Oh Say Can You See

From the floor of the Verizon Center, and on the four 350 square foot HD screens above the arena, came the voice and beaming face of a Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic SuperStar, Zhane, singing her powerful and moving rendition of the national anthem to an excited crowd at Saturday night’s Washington Mystics game against the visiting Chicago Sky. One entire section of the stadium was paying particular attention to the performance – a section filled with Starlight families celebrating one of their own.

After the singing and the congratulating, the game started and it was a fantastic one. Close the whole way through, with 18 lead changes. Washington led 38-42 at the end of the first half but Chicago had taken the lead at 58-57 by the end of the third. In the fourth quarter, there was no letup. With 20 seconds left in the game, a free throw gave Washington a 3-point lead. A Chicago layup brought the game to within 1 with 4.7 seconds left and Chicago fouled immediately on the Washington inbound pass. Washington missed both free throws and Chicago got the rebound on the second miss and pushed the ball up the court. With only 7/10 of a second left in the game, Washington fouled Chicago’s shooter on a 3-point attempt. The crowd groaned, then erupted at the call. Not intimidated by the hostile home crowd, Chicago hit the first two free throws for a 71-70 lead, then intentionally hit the rim on the third free throw to start the clock and end the game. Such a disappointing setback for a Washington team struggling through a tough season.

But on the way out of the arena, hearing all of the local fans say, as you would expect them to, that the last foul just wasn’t fair, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the perspective a Starlight volunteer learns. It would have been great for the local team to have gotten the call and won the game, but in the whole world of what is and isn’t important, of what is and isn’t fair, the outcome of a game of basketball falls pretty far below the health of a child. The victories and setbacks our families experience every day.

So, walking out of the arena, remembering the smile and voice of a happy Starlight child as she sang for her family, her friends, and her community, the final score of the game really didn’t matter. What mattered was a night with Starlight families sharing their love and strength with each other.

-Rob Simpson, Starlight MidAtlantic Volunteer

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

 

Starlight MidAtlantic Nats and Phillies fans came together for this amazing event

Last Sunday, August 21st, Starlight Children’s Foundation™ MidAtlantic took 30 families to a Washington National’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Starlight families from Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, and Virginia braved traffic, the August summer heat, and thunderstorms to come to the game.  Starlight Phillies and Nationals fans traveled from all over the area to take advantage of this fun summer Great Escape™, the furthest family came from over 3 and a half hours away!

 

The baseball game was an exciting and much needed distraction for the Starlight families who came out to support their favorite teams.  One family told Starlight, “Thanks so much for the tickets.  Both of our boys enjoyed the game, despite the rain delays…Plus we sat right next another family who lives right in our town and it was good to chat with them as their daughter is going through similar challenges to our son. Thanks again for keeping smiles on their faces. ”

 

 

 

Even the slight delay due to lightening and rain did not deter the families from enjoying the close game with the Nationals taking the win in the tenth inning! Many thanks to  Starlight  MidAtlantic  for organizing this special event and making the Sunday afternoon a memorable one for so many Starlight Families!

-Caitlin Delaney, Young Professionals Council Member

Q&A with a Starlight YPC Member

We had a chance to sit down with Liz Hazuka, Programming Co-Chair for Starlight MidAtlantic’s Young Professionals Council. The YPC is having a meeting tonight in Starlight’s offices on K St. If you’re interested in getting involved or learning more email Starlight MidAtlantic Executive Director Barbara Schreiber at barbara@starlight-midtatlantic.org.

Photo by Glittarazzi

Can you tell us a little bit about the YPC?

The Young Professionals Council is a board of young professionals aged 25-35, who feel passionate about Starlight’s mission. We meet periodically to volunteer, fundraise, and plan Great Escapes^TM for Starlight families. Thus far, we have held happy hour fundraisers, helped out at Hospital Happenings® at Georgetown Hospital and Children’s National Medical Center, and planned a fun Great Escape^TM where Starlight families were able to go bowling with Starry.

Why did you decide to join the YPC?

I first heard of the Starlight Foundation when a good friend of mine began working in the New York office after graduating. When she mentioned that there was a YPC in Washington DC, I jumped at the chance to join. I am personally drawn to the mission of Starlight, as my younger sister was in and out of hospitals as a child. Joining the council was a great way to make a difference in the lives of seriously ill children in my community, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

What has been one memorable experience you’ve had through the YPC?

My most memorable experience working with YPC has been volunteering at the Dance Party Hospital Happening® we put together for the Children’s National Medical Center. We brought star shaped sunglasses and blow-up guitars for the children and threw a big dance party. They decorated frames and we were able to print photos of themselves rocking out with Starry! It was a wonderful way to brighten their days and allow them feel like normal kids again.

Why should other people become involved with the YPC?

