With St. Baldrick's, the MHF Walk, several birthday parties and other functions behind us, it's time for a quick rest/hiatus this weekend. We finally have no plans ('cept J is working), and get to stay home for a change and clean up a bit. I'm looking forward to that (not the cleaning part, though).
The following weekend, on Sunday, April 10th, is the annual Camp Ronald McDonald Camp Walk for Kids which I mentioned a couple of posts ago. This walk/fundraiser supports Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, which is a year round, medically-supported, cost-free camp for kids with cancer and their siblings. Camp helps helps attendees regain their self-esteem and take a break from illness. They average 1,900 campers a year. Camp also provides family camp for children who are under the age of 9, and their families.
We want to help Camp to remain cost-free for these families who have all been financially inundated by cancer treatment and recovery costs, and so we have once again assembled Team Ryan & Bodie (Team RyBo for short), and we are asking friends and family to help us support Camp. You can do so by clicking on this link.
Thanks to help from family & friends, we have already started raising funds by having a rummage sale several weeks ago. As a result, we have been/are able to donate $200 to Camp, as well as to other favorite pediatric cancer charities, such as St. Baldrick's.
Camp is soooo ridiculously amazing, it's hard to put into words how wonderful it is!! At camp, the kids (and parents during family camp) have the opportunity to escape the day to day reality of still being in treatment, and get to let loose and have fun and be with others who understand what they have gone through. The camp counselors & directors are all phenomenal!!
When your kid has cancer, an experience/resource like camp is INVALUABLE. The ability to be able to escape the day to day reality of being a cancer patient or sibling or parent in an indescribable blessing! The ability to meet others in your situation who understand you is also priceless. We have formed strong and lasting friendships with several families that we have met at camp, and again, they have become like family to us. When Ryan was in the hospital, having them to cheer us on, pick us up when we were at our lowest points and let us vent the way only one cancer family can vent to another was precious and integral to our recovery process.
I know that St. Baldrick's just passed and we also asked for help then, but if you want to help and especially if you haven't had a chance to help, it would be greatly appreciated!!
I'd like to share a video about camp, made by one of the counselors. Keep in mind, these are all kids like Ryan and their siblings, just like Teresa & Jasmine. Kids who have been through by far, way tooooo much in their lifetimes, and camp gives them a chance to enjoy their childhood and restores their self esteem and sense of joy and innocence.
You can actually see Teresa & Jasmine as well as Bodie's sister, Autumn, and our friend, William, in this video.
If you'd like to join us at the walk, you are also welcome to do that as well. It's a really fun time! Click here to sign up for Team RyBo. We will be at the event at Exposition Park. Please contact me via email if you have any additional questions.
Thanks so much for your support and for stopping by. ♥
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