Formula One Life-Racing to the Need!

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Formula One Life participated in 'Racing to the Need' this weekend at the annual Performance Racing Industry Expo in Orlando! Many thanks to our vital race partners: Kids Against Hunger, Hays Pure Water and Clean the World. For more info. on Racing to the Need please visit: http://racingtotheneed.org

GUATEMALA 2010...

Team Formula One Life with formula, powdered milk & Kids Against Hunger donations for our Thanksgiving mission to Guatemala...
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Hermano Pedro, home to 250 special needs orphans and adults

Amor Del Nino (home to 50 orphans including special needs and 30 infants)

Dorie's Promise (home to 30 orphans, special needs and foster children)

A special tribute to our biggest sponsor, FedEx! (click to enlarge)

Team Formula One Life is back from its Thanksgiving mission to Guatemala where we delivered over $5500 of formula, powdered milk and specially fortified Kids Against Hunger meals to Hermano Pedro (home to 250 special needs orphans, adults and abandoned elderly), Amor Del Nino and Dorie's Promise orphan homes... We would like to send a BIG THANKS to our official sponsors, FEDEX and CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, to our very special supporters DR. & STEPHANE BASSIN, MATT TORREZ & ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY in Evansville, IN! Thank you for sending us to share a very blessed Thanksgiving with the children of Guatemala... God bless you!!

FOL's TV debut on TV45!

Real Conversations - Formula One Life - RC04 from Real Conversations on Vimeo.

Here it is! Our first television interview on TV45's "Real Conversations" with Larry Langston & Carolyn Pankalla. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Larry, Carolyn and the whole TV45 staff for having us on their wonderful, new show! (FOL interview begins at 4:25 into video)

St. Joe's Blessings...

(double click this precious picture!)

FOL Team member Janet Kasper, Mrs. Saundra Sweeney and her 3rd grade class at St. Joseph Catholic School in Evansville, Indiana, which held Formula One Life fundraisers totaling nearly $500! That will provide a TEN month supply of formula for one very blessed infant in need...

Thank you beautiful children of St. Joe's for being such an INSPIRING ThanksGIVING blessing!! God bless you!!

TV45 promo for FOL interview!

Real Conversations - Promo - Formula One Life from Real Conversations on Vimeo.

St. Joe's ThanksGIVING!

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FOL Team member Janet Kasper teaching St. Joe's 3rd graders in Evansville, IN about the needs of infant orphans.


Many heartfelt thanks to Janet, Mrs. Saundra Sweeney and her 3rd grade class for rallying all of St. Joseph Catholic School to raise formula funds for our upcoming Thanksgiving mission to Guatemala! God bless the children and staff of St. Joe's for putting the GIVING in ThanksGIVING!

FOL to air on TV45... stay tuned!

We had a great taping today at TV45 for our "Real Conversations" interview which airs Nov. 4th! Stay tuned! Thank you Larry, Carolyn, Kristen, Mike and TV45 crew... you guys are the best!!

Thank you FHG!

For His Glory Outreach-- the U.S. based ministry which supports Maison des Enfants de Dieu orphanage in Haiti-- thanks Formula One Life in their current newsletter... check it out! Thank you FHG!!

http://conta.cc/b2H56y

Double confirmation...!!

The amazing story of the woman from Malta who found the picture of me holding her son-to-be in Ethiopia (see below) just got more amazing... It was just confirmed that the baby girl in this picture is her daughter-to-be... along with her son! So I ended up in this picture with not just one but both of her children-to-be! And they are not related! And their adoptive mother in Malta found us all on facebook! Somebody tell Chicken Soup for the Soul, please!! :)

FEDEX A BLESSING...!!

FORMULA ONE LIFE WOULD LIKE TO RECOGNIZE AND EXTEND OUR DEEPEST THANKS AND APPRECIATION TO FEDEX FOR AWARDING OUR VERY FIRST GRANT!! THANK YOU FEDEX FOR YOUR WONDERFULLY GENEROUS DONATION AND TRULY COMMENDABLE SHOW OF CORPORATE CARE!! FEDEX... THE 'GODSEND' OF BLESSINGS!! :)

Amazing confirmations...

