Project creator: Shauna Ahern
Hashtag: #afundforjennie
How it works: There are a few ways you can help.
- You can donate directly to Bloggers Without Borders using any of our donate badges. All donations received will go toward #afundforjennie, unless otherwise specified by the donor in the comments section of their transaction.
- You can bid on an auction. Auction proceeds go toward #afundforjennie. Most auctions are hosted in the offering blogger’s site. For a list of available auctions, see the auction gallery page here. Just click on any auction’s description to jump to that auction page on the blogger’s site.
- Help us spread the word about #afundforjennie! There’s strength in numbers, friends.
Launch date: 22 August 2011 (Promotion for the campaign will end on Monday, 29 August 2011, at 12 noon PST.)
Mission: To create a fund for Jennifer Perillo and her two girls, ages 3 and 8, giving them financial support during this difficult time.
Project page: Visit our ever-growing roundup page of auction items and links!
From Shauna:
“As you can imagine, Jennie is overwhelmed not only by her grief, and the sudden responsibility of raising two children by herself, but she is also struggling with this financially. She just learned that she cannot collect widow’s benefits from Social Security because she earns too much money each year. The health insurance for her and her kids runs out in December and she just learned that the total she will have to pay will be more than her mortgage. It’s possible she’ll have to pay off the entire mortgage in one lump sum because the apartment was in his name alone.
And more than anything, Mikey wanted Jennie to continue living her dream of being a food writer. And he wanted to make sure his kids were taken care of well. That’s why he worked as hard as he did.”
This fund will help Jennie to do just that: to continue to work and take care of the girls with some peace of mind.
Project description: Funds will be raised through several online auctions hosted by individual bloggers on their own sites. (Please contact the blogger hosting the auction you are interested in for details about his or her auction.) The proceeds will then be donated to #afundforjennie. Bloggers will also write posts about the campaign which will include the Bloggers without Borders Paypal badge. If you would like to use our donation badge on your own site, please feel free to do so! You can grab the code here. (All current donations automatically go toward the #afundforjennie campaign, unless otherwise indicated in the transaction. 100% of the proceeds of this campaign will go toward #afundforjennie.)
Main contact person: Shauna at glutenfreegirl@gmail.com
36 Responses to Project Summary: A Fund for Jennie
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What a wonderful cause, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
What a beautiful gesture for you to initiate! Jennifer is lucky to have you and the rest of the food community watching her back. I’m in ! Looking forward to hearing more details of how I can help, in my own small way.
I’m in! Thanks for the update. LOoking forward to more details about this campaign.
Whatever I may do to assist in ANY aspect, I am in!!
Peas Out!
~Cameron
I definitely want to be involved in this and can’t wait to receive further instructions on how I can help.
Thanks for helping us help :–)
I agree! What a beautiful gesture! I would love to participate and look forward to hearing more details on how I can help. Thank you!
Losing a husband is hard enough without having the stress of financial concerns added to the mix. I’m all in.
I am happy to participate by baking for the auction. Please keep us posted!
Have you been in touch with food52 to ask them to promote this? editors@food52.com with a cc to Amanda Hesser.
Like many food bloggers, I don’t know Jenny personally, but have been moved by her situation, and more importantly, by her strength. I’m in – for her, and for her beautiful daughters, who may not yet realize what an amazing mom they have.
This is a great cause… I’m so sorry for the nightmare that Jennie is going through. I don’t know her, but, as a wife, know that losing a spouse would be the worst thing in the world… Financial worries should not be around to complicate matters even more… So sad.
As someone who also makes an inkling too much money to receive benefits, but not enough to afford insurance since I had to quit working full time after a car accident. I know there are charities (state-run and through individual hospitals/clinics) that can provide insurance… Especially for children and mothers. Here is one link for NY state: http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/chplus/
I receive insurance through a charity at my local hospital, which enables me to vist doctors that are associated with the hospital. Most of the charities run on a sliding scale, so even if Jennie makes 50k a year, they would provide enough support to make insurance affordable for her family.
I wish I could help by giving money, but since I can’t, I hope this helps a little. I am available to walk Jennie, or anyone, through the process of getting the help one needs to afford insurance.
My heart is with Jennie and her family, and the great group of generous bloggers out there who made, and support, this cause.
Robin
My heart goes out to Jennie. I donated and would also donate a 2 year subscription to my meal planning service to the auction.
Let’s do this! I’m looking forward to being part of this. Thanks Shauna for the opportunity & idea.
I’m in..let me know what I can do to help.
Tweeted, Facebooked, and posted badge on page! Thanks for taking this on!
