Thanks to your assistance, we will be able to continue doing the following:
 
· Bring meals 3 times a month to Dell Children’s Hospital
· Grant Arturo’s “Make A Wish” to Disney World
· Continue as the main sponsor of the teenage youth group at Dell Children’s Hospital “The Hungry Bunch”
· Support the Leukemia Lymphoma Society
· Support the His Grace Foundation
· Put on the Christmas Eve Party at Dell Children’s Hospital

I hope you had a great day playing golf and I hope that you will come back next year. We will be setting next year’s golf date soon and we will keep you updated

Our goal is to help the children who are cancer patients, and their families who are right now fighting a similar battle at the new Dell Children’s Hospital here in Austin, Texas. The foundation currently does the following:

We provide and serve meals to the families on the cancer unit at the Dell Children’s Hospital on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Wednesday of each month. This has turned into something special for these families and for us too! We feed between 30 to 45 people each week.

Each year, we grant a “Make A Wish” for a local child that is battling cancer here in central Texas. Last year, we granted Yazmin’s wish to go to New York with her family to shop, and then on to a special treat to see the “Rockettes” perform.

We are the main sponsor for the teenage youth group “The Hungry Bunch”. They do great work at Dells Children’s Hospital that include monthly activities outside the hospital like their big camping trip each year. Jennifer loved “The Hungry Bunch” and we are proud to help these folks.

On Christmas Eve we serve a special Christmas meal for our ‘families’ on the oncology unit. Last year we served 21 families, as well as the nursing staff totaling over 70 people. They enjoyed a wonderful steak, chicken, and shrimp dinner.

Also on Christmas Eve, we give each patient and their siblings a stuffed stocking and $100 worth of presents. We have the parents filled out a form before Christmas, giving us ideas of what the children need or want for Christmas. Using this list, we go shopping. Last year we helped 47 children!

In 2009, our goals also include helping to support “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society” and “His Grace Foundation”.

We know that Jennifer is in heaven looking down on each of us and smiling in approval! Please join us in extending your helping hand as well.

– Tim and Mary Wilks for the “Jennifer Wilks Foundation” –

“The Mountain”
-When the task at hand is a mountain in front of you, it may seem hard to climb.
But you don’t have to climb it all at once-just one step at a time.
Take one small step…and one small step…then another…and you will find-
the task at hand, that was a mountain in front of you…
is a mountain you have climbed….

(a favorite poem of Jennifer’s she wished to share with all on her website)

Mary and I understand firsthand how special this is for the child, sibling, and for the parents.

So please look over the Donor Levels and together let’s put a smile on the kids faces this Christmas.

We also raised enough money through the Jennifer Wilks Foundation website to give each cancer patient and their siblings a stuffed stocking and $100 worth of presents. Before Christmas we had the parents fill out a form telling us what each child wanted/needed for Christmas and we went shopping. We helped 47 children!

Other great things in 2008 – granted Yazmin her Make A Wish and she went to New York with her family to go shopping and see the Rocketts.

Became the main sponsors for the Hungry Bunch group. The Hungry Bunch is the teenage group at the Dell Children’s Hospital. They do monthly activities outside the hospital and they have a big camping trip each year. Jennifer loved the Hungry Bunch and we are proud to help.

We are bringing meals to the cancer unit at the Dell Children’s Hospital on the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th Wednesday each month. I would like to thank Jason’s Deli, Bush’s Chicken and Bill Millers BBQ for helping us with the meals. This has turned into something special for Mary and me.

At the 3rd Annual Jennifer Wilks Golf Tournament in April we raised just over $32,000. We had over 140 golfers and this allowed us to give back to the charities that kept a smile on Jennifer’s face. We also donated to His Grace Foundation and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

2009 will be a great year for the Foundation. Mark your calendars for the Golf Tournament on April 24th. It’s getting BIG…we are going for 288 golfers this year! We will have 7:30am and 1:30pm tee times. Sign-ups will start in January.

I know that Jennifer is in heaven and looking down on each of us and smiling.