I just received the most AMAZING email from a woman in MALTA who came across a picture of me holding her son in an orphanage in Ethiopia!! What beautiful confirmation for our mission this is... "hi mary... i see your photos in ethiopia you make me so happy beacuse i go in october to adopt 2 children a boy and a girl... i see my son in your hand his name is simon you make me happy see the photos i am very (excited) to go there and bring with me simon and aster...i see you in the photos with my son...you make me happy... god bless you"

Continental Airlines Magazine!!

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FormulaOneLife Flight Attendants Mary Beth Lavin, Andrea Branas & Summers Doonan, Continental Magazine, Aug. 2010

Hot off the press and straight from the seat back pocket in front of you ;) ...check out FormulaOneLife in the August edition of Continental Magazine! And here is your complimentary, virtual copy!
www.magazine.continental.com/201008-co-notebook

Thank you Continental Airlines for your corporate care and for ensuring good news travels fast!!

HAITI...

FormulaOneLife Flight Attendants Mary Beth Lavin, Andrea Branas & Summers Doonan in Haiti, July 2010

Formula One Life just got back from an intense first mission trip to Haiti... Continental flight attendants Mary Beth Lavin and Andrea Branas and American Airlines flight attendant Summers Doonan just returned from Port au Prince where they hand delivered over $2500.00 of formula and powdered milk (worth nearly $5000.00 in Haiti where formula is $43/can!) to two orphanages in need: Maison des Enfants de Dieu (see video below) and God's Littlest Angels with a combined 60 infants along with many more children of all ages. As always, the children were precious beyond words but literally crying out for more individual attention and love. Every toddler or child we held would cling to us and refuse to put their feet back on the ground when it came time to put them back down... which was not easy for us either!

To all our donors who made this trip possible, thank you for sending us to serve and hold in our arms some of God's 'littlest angels' ...who are some of our littlest and closest neighbors in need...

For more pictures from Haiti and information on how you can help, please visit: www.formulaonelife.org
www.forhisgloryoutreach.orgwww.glahaiti.org

Upcoming Mission to Haiti!

We are now finalizing plans for a mission to Haiti July 13th! A team of Formula One Life flight attendants will be delivering formula and powdered milk to orphanages in need-- including the one featured in the video below and seen around the world following the tragic earthquake. Maison des Enfants has 24 infants in need of formula, right now... Please help us feed these precious infants by supporting our mission in any way you can... Please visit our website for ways you can help! Thank you and God bless...

Awesome News!!!

I am so thrilled to share this incredible news with everyone-- Continental Airlines inflight magazine is doing an article on Formula One Life for their August edition!! I just got the call this weekend from the reporter writing the story! When I asked him how he heard about us, he traced an email link to my former Base Director in Newark who apparently forwarded news of our Ethiopia mission to the right people!! The impact her simple act of kindness could have is immeasurable... I was so amazed at the thought of how many passengers might read our story during the busiest travel month of the year (!) that I couldn't resist Googling Continental Magazine's readership ;)... Are you ready for this??? ...(drum roll please :) ...2.4 MILLION!!!! That's including Asia, India, Europe and all of the Americas!! Wow... Thank you everyone for all your amazing support which has led to this point of immeasurable blessing... God bless you all!!!

Ethiopia 2010...

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Formula One Life flight attendants just returned from an awesome mission accomplished in Ethiopia! Here are the pictures from our beautiful journey delivering $4000 worth of baby formula, powdered milk, baby supplies and financial donations to four orphanages in Addis Ababa (Kidane Mehret, Bethzatha, Miskaye and Kechene Assoc. of Light & Life for Orphans).

Formula One Life would like to extend heartfelt thanks and gratitude to our partnering organization, Brighton Their World, for their generous formula donations and financial support, and to the wonderful people of Ruhl's Rock-n-Ride, the Central Florida Kiwanis and all our wonderful donors whose contributions made this mission possible... Thank you!! What a blessing you all have been!!

www.formulaonelife.orgwww.brightontheirworld.org

Ruhl's Rock-n-Ride!!

