Letter from the President/Co-Founder:
This month marks the 2-year anniversary of CTI’s official launch. It has been nothing short of amazing to see how God is working in our lives and the lives of those we serve. We continue to be humbled by the people that have supported CTI and we are blessed to have played a small part in so many families transplant journeys. None of this would be possible without you, so from all of us at CTI,  THANK YOU for your never-ending love and support. Together, we are making a difference!

It is hard to believe that 2019 is a little more than half over – the first half of the year has proven to be more than we could ask for. Please keep CTI in your prayers, but more importantly, the kids and their families that we serve. Thanks again, and may God bless each and every one of you.

Blessings,
FUNDRAISING
A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that has helped with fundraising, whether sponsoring or volunteering – you all continue to make a tremendous impact! Here is what has happened so far this year:
2019 Kruse Classic Clay Shoot and VIP Gala
Cory and Catherine Kruse approached us at the end of 2018 to see if we would be interested in having them bring back their highly successful Kruse Classic Clay Shoot with CTI as the beneficiary (Umm, YES!), in lieu of CTI hosting their 2nd annual clay shoot. They also wanted to hold a VIP gala the night before at Grace’s on Kirby – both events were magical, I could write a book about them, but suffice to say that they were 2 days that we will never forget. Cory and Catherine are simply amazing, we love them dearly. A genuine heartfelt thank you to the Kruse Classic Board, donors, volunteers, shooters, the amazing event sponsors, and everyone that participated to help these events become a tremendous success. These events allowed us to open another hospitality apartment to offer to fellow pediatric transplant families as they come from out of town to continue their transplant journey.
Texas Independence Relay
Our good friend from college, Sam Pennington, is a runner, and runs events with a team known as the “Rowdy Loafers”. The TIR is a 200-mile race that starts in Gonzales and ends in downtown Houston. The Rowdy Loafers have been gracious enough to raise funds through sponsorships and donate to CTI – these guys and gals are incredible, I’m not sure I could even run to the end of my driveway…thanks Rowdy Loafers!

A heartfelt thank you to the following organizations for creating fundraisers to benefit CTI:
  • Tupperware, Janice Yetter
  • The Church at Creeks End (Awana and VBS Programs)
  • Arbonne, Ellen Payne & Holly Greco
  • Fit Body Gourmet, Heather Leal
  • The numerous birthday fundraisers through Facebook
Amazon Smile
Thank you to everyone that has chosen CTI as your charity of choice – every purchase you have made has supported the families we serve. If you do not have a charity of choice but would like to help the CTI families when you buy on Amazon, simply shop at  https://smile.amazon.com and choose Children’s Transplant Initiative as your charity of choice.

Giving Partners
We want to give a sincere thank you to our monthly giving partners.  Your continuous support allows us to continue give to transplant families in need.  If you would like to commit to helping us serve children and their families, please click the link below and sign up to be a monthly giving partner.  
"R" Rooms Housing Program
CTI’s “R Rooms” hospitality housing program continues to grow – we currently operate (4) fully furnished, 2 bed/2 bath hospitality apartments that families from out of town stay in free of charge. We are thrilled that guest families keep all four apartments occupied. None of this would be possible without the huge hearts of our dear friends at Express Corporate Housing who sponsor 3 of the 4 apartments.  

This has been an amazing stepping stone to our vision of someday operating a pediatric transplant hospitality house called “Kimmy’s Kottage”. 

In The News
A huge blessing this past May was when the Houston Chronicle did a story on CTI. Here is the link to the online version.

This was some great exposure, a HUGE thank you to the Chronicle as well as Texas Children’s Hospital for making this possible. We even had a gentleman who read the article reach out from an organization that provides grants to various nonprofits with an interest in supporting CTI. 
CTI Families Update
The heart of CTI is our fellow pediatric transplant families that we serve.  With referrals from our social worker partners, we continue to offer mentoring support, financial support and housing.  We love hearing updates on “our” kids and being able to share in their victories as well as being extra support to them during difficult times. We thank all our prayer warriors who continue to pray for these special families. 
Community Partners
LifeGift – Several members of the CTI family are “Ambassadors of Hope” with LifeGift, the designated organ procurement organization for North, Southeast, and West Texas. We were honored to have their support at the Kruse Classic and to have them join us this past April at 2 Houston Astro’s games where we signed up a number of new organ donors. They are an amazing group of people with huge hearts and we look forward to participating in their Second Chance Run this fall.  To learn more about LifeGift, please visit  www.lifegift.org . 
The Living Bank – Another outstanding organization we are honored to partner with, The Living Bank advances living organ donation to confront the shortage of organs needed for life-saving transplants. Thanks to the incredible team for welcoming us into the Living Bank family. To learn more about The Living Bank, please visit  https://www.livingbank.org . 
Hunt with Heart - We were blessed to be introduced to Jim and Jo Anne Elzner earlier this year, they run a nonprofit called Hunt With Heart, whose mission is to empower and enhance the lives of young people battling life threatening illnesses through unforgettable outdoor experiences. They do amazing work, and we were honored to be invited out to their amazing ranch to see what they do. So happy to partner with this incredible organization! To learn more about Hunt with Heart, please visit  www.huntwithheart.org . 
Texas Children’s Hospital – CTI has had close to 60 families referred to us through the TCH social workers, we are so grateful for each and every one of them, we look forward to growing this relationship.
Children's Transplant Initiative | www.cti-tx.org