Today we're doing a spotlight on a remarkable young lady, Kimber. Her story told by a family member is something you'll want to read! After reading this heartwarming story, be sure to visit Birdie's Deli in Bellville to get Kimber's car diffusers.
Keep Blooming!!!
It’s a Family Thing
My name is Denise Jones (Necee) and as I sit here listening to Hurricane Beryl pass thru our Austin County area, I decided it was time to write about a beautiful love story.
Several weeks ago my cousin Veryl Neumann was diagnosed with brain cancer. A few weeks later my cousin, Courtney Gremmel’s little 10 year old daughter, Kimber Bender, was also diagnosed with brain cancer. Veryl was Kimber’s uncle. Veryl decided he wanted to do his best to fight this terrible disease, so he underwent surgery to try and remove as much of the tumor as possible. Veryl always loved life and he loved his family with all that he had to give. Unfortunately he never fully regained consciousness and went home to be with our sweet Jesus.
A day after Kimber’s diagnosis, she too underwent brain surgery. Thankfully Kimber’s story has been different. She was such a brave girl and did everything that needed to be done to ensure a good outcome for herself. She was not told about her Uncle Veryl’s passing until later. She was devastated and she still is today. The cancer created a forever connection between both of them. Kimber’s cancer was a very rare pediatric cancer and required her to undergo treatments at MD Anderson Hospital in the Houston Medical Center. Her mother, Courtney, had recently started a new job at the St Joseph Clinic in Brenham and had not earned any sick days or FMLA.
I decided it was my duty to offer some assistance to Courtney and Kimber. I am retired and I live in the same neighborhood as them. It made perfect sense that I should be the one to keep Kimber and her little sister Harper (“The Girls”) whenever I was needed. I asked my granddaughter, Kaitlin Jones, if she would be interested in helping me keep “The Girls” entertained over the summer. She loves her cousins so of course she said yes. We all had about a week together before Kimber had to start her daily treatments and her schedule got totally crazy.
The first day of Kimber’s appointments for treatments, Kaitlin and I started brainstorming on different ideas that we could do to help our sweet family financially since Courtney couldn’t work during treatments. Kaitlin came up with the tag line #karingforkimber. It was perfect! We talked about printing shirts, getting silicone bracelets made, holding a bake sale or a drive thru dinner. All of a sudden God bombarded my brain with a car diffuser idea. I had never seen this done for a fundraiser and I knew the perfect little diffuser to make. My niece from Louisiana had sent me a couple of diffusers that she had been making and I knew those were the ones God wanted me to make.
Kaitlin and I researched how to make them and we started price shopping for supplies and fragrance oils. My love for homemade soaps had already given me plenty of ideas on what scents to shop for. We ordered supplies and waited for deliveries, it seemed like all we did was wait for oils to arrive. During the waiting period I mentioned to several friends about our idea and before we had even started making products, we had several shows/markets booked. It was all totally a God thing because in no way could we have planned everything so perfectly.
I belong to Morning Star Cowboy Church in Kenney, Texas. I really don’t remember how they found out about “The Girls” or the #karingforkimber project, but almost instantly the wonderful people from the church started sending meals, snacks, activities for “The Girls” and cold, hard cash for Courtney to use in the absence of being able to earn money at work. The diffusers are actually put together by all “Us Girls”.
This summer has taught all of us valuable lessons and we now have three young ladies that have hands on experience in starting and running a successful little business. It was an absolute God ordained miracle. There was nothing lacking for any of us. I even enjoyed several delicious meals prepared by the ladies at the church.
When Kimber found out about the #karingforkimber tag line, she said “Uncle Veryl needs a tag line too and it should be #valueingveryl". A benefit for Veryl is set for July 14th. It was already being planned before he passed away and everyone decided that we should still have it so we could help his sweet wife, Deynene Neumann, with all of the medical expenses that she is now responsible for… After all she is family.
The sweet ending to this story about blood families, church families and extended families is that Deynene owns a little shop in Bellville called Birdies Deli and of course God worked it out so we could put a diffuser rack in her shop. The day that Courtney, Kimber and Harper took the rack to the deli, Kimber went to Deynene immediately and asked her if she could dance with her at Veryl’s benefit on Saturday since her Uncle Veryl was no longer here to dance with her. Talk about crocodile tears and a flood of emotions.
It’s no accident that Hurricane Beryl has given me enough time to write down this super sweet story and to take a minute to say “Thank You God for all that you have done for everyone blessed by this sweet story and blessed by your never ending love and support. We are all forever grateful. Please support the #karingforkimber project by going to Birdies Deli and purchasing a diffuser and tell Deynene hello. Proceeds from the diffusers go to Kimber and her family.
Denise Jones (Necee)
Pictured (left to right): Harper, Kaitlin and Kimber
This is so lovely. Good luck to Kimber's project and her health.