Why These Fundraisers?

Once I knew we would move forward with a scholarship, I started going through their art for inspiration. Nolan’s grandfather is a designer and screen-printer, meaning we could make shirts affordably. He had already digitized Nolan’s “Go Vols” banner from his last birthday party (a Vols watch party). We were toying with making shirts for the family for the upcoming college football season. Doing this project meant that not only could I express that love for my son, but his grandfather could too. We would be able to pour that unexpressed love into something that would impact lives, honor his legacy, and to be honest, look really cool too.  I started to think of other ideas, and landed on four to five ideas before we even got the financial logistics properly started. 

In order to make these fundraisers efficient, something we would enjoy, and to be able to spread the most love, I made up a set of rules for the fundraisers:

1. We include local partners as often as we can, pay them their regular rates, and support local business. 

2. They have to be easy. Nothing that requires a lot of people to undertake. 

3. They can’t be sad. 

These new ideas all followed the rules I initially set out. We also planned to use his signature that he signed all of his art with to signify that it was an original fundraiser for his scholarship. It was fun to find ways to include local partners, expressing our love and their creativity, and provide a positive outlet for the pain and grief that we faced. 

Rule #1 was pretty easy to come up with. I love supporting local businesses. I think, in part, it's because you're using your dollars to financially help your community directly. You can see and interact with the business owners that you're supporting. The money goes right back into the community, and it gives us more options than just large corporations. During Covid, I even did silly gift card giveaways if you shared a post about how a local business was functioning with the shutdown (different hours, how to pick-up, etc.). At that time, I just didn't want any of our friends to lose that dream of theirs in the downturn. Working with local partners means they know how much this means to us, and how much they mean to us. Because, yes, we can order bracelets, shirts, stickers, and cups from much cheaper vendors online that may not offer the same quality. But as I team up with people to create these projects with love and care, I end up working with people that also knew Courtney and Nolan or know of our story and are happy to play a part in this. That means the world.

Rule #2 came out of not wanting to be overwhelmed or a burden. I'm not an event planner, and I also don't want to ask people to volunteer for this. Our community has already done so much for us, and I want this to be as stress-free as possible. We'll do pop-ups and pick-ups, but we want this to be enjoyable for everyone involved.

Rule #3 comes from practical experience. Cemetery monuments have come a long way with technology. As we worked out how that would look, I didn't have a great time helping with a rough mockup. I hated getting the dates together, and just the overwhelming sadness that came with the finality of it. So, as I worked on designs for this fundraiser, I decided I'd leave those dates and sad quotes out of it. Thankfully, some wonderful people had already made a shirt with the dates, and I believe they took the best approach to making those shirts as life and love filled as they could by including so many things that Nolan loved written into the shape of the letters of his name. I own two of those "In Memory of Nolan" shirts that I treasure and wear often. This meant we didn't need to retread that ground, especially as we got further away from the time of the accident. We intend to highlight things they loved, or art they created, etc.

We hope you enjoy what we're creating, and hang on for the ride, because we have more to come.