It can be really easy to get tied up in your own life with work, family, and friends. However, it is important for everyone to get involved in their community and help in any way possible. Starlight not only brings joy into the lives of ill children, but provides entertainment, education, and support to their families. For me, working with the Starlight YPC was a great chance to meet like-minded young people, while working for a cause that is dear to my heart.

How can people get involved with the YPC?

It is really easy to get involved with the YPC! Simply go to the website and contact Barbara Schreiber via email barbara@starlight-midtatlantic.org or at (202) 293-7827. If you are not close to DC, there are Young Professionals Councils that meet in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Richmond.

-Caitlin Rush, Summer Intern 2011

Starlight Families Pet-A-Pet with Kiwanis Club!

Ponies neighed, balloons popped and children shrieked with laughter Saturday afternoon at Pet-A-Pet thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Washington, DC. The June Great Escape featured a petting zoo, pony rides, a bounce house, balloon animals, face painting and lots of cotton candy and snow cones; one boy was on his eighth helping of cotton candy as the afternoon was just beginning!

Starlight families enjoyed a care-free afternoon away from hospitals and doctors at the Stone Ridge School in Bethesda, MD. Families lounged in the shade as they enjoyed lunch and laughed at elaborate face paint and balloon animals. The face painting was so popular it attracted a line of children eagerly awaiting their face to be adorned with a soccer ball or Hello Kitty. The kids didn’t seem to mind waiting as they stood with smiles spread from ear to ear debating which design and colors were their favorite.

In addition to face painting, many children were fascinated by the rabbits and goats less than a month old. They got to pet the furry friends and even provided some suggestions for names! Kids got to feel like a cowboy, a knight or a princess on horseback as they rode miniature ponies around the school’s beautiful campus.

Starlight MidAtlantic teamed up with the Kiwanis Club of Washington, DC for Pet-A-Pet. The event was a great chance for families with children with special needs benefiting from the Kiwanis Club to meet and share experiences with Starlight families. Special needs and seriously ill children and their siblings had the chance to make new friends and wasted no time in doing so. Kids who had been strangers just hours before were running off to the bounce house in laughter. For some of these children, doctors and nurses are more familiar and commonplace than friends and peers their own age. It’s so important these children have a chance to feel normal and make new friends outside the confines of hospital walls. Starlight MidAtlantic hopes to continue to work with other community organizations and continue building these relationships in the future!

-Caitlin Rush, Summer Intern 2011

Rocking out at Children’s National

Here at Starlight Children’s Foundation™ MidAtlantic, it doesn’t take long to see first-hand what Starlight MidAtlantic does for the families and children suffering from a serious medical condition. I had been an intern for all of two days before I was thrown right into my first Dance Party, hosted by  Starlight MidAtlantic’s Young Professionals Council at the Children’s National Medical Center. Needless to say, I had no idea what was in store for me, so I got ready to head over to the hospital excited to be a part of my very first Hospital Happening™.

Featuring everything from inflatable instruments and microphones to hand decorated picture frames, this dance party was one that you didn’t want to miss. We had all different kinds of kids coming down to join our party, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. They were having so much fun that one boy in particular, John, had to be told to calm down a little because he was breaking out all his dance moves only an HOUR after he had had surgery!

It was great to see not only the patients at Children’s National, but their siblings coming down to decorate picture frames, take pictures, and even break out a couple of moves with Starry. Like I said it really doesn’t take long to see what an impact Starlight MidAtlantic has on the families and children with serious illnesses. Seeing the kids’ faces light up at the sight of a party or a wagon filled with toys and books makes it easy for me to see that organizations like Starlight MidAtlantic are working to make a difference in the world of someone who needs it.

After only a day and a night full of new friends and memories, it is clearer now more than ever that this is the kind of organization I want to be a part of.  So with the Jonas Brothers booming through the speakers and Starry rocking the air guitar, I spent the second day of my internship rocking out!

-Gabriela Borray, Summer Intern 2011

Treasures and Treats at the Mansion on O Street!

As a new intern at Starlight MidAtlantic, I had never before attended a Great Escape. I had heard plenty about them but had never witnessed one for myself. Last Sunday I finally got the chance to attend my first Great Escape: Treasures and Treats at the Mansion on O Street and boy was I amazed.

If  you are unfamiliar with the Mansion it is rather hard to explain. The owner of the building took over 5 adjacent town houses and created a massive hotel/museum/event space.  There is stuff everywhere! I mean on the ceiling, under the chairs, there’s art in the bathroom, books cover the walls and everything is for sale. Every room is different. It’s like being in a giant I Spy book. What’s especially cool are the 32 secret doors scattered around the building. One moment you’re looking at yourself in the framed floor-to-ceiling mirror and the next someone’s walking out from behind it. Or you’re trying to reach for something on a shelf and you realize that the whole shelf moves and reveals and entirely new set of rooms. Needless to say, the setting was incredible. That is why it made the perfect backdrop for our Starlight Treasure Hunt.

