An Evening with Donnie Wahlberg & Special Guests: $700,000 Raised!
A Benefit to Help Families Affected by Autism
Background on Generation Rescue from their website:
Generation Rescue is dedicated to recovery for children with autism spectrum disorders by providing guidance and support for medical treatment to directly improve the child’s quality of life for all families in need.
When Lisa and JB Handley’s son was diagnosed with autism in 2004, they simply did not believe it would be Jamison’s lifelong destiny. They committed themselves to healing their son.
Lisa and JB pursued all of the theories and avenues they could find, educating themselves as fully as possible as they reached the most likely conclusion: the combination of antibiotics and vaccines administered to Jamison in his first 18 months of life had overwhelmed his system and triggered his body into a state of being that we currently call autism.
Armed with this knowledge, the Handleys began recovering their child. To their surprise, they found that parents all around the world were experiencing the same struggles—and same victories. In 2005, the Handleys decided to create a community for these amazing families. They named it Generation Rescue.
Later that same year, Jenny McCarthy’s son, Evan, was diagnosed with autism. Jenny embarked on an extensive search for answers. When she found Generation Rescue’s website, it quickly became her touchstone. The stories and advice from other families served as her blueprint for Evan’s own recovery.
In 2008, Jenny reached out to JB and Lisa to thank them for creating the organization that gave voice to her struggles and provided the solutions that saved her son. Aware of how vitally important the organization is to so many families, Jenny offered to help any way she could. She became president of Generation Rescue.
Today, Generation Rescue is known throughout the world for its dedication to the recovery of children with autism spectrum disorders by providing guidance and support for all families in need. JB, Lisa and Jenny couldn’t be more proud.
To Donate: https://ssl.charityweb.net/genrescue/
On to the details of the night:
First I want to thank Deanna Benedetto Butkovich and her husband Mike for inviting me to this event since they were a sponsor! Mike’s company is Just In Time Pool & Spa Service. If you need Servicing, Installation etc call them in the greater Chicago area! 630-300-4420
Jenny truly has such a passion for this cause and it is evident in all the love and care that both she and Donnie put into the night. The
y might just be one of the sweetest couples ever too!
Some of his special guests included Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre and Danny Wood as well as Naughty By Nature, Nice and Smooth, Rob Lewis and more. Jonathan Knight was sad to miss it as he was going to be closing on a house he was flipping and it wasn’t ready yet.
He performed some songs rarely done in concert such as Dirty Dawg, One Song, I Got It, Rise and Grind, and She’s a Killer. They also performed some cover songs like All of Me (performed by Joey), Uptown Funk, Let’s Go Crazy and Kiss and more. They also did the Right Stuff.
Joe’s rendition of All of Me was beyond beautiful. Sorry f
or the shaking video in the beginning, I was learning how to video on that camera that night.
Here is a video of Donnie performing: She’s a Killer.
The after party was also a lot of fun. They did additional fundraising for some incredibly cool experiences including a trip to the Chew, Arsenio Hall, Mixtape, Meet & Greet with Carrie Underwood and more!
The most clear message from the evening is how passionate both Donnie and Jenny are to help Generation Rescue and other pare
nts that are managing Autism. It was such a wonderful experience to be a part of this event, it was so nice to see Jordan, Joe and Danny too.
$700,000 was raised for Generation Rescue
I will post more pics of the event over the next month on my IG account: @lightsCmemories and on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/lightscmemories/
Until next time,
Xoxoxo
Heather