In 2022 our community involvement included joining in Mayor Summer Night Lights, Riverfest, volunteering at YAIPak Outreach, competing in a Kickball Tournament, helping out the St. B. Little League Challenger Team, we were a sponsor for the Montgomery Central High School Band competition, we sponsored an auction item for the YAIPak Outreach Banquet, donated breakfast sandwiches for teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week and donated Winter coats to Big Brothers Big Sisters.  We will take any opportunity we can get to show people we believe “YOU Are A Big Deal Around Here!”  If you want to get involved and volunteer with us, feel out the interest form at the bottom of this page!

On December 15, 2022, Jacob and I delivered Christmas presents and cookies to the 18 students at the Lincoln Homes Headstart.  They each got the one gift they asked for and watching their eyes light up with excitement and happiness was an overwhelming blessing and opportunity.  Because Caleb loved, he left a legacy for us to continue.  I’m grateful for the avenue The Caleb Cares Project gives me to keep his name, memory and love alive every day in our community.

The Caleb Cares Swim League is in its second season and doing really well! The participants are showing great improvement from their first season and everyone is enjoying the program.  We are honored to sponsor this swim league in our city and very grateful for all the lives Caleb gets to influence for good.  If you are local and have a young child, please look into signing them up for this program.  It really is a win/win for everyone! If you don’t have a young child to register, you can help by making a donation to help us continue our sponsorship for the swim league!  Being able to have this swim league at a pool where Caleb was once a Lifeguard is bittersweet for my heart. I wish he was still here and I’m thankful his memory continues in the City of Clarksville!

Holiday Heroes Video

On October 1, 2022, we held our 2nd 5K and it was a wonderful success! We raised over $3,200.00 and enjoyed sharing the event with our community.  We hope this event continues to grow and be successful year after year.  

In September my daughter and I went to Walmart and purchased 10 gift cards for $100 each.  We then walked around and surprised random shoppers with $100! Their smile and gratefulness filled my heart with so much joy.  We will definitely be doing this more often!

On Sunday, March 20, 2022 we held our first annual live dessert auction to raise funds for the Caleb Joseph Slate Scholarship Award.  The baking community in Clarksville generously donated more than 40 desserts and more than 15 local businesses and organizations donated items for the silent auction.  Over $8,000 was raised!! it was an amazing and fun evening that honored our precious Caleb while raising money for a great cause!

For our 2022 Back to School donation, we donated the following items to the Clarksville Community Action Agency to be used at the 5 Head Start locations.  We are beyond grateful to donate items they needed and will use on a daily basis for their students!  We will continue to refill supplies as needed!

In March, 2021, we became the sponsor for the Lincoln Homes Headstart program.  Each Friday we deliver 18 F.U.E.L. bags for the students to take home for he weekend.  We have also donated new clothes, shoes, bus passes, hygiene products and gently used clothing.  We are blessed with the opportunity to love on the children and the families they belong to.

On May 15, 2021 we held the 1st annual Caleb Cares Project 5K.  We had more than 200 participants come from the community and even from out-of-state to run in this race.  We asked runners to donate socks which we delivered to a local ministry for the homeless in town.  Our goal for this 5K was to get the word out in the community about our organization and raise funds for future projects. The first 5K was a big success…next year will be even better!

In July 2021, we partnered up with Youth Villages and became Backpack Heroes.  Youth Villages is a nonprofit organization that serves foster kids and families in need.  We stuffed 85 backpacks and enjoyed giving back to this organization!

On Caleb’s 19th birthday, we celebrated him and honored him by doing acts of kindness in our community.  I asked people to join us in wearing their Caleb Cares shirt, complete an act of kindness and share it with me.  I loved seeing pictures and reading about all the love that spread in memory of Caleb, it helped ease the pain of his absence on his birthday.  We enjoyed painting rocks and leaving them around town, paying for birthday cakes at Publix and spending a few hours serving lunch and doing VBS with kids at Lincoln Homes.  We love showing people that they are a big deal around here.

Very regularly, Caleb volunteered at local low income housing neighborhood.  He friended many young children there, but 2 boys in particular he cared for deeply.  It is tragic that Caleb can no longer be a healthy, loving, friendly influence in their life, so we do it for him.  From your donations through the holiday season, we purchased clothes, toys and games for the family he loved so much.

On April 28, 2021, the St. B Little League Minor Braves team presented us with a Braves shirt in honor of Caleb.  He played in the league for several years growing up and they wanted him to be remembered.  The Caleb Cares Project sponsored the minor Braves and will continue to do so each year in memory of #28.  This event was extra special as it took place on the 28th and on the same field where Caleb and the Pee Wee Braves won their division championship 10 years earlier.  The home plate where he was handed his trophy 10 years before, is the same home plate where we were given a shirt in his memory.  We felt Caleb with us as the lights shone down.  We knew our Angel was in the outfield that night.  Thank you, St. B Little League for honoring our son.

On November 14, 2020, our team participated in a virtual walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  Our team of 52 raised the most money for the Clarksville Experience.  Step by step we walked in Caleb’s memory and honored him by spreading our message of hope, “YOU are a big deal around here!”

On December 12, 2020, exactly 16 months after Caleb’s death, The Caleb Cares Project donated life jackets to The City of Clarksville Pools.  Caleb loved his job as a Lifeguard and through our gift, he is still saving lives.  Your generous donations made this possible, thank you!

At Christmastime, I hang Caleb’s stocking and ask that anyone who visits our home during the holiday season to put any amount of money in his stocking so it will not be empty on Christmas morning.  The money is used to purchase new books for Caleb’s high school library.  These are the books we donated in 2020, 2021 and 2022.