Sunday, May 15, 2016

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2009. Mattie was with two of my students, Ariel and Tess. Ironically both of these women are now nurses! Mattie had a wonderful day at the walk his community planned for him! I just loved seeing him smile that day, it was a very memorable day and every time we plan a walk and are on that track, I can't help but be transformed back to May 11, 2009. 


Quote of the day: A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal. ~ Steve Maraboli

The Walk was a HUGE success today. I don't say that lightly because I am usually my worst critic. Not only did we exceed our targeted goal, but I could sense the energy in the air. People of all ages were having a great time.

The weather however was one for the books! It was cold this morning and throughout the day we had 30mph winds which made set up with tents and tablecloths down right impossible. We spent over an hour trying to comply with fire, safety and health inspections. Tents were almost airborne, flames to cook food were being blown out in the wind, and forget the moon bounces. They couldn't be inflated in 30 MPH winds. Yet as this photo shows, we had a record breaking registration!

We had 13 teams this year. As you can see Team SSSAS 2020 (Mattie's graduating class, lead by Mattie's "girlfriend" Charlotte) was a huge team!

A photos of the Walk and our "Faces of Hope" posters. These posters feature the courage, beauty, and strength of children and teens who survived childhood cancer. Of course because one survives cancer, doesn't mean that the psychological battle isn't over. That lasts a lifetime. 

The corn hole boards were a HUGE success!!! People were very energized by them and this made Peter and me very happy because they were LABOR of LOVES for Peter. 

Top Prize (iPad mini) went to Mike Grusholt

Second Prize (2 nats tickets, 4 potomac national tickets, and 10 raffle tickets) went to Alice Hurley

Third Prize ($25 restaurant gift card and 5 raffle tickets) went to Sue Whitney

This is what our cup tally board by our cup challenge wall looked it! The wall was filled with cups and our teams and individual walkers met our grandparent challenge. Which means that Mattie's grand parents will donate $3,000 for us to start up a second snack cart. Our first cart exists at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and the new cart will go to Children's Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore!

Team SAINTS (students from St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School, Alexandria, VA) won the cup challenge as their team of OVER 40 students walked over 60 miles collectively and had the most cups in our challenge wall.