I wanted to give you all further information on some of the great things that are happening in spite of the pain of our loss of Ashli's bright spirit. Alysia already updated you on some of them, but I am attaching some further information

This is from the South Bend Tribune:
Chargers honor Hepler

Ashli Hepler was a special person in the Memorial program.

The Chargers are making sure they remember their friend.

Memorial honored Hepler, who died June 20 from cancer, at their home match Sept. 11. The Chargers presented the Spirit of Ashli Helper Recognition Award to Paige Robison, a seventh grader at West Side Middle School.

"Ashli just had a huge impact on our program and our school,'' said Rost. "She affected a lot of kids. She just loved being around the girls and the sport.

"The award symbolizes what she meant to our program; love for team, selflessness, enthusiasm and passion.''

Hepler, who was an English teacher at Memorial, was just 33 at the time of her death. The award to honor her will be given annually to a participant in Memorial's elite summer camp and a plaque will be displayed in the volleyball trophy case at the school.

And an update on the tree planting at Bethel from Kelly Moses:

I'm in the process of finalizing the details for the plaque for Ashli's tree.

It will say something along the lines of the following,

This tree has been planted in Memory of

Ashli C. Hepler (Class of 98’)

1974-2007

and in Honor of the friendships made here,

at Bethel College.

"Because I knew you: I have been changed for good"

Also, Danna Jacques is taking care of the tree details. We're going to see about getting a "Chinaberry" tree (it's mentioned a few times in "To Kill a Mockingbird").

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And finally, the details are to be finalized, but there will be two ongoing scholarships for Memorial High School students in Ashli's name.

Thanks for your love and support.

Perri

Faithful Few

For the Faithful Few who are still reading~



I'm sure you'll be surprised (some of you elated) to see a new blog on here. It makes me laugh b/c I can see Ashli rolling her eyes that some of you will be sooooo excited that there is something new for you to read!!! There are a few things I want to make sure you know about:



1) On Tuesday this coming week, Jacquie w/ EMHS volleyball team will be giving a spirit award out to a volleyball player between the JV & Varisty games. Most of you know the volleyball team was something Ashli cared a great deal about. Most of our family will be going to watch and support the team and we welcome all of you to come who are available and would like to be there.



2) Kelly Moses (Crocker) is working on getting approval to plant a tree in Ashli's memory @ Bethel. I "think" the plan is to have people just donate to the memorial fund we set up for Ashli and we will pay for the tree & plaque with the donations we get towards it. I'm not sure if Kelly has gotten this approved w/ Bethel yet, but she's hoping to do some sort of planting ceremony over Bethel's Homecoming which is towards mid-late October. So for those of you who want to donate or if you want more specifics get in touch with Kelly. If you don't know how you can email me and I'll forward it along or you can just post something letting me know w/ your email Kelly will swing by and check.



3) Mom mentioned that she would like to plan a Chicago trip next spring (probably sometime in June) for friends of Ashli's (probably guys will be left out, but we haven't decided for sure). The thought was to carpool a bunch of us to Chicago, eat at Cheesecake Factory, shop, mayb catch a show? & just share happy memories of Ashli. I think it will be a really fun time. We figure if some people want to spend the night we can share rooms and if others don't they can just do the day trip thing. At some point we'll choose some dates and blog the ones we're considering. But we wanted to give you plenty of advance notice, so if you think you might want to go, keep it in mind.



4) Our Grandma is working on a book about Ashli's life. One idea we had for the book was at the beginning of each chapter or in different places throughout the book to have little memories from some of her friends. If you have a funny, sentimental or happy memory you'd like to share, you can email my Grandma at: Leakeys@aol.com



I think about many of you often. There is not a day that passes that I don't think about Ashli. Some days I smile at a funny photo I come across. Other days the dumbest, most piddly thing that reminds me of her brings me to tears. It's comforting knowing there are others feeling the same things & it's nice seeing that people are still commenting.



Love,



----Alysia