Just the Ticket: Family Shares Miracle Network Story with RE/MAX Agents, Gets Bonus of Bulls Tickets

Dec. 17, 2010 - PRLog -- Darin and Peg Chartier of Libertyville, Ill., have a remarkable story to tell about the support their family has received from the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) since their three sons, a set of premature triplets, were born with severe health issues.  The boys – Spencer, Jackson and Corbin – are now 13 and have, with the help of Children’s Memorial Hospital and CMN, enjoyed rather typical American childhoods even though each has some form of cerebral palsy, which limits normal muscle activity.

The Chartiers told their story again earlier this month to more than 200 RE/MAX agents at the Holiday Gala party, an annual event for the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network that was held this year in Glen Ellyn, Ill.  As is true every year, the event is an important fundraiser for CMN and for Children’s Memorial Hospital of Chicago, where all three Chartier boys now receive treatment.  RE/MAX Northern Illinois has provided more than $2.1 million in financial support to CMN since 1992.

With their sons in attendance, Darin and Peg once again told a captivated audience about their family’s journey, from the triplets’ arrival three months before their due date weighing less than two-and-a-half pounds each, through a long succession of medical challenges and treatments.  They made it clear that the family could never have afforded to make that journey without the help of the hospital.  

What the Chartiers weren’t expecting was a special thank you gift from a group of RE/MAX agents in attendance that afternoon.  One of the items offered in a silent auction that was part of the fundraising effort were four tickets to a Bulls game.  The tickets had been donated for the auction by WGN-TV.  A group of agents, led by Lou Soteras of RE/MAX Vision 212 in Chicago and Jay Blessent of RE/MAX Experts, Buffalo Grove, Ill., decided to bid on the tickets and then give the tickets to the Chartier family.
Not only did the agents submit the winning bid and hand the tickets over to the Chartiers, who were both surprised and delighted, but after WGN-TV learned who had been given the tickets, the station donated a free parking pass and made sure the seats were on the court behind the basket.

Darin Chartier reports that “the boys are very excited, as am I,” at the prospect of seeing the Bulls play in person.  “I cannot express my gratitude to the team of people who came together to provide this experience.  Although we have not had significant surgical events this year, ongoing medical expenses for care of the boys does not allow for events such as this.  We will truly cherish the experience.”

CMN is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals.  Each year the 170 CMN hospitals provide the finest medical care, life-saving research and preventative education to help millions of kids overcome diseases and injuries of every kind.  RE/MAX is the official real estate sponsor of CMN and a major sponsor of Children’s Memorial Hospital.

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RE/MAX is the leader in northern Illinois real estate sales. It has been number one in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market since 1989, closing more than $6 billion in sales last year. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,500 associates and 120 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of brokerage services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. Its http://www.illinoisproperty.com and http://www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate brokerage brands. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 91,000 sales associates in 83 nations.