Black Pearl Rosé 2011 vintage, NOW ON SALE!!!!

MEG - OUR LITTLE PEARL NEEDS YOU HELP.
Meg is 4 years old and has spastic Quadreplegic Cerebal Palsy.
We are launching the second release of Meg's rosé wine called Black Pearl.
The idea for this fundraising effort came from winemaker & family friend Eleana Anderson of Mayford Wines (www.mayfordwines.com) who has lovingly donated her time and resources.
This wine is made from donated grapes grown in the Alpine Valleys by Mayford & Michelini wines, (www.micheliniwines.com.au) and bottled with assistance from Ringer Reef Wines (www.ringerreef.com.au) and picked, bottled, labeled and packed by volunteers.
A big, huge thank you to all those who gave their time and assistance.
The rosé was certainly made with love, you can taste it in every bottle!
The funds raised from the sale of this wine will be used for Megs future needs,
including this year the purchase of her first wheelchair.
For sale at Alpine Visitor Centres, in Bright, Mt Beauty & Myrtleford, & Food, Wine, Friends in Bright or print the order form below and we will deliver! Please help us to help Meg. For wine enquiries please email Kate - casleyke@bigpond.com. Enjoy!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Wet weather grape picking

Just wanted to thank all those who turned out today to pick grapes at Ringer Reef Winery - about 15 people braved the wild thunderstorm and we managed to pick about 140 buckets before calling it a wet weather day!
It was lovely chatting amongst the vines and the beautiful merlot grapes donated by Ringer Reef were in abundance.
Eleana Anderson from Mayford wines next door was cranking up the grape crush to get the wine started as we left, she already has last weeks pick fermenting! It's all very exciting - we expect the wine to be bottled in September and available for purchase in November 2010. If you would like to pre order Meg's Black Pearl rose please email me casleyke@bigpond.com - the wine will sell for $15 per bottle or $170 per dozen.
Another picking morning has been called to pick the last 70 or so buckets required on wednrsday 3rd march 2010 at 9am at Ringer Reef Winery Porepunkah any available volunteers would be welcome.

Keep an eye out for the local paper this week!

Thanks again fellow pickers.

Kate


To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Monday, February 22, 2010

Cat's out of the bag!

I hadn't mentioned Minister Tim Holding, and his teams work in assisting with our request to Qantas for our airfares to Germany for Meg's Stem cell therapy because the Minister had not wanted to make a big deal out of it. But for those of you who saw Channel Seven News tonight you would know that the cat is out of the bag!

So now I would publicly like to thank Minister Holding, Vicki, Luke & Steve, all of whom I met at Minister Holding's thank you BBQ held at our venue last year for taking the time to talk, listen and help us in our endeavours to offer Meg the best opportunities in her life time.

It was a very kind thought and we appreciate your on going interest in our battles and our triumphs - we look forward to keeping you up to date with our next stage - Stem Cell treatment!

all our Best wishes

Kate, Jason, Tom & Meg



To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Big thanks to Ringer Reef winery Porepunkah





Bruce & Annett from Ringer Reef winery in Porepunkah - near Bright

www.ringerreef.com.au are generously going to donate some of the Grapes for Meg's Rose this year.

For those who don't know my dear friend Elena Anderson from Mayford wines in Porepunkah www.mayfordwines.com.au. has offered to make Meg 100 doz bottles of Rose to be named "Black pearl" (read back in the blog for the Black Pearl story) each year as an annual fundraiser to help support Meg's ongoing equipment and therapy needs.

The costs to produce the wine were going to come out first, then any profits donated to the MegAid trust. The donation of Grapes means our wine production costs will be substantially reduced.

Along with this, last week a group of local mums got together to actually pick some of the grapes for Meg from Eleana's vineyard, again substantially reducing the production costs for Meg's rose "Black Pearl".



I am so overwhelmed with the generosity and kindness from my community, friends and aquaintances. I cant thank any of you enough, not only for what you are actually doing physically to help and and assist our family, but for the way my heart feels when I am told of yet another amazingly kind and generous offer. It certainly eases our burden knowing that you are all out there doing as much as you can to help our family out, for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.



We will be looking for volunteers to pick the grapes from Ringer Reef soon, anyone who would like to come along for a few hours to chat, laugh & pick you would be most welcome. Please contact me on 0427003125 if you might be able to help.



