Mr. Battle Ground

Last December, John got selected to be a "Sparrow Child" by Sparrow Clubs USA.   This is an organization that matches up kids in need with schools that are looking to do some fundraising.  John got matched up with Battle Ground high school.
The kids at BGHS have been working hard for months to put together a talent competition for 10 graduating seniors.  I've talked about the other fundraisers in previous posts, but last night was the actual Mr. Battle Ground competition which is what everything has been leading up to.
Wow, is all I can say!
When we got there it was quite a surprise to see that the auditorium seemed to be almost completely full.
John can't sit through a show, so we brought Yumi with us to watch John.  They got to hang out in the locker room in the back where the contestants were doing all their prep for their performances.
Yoshie, Maya, my mom, and I got front row seats for the show.
It was apparent right from the opening dance that a LOT of planning and practicing went in to this show.  It was very entertaining, and the kids had fun showing off their talents and doing group dances.
Just before intermission, they showed a video where each of the contestants talked a little about John.  Then John was introduced to the crowd.  I gave my thank you's and John even did a good job saying "Thank you" in his own way.

During intermission, everyone in the crowd had a chance to vote for their favorite contestant by putting money into boxes that the contestants had made.  Here is one of them:

My mom had a whole handful of money that we put into the boxes of our favorites.
After this, they had a formal wear show where we learned where each of the guys was going to college.  Then they announced the winners of the people's choice and the judges choice.
After that, there were lots of pictures:

It's incredible, but somehow they raised over $6800 for John through the Sparrow Club!!  We never imagined that they would be able to raise that much money.  It kind of left us in shock.

Thank you to all of the students and staff at Battle Ground HS for making this happen.  That was a night to remember!  And, the money raised will be enough for us to purchase the special tandem that we've been eyeing for years.   I'm sure John will love it!

Here is a picture of us with Taylor.  She was the director of the show and was the driving force behind this whole thing.  

Taylor, thank you to you and all of your helpers for making this such an incredible experience for us!