Let me introduce you to the winners of our Dare to Dream Contest:

Meet Tracy Smith,* name changed to keep anonymous a teacher-librarian and mother of two beautiful daughters from Kelowna BC, Canada. We knew the first time we read her dream that we wanted to be a part of making it come true.

Let us share her dream with you:
"Having a daughter with disabilities has helped me to grow as a person, strengthened my marriage, and provided friends and family with the opportunity to show their ability to love unconditionally. For as long as I can remember, I have tried my best to help others through fund raising, volunteering, and even adopting strays, but now that I have a daughter with special needs, my focus has shifted to prioritizing my efforts around childrens health. My husband and I both help our schools sponsor a tree for the Festival of Trees each fall benefiting the BC Childrens Hospital, we make a monthly donation to BCCH, and we participate in the Child Run too. What really inspires me is the strength of other families of children with disabilities because not everyone has the fortune of two working parents to help with the financial stress.

My oldest daughter has a variety of disabilities and has spent over 3 weeks at BC Childrens, but without a diagnosis, we can’t make a prognosis for her future. We are hoping that she will learn to eat at some point and that she will be able to integrate in school, but she is currently 100% tube fed and is developmentally about 18 months old, though she is actually 3 years. It can be sad to see her struggle to interact with other children, but then I think of a little girl named Brigid Kidd, and I know that I have so much to be thankful for. Brigid was born about 6 weeks after my daughter, and when the girls were about one year-old, her mother, Allison, and I started frequenting some disability boards on the internet. Allison’s strength in the face of Brigid’s struggles has helped me to keep in mind how lucky I am that my daughter's health is not nearly as bad. Brigid’s father is unemployed, her mother has back troubles, and her older brother, Reggie, also has some health issues. Brigid is fighting for her life, and it has been extremely sad for her family to watch as Brigid has lost skills. For those of us with disabled children, the worse fear is a loss of skill since that generally means a very scary future prognosis. Sadly, this is true for Brigid, and it is uncertain if she will even make it to her fourth birthday this fall. Therefore, my dream would be to purchase one or more gifts from Brigid’s wish list which can be found at: http://www.wishcentral.com/guest.php?AOBGkptZWNPdg=10763.

You can also read their blog: http://whispereddreamforbrigid.blogspot.com/."
Help us help Brigid by hosting a party, it can even be an online party. 10% of all sales will go to purchase items for Brigid. Each hostess also has the opportunity to donate their hostess benefits to helping raise the money for Brigid’s wish list. Dare to Be will donate 10% from online purchases, just add Brigid’s name in the comment box.

"I, and Brigid / her family, appreciate the help that you have given and continue to give. Thank you again for all your help with Brigid! I'm so glad that I got in touch with you." ~ Tracy*

"I am beside myself with your generosity - things, as you can see by the blog, have been trying, and to have you appear and offer this support is humbling. Thanks so much to you and your customers. You are truly a good woman. Thank you so very much." ~ Allison, Brigid's mom

Now let me introduce Diane Baum of West Bloomfield Mi. Diane is an amazing woman, a successful mom, wife, and teacher. Her greatest dream is that she can be a good parent, wife, friend and most of all in her own way to make a small difference in the world. “My exact dream, as corny as this may seem is to try to make the world a little better, nicer or a safer place.” When we met Diane through our Dare to Dream contest we felt she was already living her dream of making a difference; here are just some of the ways she already is making change happen: teaching an ESL Conversation group and encouraging them to do community service, such as a food and book drive, is a member of WISDOM; a group composed of women of many faiths working together for peace. She has also coordinated a weekend homeless shelter, delivered and prepared meals to home bound seniors and the poor, has organized a book drive for a Detroit school. She has dedicated time to being a telephone counselor for the Alzheimer Association and has volunteered with the Million Mom March, now known as a part of the Brady Campaign to make the world a safer place. Diane has also spent her time speaking with families in her county about the process of adoption as she has two sons, both adopted from Colombia who are now both attending college. We will be assisting Diane on putting together an action plan and turning her ideas and passion into action. We are very excited to help Diane to continue living her dream to make a difference in the world.

"Once again, thank you for your kind e-mails and thank you for all your support." ~Diane

Now I would like to introduce Skena Mohamed Megahed. Skena is a 20 year old young woman who lives with her family in Egypt. She is studying English at a local university and her dream career is “to be a journalist or a translator or maybe both.” Skena’s interests for learning the English language go beyond her career goals she also enjoys using her skills to break down the barriers that exist between those living in Egypt and others around the world. She wants to know more about other people around the world. Through her writings she found that many people still think that Egypt is a Pharaoh’s desert full of sand and that they still use camels for transportation. Skena tells her pen pals about modern Egypt and their society. The knowledge she gains about other places in the world she shares with those around her. She feels that this isn’t a big deal, but we know that sometimes it is the simple things in life that make the biggest difference. We know that with understanding and knowledge comes respect and acceptance and these are attributes the world needs right now. In her own words, “I only try to break the idea of being afraid of others and to prove that I can have good friends from all over the world regardless of the different languages we speak and the long distances between us.” Another part of her dream is to travel so she can actually speak English face to face as she has never had the opportunity to speak English with a non-Arabic speaker before. With modern technologies we will be able to have Skena speaking face to face with ourselves and others as well as providing opportunities for her to share her stories and thoughts with the world through her writing. We are excited to continue working with Skena to develop her abilities and provide opportunities to be a journalist and bring the world a little closer.

"Thanks a lot, it's so generous of you to help me to publish my articles. I have to thank you so much for this opportunity and for your time. You really helped me to discover things in myself because I didn't have any idea that I had these things inside me." ~ Skena


We have learned through this contest that many of us have stopped dreaming, or atleast have stopped believing in our dreams. This is why Dare to Be focuses on Dare to be a dreamer; we want to awaken those dreams and inspire you to make them happen. We can make our dreams a reality, sometimes they may not happen just as we thought but when we hold a dream close to our heart there will be a door open, a path discovered, or a connection made that will help us all live the lives we always dreamed of. Believe in yourself and your dreams!