Kate






To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Hi to all the channel 7 national news viewers

To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Welcome to Meg's Blog all the viewers from Channel Seven National News.

To make it easier for you to navigate this site, please use the navigation bar on the right hand side of the page. Most of the information about Meg, her disability, our plans for her future, the Stem Cell therapy that we are raising funds for are are located in the earlier posts. We use this blog to keep interested people up to date with Meg's progress and to thank all the fabulous people & businesses who have donated to the MegAid trust.

We have raised enough money to get the Germany for our first round of Stem Cell treatment. However our fundraising effort continues as Meg's equipment needs continue to grow, should this treatment prove successfull we may need to return for further treatments, if you would like to donate to the MegAid trust please use the details below.

Thank you for your interest.

The Casley Family.



To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Thanks to Christine Cabone

A lovely surprise when logging in to the MegAid trust account to see a fantastic donation from Christine Carbone (I am not sure who you are Christine) but wish to thank you warmly for your extreemly generous donation of $500.

Only 2 weeks now till we head off to Germany, loads to do and not enough time to do it in. Meg starts back at CPEC this week - we were happy to see that little Sierra Hill (from www.helpsierra.blogspot.com) who has had 2 lots of Stem Cell treatment will be in the same group as us this year.
I am looking forward to getting to know the family better and asking lots of questions.

Meg continues to eat well and even put on 50g since her last weigh in this week, a fantastic effort - we are so proud of our little girl.

I hope to keep you all updated with pur progress while we are away in Germany, so stay tuned.

We hope to buy Meg a specialized stroller whilst in Germany as she is quite unhappy in the one provided to us from the early intervention team - we have been putting up with it for more than a year now.
As the manuafacturer of the one we like is based in Germany, we hope to make quite a saving by buying it whilst over there.

Thanks again Christine, we really appreciate the support we have received so far, it is all of you who have helped with this massive effort that has made this trip a reality for Meg and our family. We couldnt have done it without you and want you all to know from the bottom of our hearts we thankyou all so very much.

Dont forget to spread the word about www.stemcellroundtable.ning.com I have some news from other families who have just had treatment at the Xcell center last week.

Oh and tune in to Channel 7 news this Monday night - they are doing a story on Meg and our trip

all the best
Kate, Meg & Family



To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Birthday Girl - on Feb 14

Our little love angel turned 2 on Valentines day.

Thanks to everyone who donated her birthday present to MegAid - we put another $385 into the trust account to help with Meg's future needs.

Thanks so much everyone who resisted buying Meg a birthday present, putting money into her trust is so much more beneficial as we can use the money to purchase things that are really needed. For example one of her switch toys (specially adapted for disabled use) costs around $200 - 500, not something we as a family can afford to purchase regularly, and she gets bored with them quickly, with the help of the MegAid trust Meg won't miss out on the joy of successfully using her toys.

With the help of the Cerebral Palsy Support Network by way of a $500 grant and Meg's nan.
Meg was given a fully supportive swing for Christmas, the swing cost close to $1000 - the joy on Meg's face when she swings is priceless really, it is wonderfull to be able to give her the same experiences and fun that other kids have, so big hugs and kisses to Nan & a huge thanks to CPSN who run a wonderfull service by offering these grants and help mum to employ Joan Meg's favorite person & carer.

2.5 weeks till take off and counting..... will keep you all informed of our progress.
Keep an ear out too - Channel 7 News will be doing a piece on Meg's stem cell therapy, more details soon.


To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846

Friday, February 12, 2010

New discussion group set up

Hi all - I have had a few people contact me lately through the blog as they too are heading to Germany with their loved ones to try Stem Cell therapy.

We have been lucky enough to actually meet some parents of CP kids who have been and tried the procedure at the XCell center which has given us much needed reassurance and alot of very useful information on the clinic and side effects etc.

So in response to this I have started up a ning group to try and connect all of us parents going through the same thing - www.stemcellroundtable.ning.com
I think it is best that we don't each of us individually try to reinvent the wheel. Researching this sort of procedure is extremely time consuming and confusing, we all go off in our own directions and get Dr's advice and talk to all sorts of different people, I have set this group up to try and bring all that knowledge, information and experience together to help others with their journey.

I hope you might have a look at the group and pass it on to anyone you think might gain something out of it or have something useful to share.

Thanks again everyone.

Kate


New To Donate to MegAid
Bendigo Bank
MegAid Trust
BSB 633000
Acct 137281846