I would gladly bid on someone coming to my NYC apt and teaching me how to make two quinoa dishes (I will provide all ingredients, we would discuss flavors and ingredients in advance; my kids are picky and every time I make this quinoa it comes out very very mushy)
Hi A! Have you seen this auction? http://nomnivorous.com/2011/08/22/a-fund-for-jennie/
Hi – can we get more information about the specifics of this fundraiser? For example, if I won an auction for $5,000, what would my money go to? And if I were to travel somewhere or someone were to travel to me, would I be paying for air fare, food, etc? Or would the blogger? Or would it come out of the bid?
Also, at what point in the process would I be obligated to pay? When would I commit to paying? I understand bids must be made in good faith, but with no rules stipulated, I feel a bit lost.
Mostly, I want to know where my money’s going. What percent goes to this organization, and what percent goes to Ms. Perillo? And would Ms Perillo receive a lump sum to do what she pleases at her discretion, or is going directly to a specific fund?
Thanks for your time! I am interested in helping but want to feel a bit more comfortable since we’re talking about relatively large sums of money (at least for me, it would be).
Hi Jen! Check your email, I sent you a response!
Would it be possible to make that information public on the site rather than emailing it to individuals?
Also, is there one place where all these auction items are listed? I have read tweets here and there for various things but I don’t always have time at the moment to compare and contrast and decide which one I might want to bid on. Then later I can’t remember where or what they all were.
Hi Dennis! Here is a summary of my response to Jen:
The fundraiser is basically two-fold: folks can either encourage people to donate directly to BwoB, or host auctions to raise funds. Since individual bloggers run their own auctions, the auction and payment terms will vary from blogger to blogger. (For a continually-updating list of #afundforjennie auctions, you can visit this page: http://www.bloggerswoborders.org/afundforjennie-auction-list/.)
ALL funds raised in this campaign (yes, 100%) will go to Jennie and her girls. It will be up to her to decide how to use the funds.
Hope that answers any questions you may have!
I want to thank you so much for organizing a way for us to help. I have been looking for a way to lend my support to Jennie and her girls.
The Everyday Southwest Sisters have their heads together finalizing our offering to the auction and will add it to the round up as soon as possible.
I have been so moved by her story, though I don’t know her. I’m the food-policy blogger at Wired and have put up a post and the donation button at my personal Tumblr:
http://germgirl.tumblr.com/post/9307395603/not-about-diseases-for-once-a-fund-for-jennie.
This is why you have got to have life insurance. Every day I hassle my partner to get it.
I’ve got it and it will go to my girls if anything happens to me
Husband still refusing to get it.
If you have children you need to make sure you have life insurance. Happy as I am to donate I cannot imagine for now the blogging community is going to raise the estimated $600k they are going to need.
Unless we make it clear exactly what they do need and get some advertising peeps on side.
I know recently after the London riots a guy called Aaron raised £35k from good publicity by BBH London.
Well. Good luck. I will give my bit and help spread the word.
I just donated part of my service fee for tomorrows client to the fund for Jennie and her girls. My heart breaks for them. I was widowed at 45, but had no children plus a safety net of insurance. This is wonderful and I hope we can create a safety net for Jennie and her beautiful girls as she learns to live without Mikey. May God bless them.
I love that you are doing this – thank you! I am trying to determine how to place a bid. (Maybe my caffeine hasn’t kicked in yet!) Can you clear it up for me, and maybe others, who can’t quite figure it out? Thanks!
Hi Elizabeth! It’s really simple. Just find an auction that you’re interested in (you can see a list of the auctions in this #afundforjennie auction gallery page—click on the description and it will take you to the auction page). Each blogger will have his or her own rules and conditions, and if you have any questions about a particular item, the best person to ask would be the blogger who is running the auction. Hope that helps!
OK, never mind my question above. But the site is a bit confusing because only Penny De Los Santos’s auction has a separate post, right? I thought from tha that each would be a separate post but obviously that’s not the case.
I am in too! Check out our listing on Etsy (BlueHandMedia.Etsy.com). We will sell as many as possible with the proceeds going to Jennie and the girls.
Thank you so much, I have been wondering if there were anything tangible I could do to help.
Although I’ve never met Jennie, my heart breaks for her and her daughters and I’m reminded that life is far too fragile to take for granted. Kudos to BWOB for bringing together the donors and bidders on each and every one of these amazing items, I’m honored to be part of this amazing food blogging community.
My sons were 5 and 9 when my husband, also our chief bread-winner, died. You mention Jenny’s social security issues, but not the girls’. They can collect, regardless of her income. We found that money to make a huge difference in our lifestyle.
I do not know what provisions Mr. Perillo had in place for his family–and would not add to Jenny’s grief by suggesting he could or should have done something differently. I will say, for those of you reading this with young children, buy life insurance. Get 20-year term; a policy for several hundred thousand should run less than $400 a year–just over $1 a day.
Question: This is a tax deductible donation?
Jennie may not qualify for SS survivor benefits, but her children definitely do. My prayers, thoughts & love go to this family during this difficult time.
So can you post a follow-up for the contributors? Did Jennie pay off her house?