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Here are the first pictures from Ruhl's Rock-n-Ride for Formula One Life, May 8th in Lancaster & Lebanon County, PA! The ride through Amish Country was beautiful, the music was fabulous and the pork was absolutely gourmet!! But more than anything, the PEOPLE were out of this world kind & generous in every way... Our heartfelt and infinite thanks to Heather, Shawn, Freznel Lenz, Pastor Rob and all the wonderful people of Ruhl's Church, Bikers for Christ, White Oak Mills and EVERYONE who contributed their time, talent and treasure to this event for the love of orphans... God bless you all...

...and they're off!! ...now these are some seriously cool cats!! ;)

Rock-N-Ride for FOL in the news...!!

Members of the band Freznel Lenz, who will play at the first Ruhl’s Rock ‘N’ Ride event, which will be held at the church, 4810 Elizabethtown Road, Manheim, on Saturday, May 8, include (from left) Leslie Raffensperger, Tom Nauman, Joseph Perrone, Heather Fury, Shawn Kreiner, and Drew Aument. The event, which will include a motorcycle ride, pig roast, and concert, will benefit Formula One Life, an organization that provides baby formula to orphanages in third world countries.

Thanks to all the wonderful people involved with the Rock-N-Ride fundraiser for Formula One Life, we made it onto the front page of The Merchandiser today!! And since the half the staff of Formula One Life is from Marietta-- this is big news!! Thank you Heather, Shawn and all our friends and neighbors in PA!! :)
www.ruhlsrocknride.blogspot.com
www.formulaonelife.org

The Birth of a Mission...

The story of Formula One Life to the music of "How Much" by Mary Beth Lavin, Founder, Formula One Life. Vocals- Lydia Gott; Prod- Chuck Butler; Video Montage- Claire Lavin.

From conception to birth to a healthy, growing mission... Please join Formula One Life as we prepare for our next trip to Ethiopia May 12th-19th... Visit www.formulaonelife.org to send a bottle of love to a baby in need... Thank you!!

MILES FOR MISSIONS!

Formula One Life would like to recognize one very generous Delta Airlines frequent flyer, Mr. George Kiriakos, for his amazingly kind donation of 65,000 miles! With this gift, we were able to purchase three revenue tickets for our missions! You see, although flight attendants can fly at largely discounted rates, those rates require stand by travel and come with a hefty price of "$tress!" --especially when traveling with heavy donation bags! So 'positive space' is a beautiful thing and a huge blessing!!

And as an awesome bonus to alleviate our 'weighted stress', Delta Airlines itself has increased our donation bag weight limits in a very commendable show of corporate care!

Our heartfelt thanks to Delta Airlines and to Mr. George Kiriakos-- for launching an awesome idea of "Miles for Missions!" (Please spread the word to your family and friends! Thank you!! :)
www.formulaonelife.org

Go Key Clubbers!

Formula One Life would like to thank the students of the Lake Nona H.S. Key Club who recently held a car wash fundraiser which resulted in a very generous donation for our upcoming mission to Ethiopia! Thank you Lake Nona Key Clubbers!!

Birthday Blessings...

Aureangelle and Auric who asked their party guests to donate to Formula One Life in lieu of birthday gifts for themselves... God bless precious children like these and the parents who raise them so beautifully...

A dear flight attendant friend in Puerto Rico threw a birthday party for her two children last weekend. She asked her children some time ago if they would like to share their celebration by donating to orphans in Ethiopia... In an amazing act of generosity at such young ages, Auri and Auric happily agreed and raised $200 for formula and powdered milk for the orphans we will be visiting this May in Ethiopia... Muchisimas gracias Auri & Auric, Mom & Dad :) and all their birthday guests who gave so generously out of the goodness of their hearts... God bless you all!

Rock'n'Ride for Formula One Life!

Check out this sure to be awesome Rock'n'Ride benefit for Formula One Life organized by our good friends in PA! If you are in the Lancaster area on May 8th, please come out and join us for a 75 mile ride through the breathtakingly beautiful Amish country of Lancaster County... or you can just come for the pig roast and concert featuring Freznel Lenz! Whatever your preference, please join Team Formula One Life in our race to meet the needs of infant orphans around the world...
Thank you Heather, Shawn, wonderful people of Ruhl's Church and everyone who is contributing to this event!!
For more information please visit: www.ruhlsrocknride.blogspot.com
www.formulaonelife.org

Kiwanis Huggies and Kisses...

