Honor the Memory of Buttons with a Beautiful Apple Orchard

A Thank you note to all who Donated to "An Apple Orchard for Buttons":

From Lorrie Brown:

Brownhikingtrails would like to thank all the sweet people who helped fund Buttons’s Memorial Apple Tree Orchard and especially Sandy Creelman for organizing this!

Buttons meant so much to our family and I could never guess when I started sharing her story that she would impact so many people She was family to us and will be forever missed but now this orchard will go on to feed her legacy of deer forever❤️

Thank you for all the love, support and generosity for our sweet Buttons

Love,

Lorrie

From Sandy Creelman:

I wish to thank each and every one of you so very much for helping us fund this dream. This was a simple idea I had and I was expecting it to take a month or two. That so many of you embraced the idea so quickly and donated really shows how special Buttons was to so many of us.

I can only say on my end of this, that for me, it's so very hard to deal with grief from afar. I felt that doing this..creating this orchard in her name, would give us something to look forward to and give Buttons and the Brown family a lasting memorial that will benefit all the wildlife the sanctuary of the Brown Farm.

Thank you so very much for sharing my dream. With your donations, this orchard will have the very best start and be a lasting legacy.

For the record, the final donation total was $24, 435. Lorrie has already received the funds.

It was an honor setting this up and hearing from so many of you.

Thank you,

Sandy Creelman

New Bern NC

Update to GoFund Campaign for An Orchard in Memory of Buttons

Nov 1st, 2024

Hi Everyone,

As of today, Nov 1st, 2024 at 12 Noon we have closed this Gofund to donations. We have received over double our 2nd goal and that is more than enough to realize our dream.

I wish to thank everyone who swiftly donated, and in doing so we all helped each other to realize a shared dream of the orchard for Buttons. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, which is filled again today. Give us a few days to process everything and we will update you on a realistic timeline for the creation and planting of the orchard. Thank you so much to Lorrie Brown for allowing us to do this for Buttons and your Family. Our own Grief at the loss of such beautiful animal was enormous. This orchard will help so many go a long way to healing. Allowing us to do this is for Buttons, for your family and the beauty you shared with us for so many years. This orchard will produce enough leaves and apples for all the deer, for years to come.

Thank You to All and With Much Love,

Sandy Creelman

New Bern NC

Buttons, a beautiful doe that was rescued and raised by the Browns, had reached the age of 13. Although roaming free, she visited Lorrie and her family on a daily basis, and Lorrie shared so much of her life with us in video and photos. Buttons was one of the most loving wonderful creatures that has given us so much joy and beauty. Sadly, on 10/25/2024, Buttons was was hit and killed by a car.

Like many of you seeing this, I spent almost every day watching the Brown family and Lorrie interacting with Buttons. Over the years, her babies have populated quite a herd on the Brown farm. Watching them grow up was amazing.

Also, like many of you, I was devastated to hear of Buttons passing. It broke my heart. I cannot imagine the grief Lorrie and her family are going through right now.

But even though we never personally met either the family or Buttons, after spending so much time with her, most of us were emotionally attached. For me, after processing that initial grief, I wanted to do more than just condolences.

I wanted to do something in memory of Buttons and came up with the idea of an "Apple Orchard for Buttons". I remember how much Buttons loved those apple tree leaves.

If you want to do something special, help me raise enough here for Lorrie to purchase 15 to 20 potted apple trees to plant in the spring somewhere near her grave or wherever they would best grow. The funds will go directly to Lorrie and will be used to purchase those trees and supplies from the Arbor Day Foundation. Anything left over will be used for feed for the deer.

Thank you for your time. I will miss Buttons tremendously. She was part of my day for several years now. I know many of you are as heartbroken as I am and hope that building this orchard will help.

Thank you,

Sandy Creelman

New Bern NC