’s funeral, thousands of people wore baseball jerseys. People posted photos with “Jerseys of Jackson” banners. Suddenly, an entire community and country were brought together.

The Jackson Sparks Foundation was started in response to the kindness and love the Sparks family felt during their darkest moments. Their mission is to continue the kindness and love and love by granting baseball dreams to kids who need it most.  Their mission is to “make baseball dreams come true” for children who suffer from life-threatening illness, critical injury and loss of an immediate family members. The foundation’s aim is to encourage and instill hope in these children by granting them their baseball dreams.

On their website, the Jackson Spark’s Foundation shares multiple stories of kids who have received bats, catcher’s equipment, jerseys and other baseball equipment to help them achieve their desire to play baseball.

We LOVE this message of kindness and love that grew out of a family’s most difficult moments. The Sparks family is definitely making lemonade from the lemons they have endured. And we think supporting their mission and vision is worthy of being part of Our Monthly Resolution.

We invite you to be a part of the Jackson Spark’s Foundation and support their message of kindness and love during the month of April. Here’s how:

Donate online at:

https://www.jacksonsparksfoundation.org/donate

Mail a donation to:

Jackson Sparks Foundation

PO BOX 115

Mukwonago, WI 53149

Their EIN Number is: 87-4380685

If you prefer to support a local baseball team in your area, this would also be a great way to show kindness and love to kids who love baseball!

Moving beyond a difficult tragedy isn’t easy. Hats off to the Sparks family for finding a way to honor their son, do good for others and make lemonade out of an awful situation.

For this wonderful example of kindness and love, I am grateful.

Blessings –

Dianne

Holy God – Thank you for surrounding the Sparks family with kindness and love when they lost their son, Jackson. May others who are going through difficult and challenging time also experience these same feelings. We ask that donations made towards this non-profit organization will truly bring kindness and love to other families who desperately need it. Amen.  

If you have enjoyed this blog, please pass it along to someone else who will.