Central FL Kiwanis' fifth collection for Formula One Life and the infant orphans of Haiti, Guatemala and Ethiopia... pictured here: Avalon Kiwanis with Pres. Dave Schmitt, Lt. Gov. Gene Leonard and Governor Donna with her precious twin grandchildren Bella and Noah...

I had a dream a few months ago in which I saw huge packs of "Huggies" falling from the sky and bouncing on the ground all around me. :) Today when I walked into the Central FL Kiwanis Zone Rally and saw a huge collection of diapers everywhere, I immediately remembered my dream... and thanked God for these 'Huggies' from heaven by the hands of these amazing Kiwanians.

The theme of today's meeting was "Celebrate what's RIGHT with the World" ...I know one thing that is very right with the world: The Kiwanis Organization... indeed they are truly "serving the children of the world..."

www.formulaonelife.org
www.avalonkiwanis.org
www.floridakiwanis.com

My niece, Melinda, helping out with inventory!

If you know how much formula costs, you know this is quite a valuable contribution, but more importantly we hope you know how much it is worth beyond the dollars and cents to the infants who need it... To all the Kiwanis Kids from Stone Lakes and Seminole Middle School who took part in this collection, thank you for being such inspiring humanitarians at such young ages!

501(c)3 approved and more K-Kids!!

Stone Lakes Elementary K-Kids with donations from their formula drive...

Yesterday was an amazingly blessed day!! It started with the news that we were approved for our 501(c)3!! And the way we found out was amazing in and of itself! The brother of my childhood friend's colleague who is a high powered CPA in NYC called the IRS to check our status and found out to all our surprise that we were approved in record time (a month and a half)!!

Then I got two calls from two different Kiwanis clubs at two different schools asking me to come pick up the collections from their formula drives! I could only do one, so it was Stone Lakes Elementary, and what an impressive group of K-Kids! I believe I met the future President (currently the K-Kids Pres. :) His name is Ben. Thank you, Ben, Ms. Jaworski, Dr. Kennerly and all the Stone Lakes K-Kids for your awesome collection of formula for infant orphans... May you be doubly blessed in return!

Amor Del Nino...

I just got back yesterday from a layover in Guatemala where I delivered a suitcase of formula to Shyrel Osborn, Director of Amor Del Nino (Love the Child) orphanage. In the last week alone, Amor received a 1-day old baby girl straight from the hospital and a baby boy from the arms of a policeman who found him abandoned on the street (both pictured above). In Sheryl's words, the policeman cried when he handed the baby boy over to her, saying "I don't know how a mother can abandon her baby on the street, but I thank God HE made a plan for him to arrive here..."

Amor now has a total of 19 infants (though not all are pictured since a photo shoot is hard to coordinate around varying sleep schedules!). Formula in Guatemala is very expensive since it is imported, and Amor Del Nino spends an average of $1400 per month on formula alone. Pictured here are the 20 cans I was able to fit in my suitcase. Thank you Formula One Life donors for your ongoing support which enables us to continue supporting amazing orphanages like Amor Del Nino...
www.lovethechild.org
www.formulaonelife.org

Timber Lakes K-Kids for Haiti!

Today we dropped off a truckload of formula, baby food and diapers to Clean the World (shipping to Haiti) from the Kiwanis K-Kids at Timber Lakes Elementary... The donations from these children are just so inspiring us to keep doing what we're doing... Thank you Kiwanis K-Kids, Timber Lakes Elementary and Clean the World for such beautiful teamwork!!
www.formulaonelife.org
www.avalonkiwanis.org
www.cleantheworld.org

Darling Daisies Give to Haiti...

Thanks to our good friend, Matt Torrez, who recommended our mission to a friend in Virginia, a local girl scout troop of "Daisies" there donated the proceeds from their recent bake sale to "Formula One Life" for the children of Haiti! God bless support from friends and the darling "Daisies" of the world!

We recently came across this picture and caption on Clean The World's Facebook page!

