Dream

It began as a nightmare. Two beautiful children had died in two years of Infant Leukemia. Beyond all imagination, lightning struck this young family twice. Along the way, many tears and countless hours of anguish wore away at the hearts and soul of Erin and Jeff. But they would not be defeated – even by the deaths of their beloved children.

During the two years they spent in and out of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), they encountered many other families who were immersed in their own similar, personal nightmares. They became painfully aware of the needs of a family who struggles with the day to day life of a chronically ill child through first hand experience. Rather than becoming detached from the cruel reality of life, they chose to fight back in the only way they could. They decided to reach out to others.

Although they were emotionally spent and financially devastated, they looked for a way that they could reach out and help others who were now in the same place that they had been for more than two years. Erin had a dream. She had a dream to take the unimaginable pain of the loss of two children and channel it into the loving support of other embattled parents. Her dream was contagious and soon others began looking for ways to make this dream come true.

Erin’s grandmother’s house was a part of her family heritage for more than a century. It was a part of her life and a place that she dreamed might be her own one day. As circumstance had it, the home needed to be sold just weeks after the loss of her son. Dreams and opportunity will slip past her and it seemed as if their was nothing she could do about it – but she never stopped hoping and dreaming.

Word of this young family and their tragedy spread quickly through the community. Close family and friends vowed that they would do what they could to enable Erin to realize one of her dreams. Though she had lost two children, they were determined that her family’s heritage in her grandmother’s farmhouse would not be lost to the same cruel circumstance that had taken her two children. The Erin’s Dream initiative had begun and the commitment to renovate and preserve the farmhouse for Erin and her family had begun.

This modest structure sits high above the Perkiomen Creek in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania – along the Perkiomen trail system. It is the perfect place to host other families who need respite from their personal tragedies. It is a place where Erin can counsel and instruct families to persevere the long road they travel. It is a place where she can help them learn about the innovative fundraising solutions that she was able to find or devise. This is more than a nice home, it is a base of operations for Erin and Jeff to help others.

Erin’s Dream is to renovate and purchase her grandmother’s farmhouse and use it as a tool to help others. It is a lofty dream, yet few would argue that someone who has encountered so much personal tragedy is not entitled to dream big. The details of the work that needs to be completed, the materials that will be required, and the labor and trades that are necessary to make this dream a reality can be found throughout this website. We hope that you will consider being a part of Erin’s dream, however that may be.