Letter 36 - $27 MILLION Lottery Winner!
Hello Bregdan Women!
It’s Suess today! I want to know: what would you do with $27 million United States dollars?
Meet one lottery winning California Bregdan woman and see what she did. I bet her actions are not what you think!
It was 2004.
"Debi, You'll never believe what happened? We've won the lottery!" Steve exclaimed.
"Yeah, right" Debi's disbelief poured over the phone lines. Having only been married four months, Debi Faris listened skeptically to her new husband.
“No, we've won! $27 million!" Steve tried to convince his newlywed wife.
Debi, a loving mother, and her high school guidance counselor husband had only played the California lottery in jest and only three times. . . but the third time was the charm.
$27 million dollars was theirs. The win meant their life changed. . . or did it?
Like all lottery winners, doubt was Debi's first reaction. Debi sincerely thought Steve was joking with her when he called their home to spread the financial news. Realizing he was serious, thoughts of babies and scholarships jumped to her mind.
With 7 children of their own, they could certainly use the money.
Being a true Bregdan Woman, however, she knew life is about doing what they felt was their purpose.
It turns out, they had a very BIG purpose!
To understand it, however, I’ll have to go back in time – to 1996.
For Debi, several years earlier, a different sort of disbelief had spread across Debi's mind as she watched the TV newscast…
"Reporting from the highway, a pink duffle bag containing a newborn was discovered today as it had been tossed from the overpass to its death. No leads on the whereabouts of the mother. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to save this baby's life."
Stunned, shocked, and with her heart breaking at this tragedy, Debi was moved to do something to honor this child. She did the only action left for this little one… she telephoned the coroner's office and requested the baby's body to bury it. After that phone call, one thing led to another and soon Debi had 3 babies whose final ceremony lay in her hands.
From that fateful newscast, and with her tender heart, in 1996 Debi created the Garden of Angels Cemetery near their California home. Garden of Angels is the final resting place of abandoned babies. Babies left to die by mothers out of fear and desperation. The surrounding towns' morgues have Debi's personal cell phone number.
Deeply spiritual, Debi feels it is her calling in life to dignify the deaths of these smallest of humans.
After a call to pick up a baby, she "goes into the autopsy room alone, where she wraps each infant in a homemade quilt, cradles it and prays over it… and gives each baby a first name." Eventually at the gravesite, with the name etched onto the cross, Debi turns loose dozens of doves in the baby's honor.
The authorities continued to call her about abandoned babies.
Being completely dissatisfied and frustrated with providing funerals for these little ones, Debi began to think about what could be done.
There had to be a solution.
Babies simply should not die this way in the first place.
Could a law be passed that ensured the mother’s safety if she gave up her baby safely? What if there were no repercussions if the baby was turned into a hospital or a fire station within a few hours of birth?
Debi made it happen!
California's 2001 Safe Haven Law allows troubled mothers to leave newborns at safe locations without fear of prosecution. It's now law in ALL US states, in the District of Columbia and Guam. . . and Debi was the dynamic influence to get it passed. She dreams of a culture where her cemetery doesn't have to exist.
Talking to legislators, school groups, counselors, and town leaders across the United States, Debi has determined that she will give voice to those babies. Her hope is that mothers everywhere learn of the option to lovingly place their baby in the hands of someone who can ensure its safety. Details differ from U.S. state to U.S. state, but the Safe Haven Law is in effect in every state.
Some states even allow the child to be reclaimed within a few days if certain criteria are met, allowing the child to be "adopted" back to his/her own mother. If not reclaimed, the child is placed in foster or foster-adopt care.
Debi’s heart is best shown in part of the mission statement of Garden of Angels:
It's about the children. . .
It’s about giving them DIGNITY and HONOR, instead of rejection
It’s about giving them a VOICE instead of silence. It’s about what we could have done to PROTECT the lives of these children, and WHAT WE CAN DO NOW
It’s about opening our ears and LISTENING to the still small voice inside each and every one of us.
It’s about changed HEARTS and LIVES.
But mostly……It’s about LOVE.
Written by Debi Faris-Cifelli before the burial of the first three children that she aptly named: Matthew, Nathan, and Dora. . . in the Garden of Angels
Debi lives a life of total devotion and love toward mothers and educating the public about the Safe Haven Law. She immersed herself in a passionate pursuit.
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Back to 2004…
Can you imagine a better couple to win $27 MILLION in the lottery?
Debi and her new husband, Steve, set aside some for their seven children, but then…
Most of it went to hundreds of scholarships, one for a boy and one for a girl in honor of each of the babies she has buried. As of 2016, that was 110 abandoned babies.
220 scholarships.
Talk about changing history and creating a lasting legacy!
I know you sense Debi’s compassion and integrity, yet she is an ordinary woman with everyday struggles. She simply chose to be involved in something greater than herself. She chose to make a difference in the final resting moments of a stranger’s baby.
And then used her lottery winnings to change hundreds of young people’s lives.
You know you too, can make a difference.
This Bregdan woman created solace and peace for babies literally tossed away.
Debi founded a cemetery. Why would she do something so unique?
Bregdan Women see a need and then work to fulfill it.
There are organizations and needs surrounding you every day in every city - in any town. You don't need $27 million. You don't have to have legislation passed.
All you need is a willing hand, a listening ear, or a soft shoulder.
As a Bregdan Woman, I challenge you to look around where you live and move out of yourself just a little.
An hour a month can make a real difference in the life of a child, a non-profit organization, a teacher or even an animal shelter. . . and in you.
More than an hour? You already know the answer to that. :)
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What will you do today to impact history??
We’re on this journey with you…
Ginny & Suess
CLICK IMAGES TO CLAIM YOUR GIFTS!
If you have health problems then, I encourage you to use herbal medicines, herbs and holistic health approaches rather than conventional medications which poisons the body and is a big money making scam for the big pharma and medics. Rarely has that method cured anyone. The ancient civilizations used herbs, spices and natural tinctures to cure all kinds of ill health. It also was used for overall wellbeing.
It is how women can control their bodies better.
This story touches my heart. This shows even more why women should have control over their bodies. Men still have too much control over their bodies .