Earthquake Relief Effort
Shawn Seipler with Mary Beth Lavin from Formula One Life, who has donated countless boxes of baby formula to the relief efforts in Haiti.

A thousand thanks to Clean the World for their outstanding role in getting countless life saving supplies to Haiti!
www.formulaonelife.org
www.cleantheworld.org

Total Haiti shipments...

Four shipments to Haiti totaling over $2500 in formula and donations... and still a fifth shipment is in the works as Avalon Park's Soho Office is parterning with FOL offering 10% off all printing orders if you bring in a can of formula! (support SOHO! :)

Many thanks, again, to all our wonderful donors who have sent so many bottles of love to Haiti... and many thanks to our amazing friends at Clean the World for delivering them!!
www.formulaonelife.org
www.orlando1.sohooffice.com
www.cleantheworld.org

Haiti shipment #4...

Shipment #4 is ready to go! Our continuing gratitude to all our donors and most notably the Avalon Park Kiwanis for their generous contributions of Nestle and Enfamil liquid formula, Pediasure, diapers and wipes! Incidentally, for those of you who may not know just how much this stuff is worth-- besides being invaluable to the babies in need-- please take a stroll down the baby aisle the next time you visit a grocery store! These donors have spent a pretty penny indeed on these items... God bless all the many, giving hearts out there...
www.formulaonelife.org
www.avalonkiwanis.org

Shipment #3 to Haiti...

Kiwanis of south Florida with their collections for Haiti...
Boxed up and ready to go...

Our third Formula One Life+ shipment to Haiti went out on Monday-- thanks in great part to the Kiwanis of south Florida in partnership with our local Avalon Kiwanis who collected formula and diapers, too! A fourth shipment is now in the works as donations continue to come in... Our infinite gratitude to the FL Kiwanis and the many donors without whom this mission would not be possible...
www.formulaonelife.org
www.cleantheworld.org
www.avalonkiwanis.org

Formula One Life to Haiti: Shipment #2

Today as we prepared our second formula shipment to Haiti, we received a very special delivery! The Wenatchee Free Methodist Church in Washington heard about Formula One Life teaming up with Clean the World in our Haiti relief efforts and donated 10 Sawyer water filter kits which remove dangerous bacteria such as cholera, typhoid, salmonella, dysentery and E. Coli. These kits cost $60 each! Our heartfelt thanks to the parishioners of Wenatchee Free Methodist Church! What an invaluable gift for the people of Haiti... God bless you and all our Formula One Life donors who have given so generously to our Haiti mission!

First Formula Shipment to Haiti!

Shawn Seipler, Exec. Dir. of Clean the World, receiving our first shipment of formula for Haiti...

This just in!! Please read the awesome news I just got from Shawn this morning, Jan. 21st:

...Thank you and your entire network for the wonderful donations of powder and liquid formula...Want to let you know that the powder formula is getting on a plane today!! Our driver is picking it up and delivering to a hospital so it should be in use by this evening!
Great work. More to come soon!

Shawn Seipler, Executive Director
Clean the World

Thanks to the generosity of Formula One Life donors and our amazing neighbors at Clean the World who are coordinating CARE flights (Corporate Aviators Responding to Emergencies) from Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale as well as cruise shipments from Miami, we were able to send our first formula shipment to Haiti, today! This partnership was a match made in heaven, as Clean the World has enabled us to also send powdered formula along with their 250,000 bottles of water and teams of physicians! Shawn explained the routing and distribution to me as follows: All of the CARE flights leaving Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale as well as cruise ships from Miami are going to Cap-Haitien where distribution is running more efficiently than Port Au Prince. From there the donations are taken to hospitals, orphanages and Clean the World warehouses in the northern part of the island which are being used as distribution centers. Shawn says the Haitian people are migrating en masse to the north to get out of Port Au Prince and are receiving aid and supplies from these warehouses. As an added blessing, Shawn appointed the majority of our formula as medical supplies so most of it will be accompanied by physicians and in good hands to ensure it reaches the infants in need.