Thanks and God Bless,
Tim, Mary, Timmy and Elaine

Jennifer Wilks should have graduated from Vista Ridge High School last May and should be enjoying her freshman year of college. Those moments to be vanished when Jennifer lost her battle with cancer on Nov. 25, 2005.

Jennifer spent three years of her short life fighting Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She had three bone marrow transplants, endured several rounds of chemotherapy and spent over 400 days in the hospital.

During the time Jennifer spent battling leukemia, she and her family received much support from charities such as the “Make-A-Wish Foundation”, which granted Jennifer’s wish to take a Disney cruise.

After Jennifer’s passing, her family decide to find a way to give back to the charities that helped them so much. Tim Wilks, Jennifer’s father, said he wanted to help support and give back to the charities that helped bring a smile to Jennifer’s face.

Though Jennifer passed away over two years ago, her memory and her smile that inspired everyone around her still live on today through the work of the Jennifer Wilks Foundation.

So far, the Jennifer Wilks Foundation has granted a wish through Make-A-Wish for a child to go to Disney World, given money to Camp Discovery and Camp Grey Dove – camps for children with cancer and their siblings – and given financial support to families through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“The community has always supported us and we felt this was our way to give back”, said Wilks.

This next week will be a tough week for the Wilks family but it’s nice to have great friends and the support of kind words from YOU! We have the gravesite looking nice and we will be there often the next couple of weeks. Tim II is coming home for Thanksgiving and it will be great to see him and have the family together during this tough time. Mary and I are taking pies down to the PICU on Thursday to say thanks to the Doctors and Nurses for all their help last year and just say thanks for what they do each and everyday, helping kids.

We are very proud of Tim and Elaine, Tim is doing well in college and has a part-time internship with ESPN radio in Lufkin TX. He’s playing rugby and is looking forward to getting into a good internship at the end of the school year. He also has a very nice girlfriend and her name is Tiffany. She will be going to Kansas City with us over the Christmas holiday. Elaine is working 2 jobs and doing well in school. She is taking some classes next semester that will count as college credits. She has not decided on what college yet (she still has time) but with the classes she’s taking she will have 12 college credit hours before she starts college. She’s still thinking of becoming a nurse and helping kids! She has been volunteering with a Miracle League baseball team for children with special needs.

Mary and I just want to help make it a little easier for families and with the new children’s hospital opening next year we are going to find a way to help cancer kids while they’re in the hospital. Again, I would like to thank everyone that helped out in the golf tournament back in May. We raised just over $16,000 for the charities that are helping children and their families while they are battling their fight with cancer. I hope that you are ready for a bigger and better tournament next April.

Well, from Mary and I we would like to wish you and your family a great Thanksgiving and thanks for all you thoughts and prayers.

God bless
Tim

Because of YOU we raised just over $16,500….. WOW!!!! This money will go straight to the 5 charities that helped put a smile on Jennifer face during her battle with leukemia. Those charities are: His Grace Foundation, Make a Wish, American Cancer Society, Candlelighters (Any Baby Can) and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

We had 88 golfers that played and we had a clear and beautiful weather all day. We will soon have pictures on this site of all the golfers and the fun that they had.

We would like to thank Advance Auto Parts, FLOOR KING, RG TATE & Associates, and AT&T for being the main sponsors of the event. THANKS!

We also had 15 hole sponsors that help make the event a special day. THANKS AGAIN!

We are looking forward to next year and it will be BIGGER and BETTER. So get READY everyone and tell your friends.

Here’s an update on the family. Mary is back to work part time and is doing OK. Timmy is out of school and home for the summer. He is going to take some summer classes at ACC and work full time. Elaine is working 2 part time jobs (just like her Dad growing up) and is driving. School is out this week and she is looking forward to summer and working at camp. That’s 3 jobs!!!! That’s my girl! We all have our good day and bad days. We just have to think of the great times that we all had together as a family.

Thanks and God Bless
Tim

note: the above entry is a copy originally posted on our ‘Caring Bridge’ website.