TERRELL, N.C. – A new business is not only putting people to work, but helping families pay their bills as their kids fight brain cancer.
The idea started with the love between two little girls, an unbreakable bond between their parents and a desire to help others in the same situation.
Payton Wright and Brooke Haugstatter were inseparable friends until five year-old Payton died of brain cancer in 2007.
Now, Terrell-based Forever Frogs is keeping Payton’s memory alive and trying to give back at the same time. The business started in October 2011 and makes various types of bags with a frog emblem on them.
Payton loved frogs and they are a symbol of her strength and the strength others need in tough situations, Wright said.
The business is run out of Dina Haugstatter’s home on Lake Norman. Haugstatter is the company president and Brooke Haugstatter’s mother. Payton’s mother Holly Wright lives in Florida but visits Haugstatter and the business often.
“You can go to the dark side and do nothing or you can do something positive. We decided to do something positive out of something so horrific,” Wright said.
Peyton’s family went through their life savings trying to get her healthy.
“I had to stop working, my income goes down and I’m trying to take care of her. She’s paralyzed by the tumor compressing her spine and you just fall into this never-ending financial issue and hardship,” Wright said.
Roughly 20 percent of the money from the bag sales helps other families with gas gift cards, rent and other payments as they go through the same thing. The money goes to The Payton Wright Foundation, where it is dispersed to families in need.
“They shouldn’t have to think about 'Should I pay my water bill or send my child to treatment?'” Wright said.
Overall, the company has created about 10 jobs in North Carolina and Georgia.
Haugstatter says the bigger the business gets, the more money it will give to the foundation.
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