Pictured here is $1000 worth of formula from our wonderful donors and REACH In Action which contributed 45 cans of Nestle Good Start! We anticipate sending another shipment very soon as Florida Kiwanis Clubs hold formula drives across the state in support of our Formula One Life+ mission to Haiti. Our heartfelt thanks to all the beautiful people who have helped and continue to help make this mission possible for the infant orphans of Haiti...
www.formulaonelife.org
www.cleantheworld.org
www.reachinaction.com
www.avalonkiwanis.org

FORMULA DONATIONS URGENTLY NEEDED...

Formula One Life+ is teaming up with the Brighton Kennedy Foundation (www.BrightonKennedy.org) to collect urgently needed formula for Haiti to be sent asap on CARE flights (Corporate Aviators Responding in Emergencies) out of Orlando chartered by our amazing neighbors at Clean the World (www.cleantheworld.org) We are currently in need of liquid, ready to feed bottles of formula and financial donations to purchase that formula. Please visit formulaonelife.org to make an invaluable donation for formula to be sent in the coming days to the infant orphans in Haiti... Thank you!

Haitian Orphanage Still Without Aid

Haitian Orphanage Still Without Aid

Click here to see Fox News video on Haitian infant orphans in dire need of formula... Please go to www.formulaonelife.org to help!

Formula One Life/Kiwanis/REACH out to Haiti...

At the DCM Central FL Kiwanis meeting with Lt. Gov. Gene Leonard, Avalon Park Pres. Dave Schmitt and Paul Iandoli

This evening, we presented our "Formula One Life+" mission for Haiti to the district leaders of Kiwanis Clubs across Central Florida. We felt very blessed by the response we received and will be teaming up in the coming days with a number of local Kiwanis clubs collecting liquid, ready to feed bottles of formula (due to the limited clean water supply in Haiti), non-perishable food items and first aid supplies. We will also be partnering with the organization REACH in Action (reachinaction.com) which will be donating from their food pantry/resale shop in Altamonte Springs. Formula One Life flight attendants will be carrying the donations to Haiti when ground operations there permit. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti... Please contact us if you have liquid formula, food or medical supplies to donate. Thank you.

Formula One Life Hero!

Summers and me with Dave Schmitt- President of the Kiwanis Club in Avalon Park- who invited us to speak at the Kiwanis breakfast at Eastside Bistro on Jan. 7th. So far, Dave has arranged formula drives for us at Timber Creek H.S., Lake Nona H.S., Avalon Middle School and Stone Lakes Elementary and has even sent word out to Kiwanis Clubs across the state in an effort to help us raise enough formula for our upcoming mission to Ethiopia in March. I nominate Dave Schmitt as our first, official Formula One Life HERO!! Thank you, Dave!!

"I Wanna Feed the Hungry Children..."

My friend, Amanda, is in Ethiopia right now leading a "Visiting Orphans" mission team with Britt Nicole on it... I just saw Amanda's post on Facebook that Britt taught the orphans to sing her hit song, "Set the World On Fire." I can only IMAGINE what a sight and sound that was to witness! I can't wait to see and share that video, but until then, here is a great live performance of Britt singing "Set the World on Fire." What awesome inspiration for our own upcoming trip to Ethiopia in March!
"I wanna feed the hungry children... reach across the farthest land... tell the broken there is healing and mercy in the Father's hands..." Britt Nicole, Set the World on Fire

Never forget...

(for widescreen version on YouTube, click play then click on video)

I came across this recently made video from Hannah's Hope, Guatemala, where we stayed on our last misson trip in November... Tears filled my eyes when I saw the familiar faces of our little friends, Alex, Miguel, Efraim, Carlitos... Alex who never stops smiling in spite of being quadriplegic... and Efraim who cannot see, speak or hear but lights up at the slightest touch from a loving hand caressing his face.... One of the caregivers pictured in this video broke down in tears when talking to me about the 'special needs' children... Her heart was so heavy for them and the overwhelming needs they have... I pray these children feel truly touched by the hands of God through those who care for them so lovingly...

The scriptural lyrics of this favorite hymn echo within me...
"I will never forget you, my people... I have carved you on the palm of my hand... I will never forget you, I will not leave you orphaned... I will never forget my own..." (Isaiah 49:15)