Two Saturdays ago, I spent the morning at the Mohn household in Lansdale. The household spans multiple generations - including a great-grandmother, grandmother, parents and two grandchildren. All of these family members decided to move in together in order to maximize the care the youngest and eldest received.

The eldest has dementia, and the youngest, a 3-year-old, has an undiagnosed neuromuscular disorder that greatly inhibits her development. 

Hannah Mohn, center, with parents Tim and Jen and brother, Andrew.

In the three years of Hannah Faith Mohn's life, her parents have struggled with medical bills. Hannah needs many additional machines and mobility devices in order to get through her daily life. And due to the severity of the disorder, any time she gets sick her family must fear the worst, because her muscles are just not as able to fight like the rest of ours.

We published Hannah's story on Wednesday, February 20 and by Monday, February 26 the Mohn family reported back that they already received $3,000! They almost reached the need $3,600 for a van retrofit that would make transporting Hannah to therapy, appointments and school much easier.

From Hannah's grandmother, Diane Johnson:

After just one day...

"I had to send a quick email to let you know that it is absolutely crazy with people donating money or offers of doing fundraisers!  Already, someone we know very well, donated $1,000 !!!!! OMG…we are overwhelmed and extremely thankful to you and the Reporter for getting my angel pie’s story out there.  At the rate this is going they will not only be able to pay off that loan for the van retrofit but have some left over to go toward the home modifications that we need to get done to accommodate Hannah and her mobility chair!

The MIU union which I am a part of here at Merck sent me an email and told me that they are sending out a communication today to all of its members asking for donations!!  And to top that the governing council  of the union said they will match up to $2,000 collected!! "

After 5 days....

"I am so excited by the exposure Hannah’s story is getting and want to thank you again.  We actually had a man named Kurt show up at the house on Saturday.  He was in his 80s and made the cutest little lamp for Hannah.  He glued each of the pieces on himself.  He was adorable and really wanted to meet Hannah.  Anyway…. It goes to show that the community in which we live is very generous and caring.  These people are complete strangers and send little notes of encouragement with their donation.  We received one with little stickers in the card along with 6.00 in cash.  It looked like it was written by a little child."

So we want to thank YOU Lansdale, for noticing this story and not ignoring an immediate need in our community. I'm beginning to realize how much love there is in Lansdale and am looking forward to discovering more.

If you have a story of a need in our community that we can help bring light to, please email me, The Reporter's Community Engagement Editor, Jennifer Connor at jconnor@thereporteronline.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Village Tavern's intent with its Saint Patrick's Day 'Shock Run' 5k is two-fold - to get the community outside having fun and to raise money to provide local organizations with much needed defibrillators.

Each year about 1.1 million people in the United States have heart attacks and almost half of these people die. Coronary Heart Disease, which often results in heart attacks, is the leading killer of both men and women.

Village Tavern co-owner Theresa Modestine said this startling statistic and her children's  proximity to cardiac risk prompted her to commence efforts four years ago to raise funds to bring more defibrillators to the area.

"I have children who play ball and you always hear stories about kids getting hit in the chest on the field," Modestine said. "If there's no defibrillator, the child can end up dying."

Many people can recover from heart attacks and cardiac shock  if they get help quicker. Of the people that die of heart attacks, half of them die within an hour of their first symptoms. When defibrillators are used immediately after symptoms occur, they can save lives.

How can you help?

Simply don your most shocking and festive costume and participate in Village Tavern's St. Patrick's Day 'Shock Run' 5k on March 10. All race participants get a free meal after the run, along with a pint of beer. Registration costs $35 and you can pre-register here: http://villagetavernpa.com/4th-annual-shock-run.pdf

In the past three years, proceeds from the 5k allowed Modestine to award five defibrillators to local organizations - including one to the Horsham Little League.

Does your organization need a defibrillator?

Theresa will be accepting letters explaining an organization's need through April 15. Then, along with the Physical Therapy and Wellness Institute and the Montgomery Township Business Group, she will decide which organizations to give defibrillators to.

"It's a hard decision to come by," Modestine said. "We take into account the amount of people that may be affected."

E-mail your letter of need to villagetavernpa@gmail.com

Over the past month, the Lansdale Love blog has learned of many community activities that are born out of compassion. The latest comes this up-coming weekend - the Upper Gwynedd Fire Department  will be hosting a hoagie sale on Saturday, February 9, to benefit Matthew Knoebel and his family, who were featured on this blog a few weeks ago when they sponsored a "Blood and Platelet Drive" at Corpus Christi.

Matthew Knoebel is a 13-year-old of Lansdale who is battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Diagnosed in October, Matthew has spent much of that time at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His mom, Christina Simpson, told me at the blood drive that she sleeps at CHOP most nights snuggled up next to Matthew to keep him company during his long nights in the hospital. Matthew is now in need a bone marrow transplant. Upper Gwynedd Fire Department plans to donate the money raised from the hoagie sale to assist the family with medical bills and other day-to-day needs.

For the hoagie drive, each hoagie is $5 and the options are Italian, Turkey and Ham. All hoagies are made dry with condiments served on the side. The fire department asks that you place your orders by FRIDAY, February 8, by phone or fax.

Upper Gwynedd Fire Department
660 Garfield Ave.,
(located between 2nd and 3rd streets)
Upper Gwynedd, Pa.
phone: 215-699-5454
fax: 214-661-1570.

You can pick your hoagies up beginning at 10 a.m. They even have a drive through option if you don't want to get out of your car in this cold weather!

If there's one thing I've learned through running this blog, it's that the heartache of even just one community family does not go unnoticed!