Dear Heidi:

I am writing to express our extreme thanks to the Jack & Jill Foundation for the WOW experience my family and I recently had in Tampa Bay, FL. I don’t know if I can express how wonderful the days in Tampa Bay were, but I’ll try. I’d like to thank all the people and organizations that so selflessly gave of themselves, their services, and their resources.

To AirTran: You’ve always been our favorite airline, but giving us free tickets to make the trip to Tampa just solidifies your ranking. Thank you so much from everyone in my family for seamless air travel, both to and from Tampa. Your staff, both on-ground and in-air, were very personable and extremely capable. Your thoughtfulness and generosity are much appreciated. Thank you so much

To Budget rental cars: Thank you so much for the loan of a wonderful Nissan Altima for our trip, as well as the GPS to help us navigate the beautiful area of Tampa Bay. We were incredibly impressed with the car in so many ways. It was easy to drive, had incredible gas mileage, and was comfortable for our family of three. Your generosity means so much to us. Thank you very much.

To Busch Gardens: Busch Gardens was an incredible adventure for us. We are so grateful for your donation of three tickets for our family to enjoy Busch Gardens. In addition, I’d like to thank you for the use of a wheelchair which made the experience much easier for me, the lunch vouchers, and the Quick Queues. We loved our time at Busch Gardens and had a great deal of fun there. Thank you very much for your kindnesses.

To The Courtyard by Marriot of St. Petersburg/Clearwater: Wow, what a wonderful suite we had! Thank you for providing us with the suite at your St. Petersburg/Clearwater facility. The rooms were beautiful and the view of the courtyard was wonderful. In addition, we enjoyed the use of your pool and whirlpool. A thank you wouldn’t be complete, though, without telling you that your staff is top-notch, and some of the friendliest, most helpful hotel staff we’ve encountered in our travels. Thank you so much for your generosity to my family.

To the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: The word WOW! certainly applies to our time with the Bucs. We were overwhelmed with the many kindnesses we encountered from the Bucs’ players and staff. It was an incredible experience to watch the Bucs practice, to tour your beautiful facility, and to have lunch with your wonderful staff. In addition, we feel so blessed with the many gifts that we received: a t-shirt and cap for me, a jersey for Nate, a cap for Frank, Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleaders signed calendars, a special signed football for Nate, gloves given to Nate by a player, and an extra football given to Nate. I also appreciated the magnetic photo frame and Bucs’ breast cancer pin that I received on the night of the football game. Special shout-outs for our experience on Sat., Oct. 1 need to be given to Miray, Zac, Noah, and all the players and coaches for the hugs, handshakes, and autographs. What an incredible group of people you have working for the Bucs!

I would be remiss, however, if I stopped there. Our time at the game was really amazing. We so appreciated to be on the sidelines before the game and were overwhelmed with being able to watch the game from a suite. WOW! indeed!

Thank you so much, Bucs. Our time spent with you on both Saturday and Monday night was really amazing. We had so much fun and now we have incredible memories of our time with you. You are all wonderful, generous, kind people. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

And by the way, GO BUCS!

To Heidi: thank you for making this dream come true. We had a wonderful time together as a family and were actually able to forget about cancer and just enjoy each other and the experiences we had in Tampa Bay. You do wonderful work, and I just can’t thank you enough. I hope you know how much good your work does. We were overwhelmed with our WOW! experience. THANK YOU so much!

Thank you everyone, for giving us such a wonderful vacation in Tampa Bay, Florida. We absolutely loved it!

Most Sincerely,

Judy Kooistra