Shout Out to Hogs for the Cause, Team Mr. Pig Stuff and Wildwood Pizza in Alex

This was posted on Facebook. What a great story about what Hogs is all about and an example of how it works.

It's much more than a festival of pork.

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"A lot of fear, a lot of unanswered questions,” expressed Charlotte Boothe. "In fact, up until the moments she was born, doctors couldn't really answer the questions we had."

That's probably not feeling you want when you have your first grandchild. But for Boothe, that's the story of the last three weeks. "Lucy was born on January 28,” explained Boothe. “She came into this world weighing about three pounds, five ounces. Lucy has been diagnosed with Downs Syndrome and she has several heart defects."

Boothe’s daughter and son-in-law, Devin and Christian Gaudet knew ahead of time that their newborn, Lucy, would have some health complications. So they've been in New Orleans at the Children's Hospital. "They were blessed with a little time to prepare,” said Boothe. “They are there now, and there's still fears every day."

Since Devin is staying in New Orleans, and Christian as well as other extended family have to travel back and forth, the fears were weighed down even more by the need for a place to live.

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That's where the Hogs for the Cause comes in, more specifically the local team, Mr. Pig Stuff. "We’re an organization in New Orleans that provides support for families that have children with pediatric brain cancer, or other long-term illnesses," explained Alanna Sistrunk, Mr. Pig Stuff member.

The organization has opened up the Hogs House, a place where families can stay while their children are at the hospital long-term, for the Gaudets. This means that Devin can be in walking distance of Lucy. "For someone like Devin who had a C-section and couldn't drive, it keeps her from having to move across the city to see her baby," said Sistrunk. But the organization can't go at it alone.

Every team individually raises money to house these families, so here locally Wildwood Pizza is lending a hand to Mr. Pig Stuff. On Tuesday, 10 percent of all proceeds from the restaurant went to the team, to be used for Hogs for the Cause’s efforts.

"It's providing a place for families who have children in the hospital to stay in New Orleans, and it's such as wonderful cause,” said Gary Perkins, Wildwood owner, when asked why he chose Hogs for a Cause. “We couldn't help but back them." So what you have is a local restaurant, who's helping out a local organization, who's helping out a local family in need.

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"This community has been great to us, and we love this community, and we love to give back," expressed Perkins. “To see people rally behind the organization, it's exciting, it's encouraging," added Sistrunk.

"We know and we see that God's hand has been in this every step of the way," said Boothe. And when you see how far it goes, that's a much better story for the last three weeks. "Devin got to hold Lucy for the first time today,” expressed Boothe. “She's three weeks old yesterday, and today was the first time she got to hold her."

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