When I arrived the first thing I saw was the food…EVERYWHERE. There was the obvious breakfast food but the real hit was the candy and dessert that lined the entire wall in the dining room. A chocolate waterfall sat in the middle surrounded by cookies, and lollipops and rice crispy treats (along with countless other deserts), all waiting for the kids to arrive. If you can imagine merging Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Alice and Wonderland you could only begin to imagine the scene I was witnessing. It was perfect.

The families arrived and for the first hour they all ate and mingled. If the children weren’t mesmerized by the Oreos and candy, they were itching to begin the treasure hunt. Once they were loaded up with sugar and breakfast we began the main event. The hunt was really just a chance for everyone to explore the house. There was a list of things for them to look for (posters, statues, symbols, etc.) and the families began to walk or run (depending how much of the desert bar they consumed) about the Mansion.

Once the items were found and the sugar rush began to wear off, the children convened in the 2^nd floor living room for some music. There was a band playing guitar and singing children’s songs while the kids sat with their parents and siblings shaking shakers and singing along. At the end of the day, each child got their chance to take a small piece of the mansion home with them as a souvenir from their Treasure Hunt at the Mansion on O Street.  Watching everyone so enthralled by the music and the atmosphere was a memory I will keep forever.

When I began my internship I was told that the kids I would see while working at Starlight would not be sick kids. I didn’t understand what that meant at first.  But after seeing this event and the kids running around, smiling, singing, and making friends, I finally understood. Most of these kids are sick or have injuries, but that is not defining them.

Events like these afford them the escape they need from their daily rituals of hospitals and medicines and worries. They were not just sick kids, they were happy kids, and excited kids, just enjoying time with their families, and their families shared the same excitement to spend time with them.

Just something as simple as a treasure hunt gives these children a chance to be kids again.

–Julia Sigal, Spring Intern 2011

The Great Urban Race!

I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived for the Great Urban Race at Stadium Armory on Saturday morning.  Dressed in a purple Starlight shirt, yellow shorts, purple tights, yellow ankle warmers, and a purple and yellow headband, I was ready for anything.

After my partner and I received our race bibs, we congregated among hundreds of other Great Urban Racers, eagerly and anxiously awaiting the challenge.  The 12 clues were distributed and it was a mad dash back to the metro to tackle each riddle, puzzle, and activity.

My intense focus precluded me from thinking about how ridiculous I looked dressed in a mish mash of purple and yellow, stumbling over pedestrians and dodging cars to get from clue to clue.  The challenges were anything from karaoke at Madam’s Organ, to yoga at Stroga, to kissing a rose bush, to identifying beer at Pizza Paradiso, to throwing pennies into top hats at Ford’s Theater.  As the local charity partner, Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic was incorporated into the event.  The Great Urban Race instructed participants to donate a child’s birthday card to the Starlight MidAtlantic tent in Dupont Circle.  Although it was raining, it looked like Starry was having a blast greeting the racers and bystanders!

All in all, the name “Great Urban Race” entirely fit the bill; the race was certainly urban as I was dashing through the multitude of tourists and residents out and about on Saturday, the event was absolutely a race as my partner and I sprinted from clue to clue, and, of course, a great time was had by all as we explored the city in a new way and challenged ourselves physically and mentally.

My team just missed qualifying for nationals due to just missing a metro and having to wait an extra 18 minutes for the next one, but we can’t wait to dominate next year’s race!  Thanks to the Great Urban Race for a fantastic event and for including Starlight MidAtlantic!

-Nicole Kennedy, Community Outreach Coordinator

Clowning Around from the YPC Perspective

As a new member of the Starlight Mid-Atlantic Young Professionals Council, I was so excited to get to join the Starlight families for a fun day at the circus. Members of the YPC arrived early at the Verizon Center so that we could hand out rainbow clown wigs and red noses, as well as food vouchers to the 26 Starlight families who attended. Once the kids were dressed for the part, we headed up to our seats to enjoy “The Greatest Show on Earth!” It was incredibly gratifying to see the joy on the faces of the children as we watched the flying trapeze artists flip through the air and the dozens of silly clowns pile out of a minuscule car. Richard, the Starlight child who I had the pleasure of sitting with, agreed with me that the best parts were the tigers and the trampolines!

As a first-time attendee of a Great Escape, I was blown away by the positive energy and upbeat attitudes of all of the Starlight families. It was great to see first-hand the inspirational people that our Young Professionals Council is working to impact. I am so glad to have become a part of the Starlight family. I can’t wait to see you all again at the next Great Escape!

-Claire Duffy, Young Professionals Council

Monster Jam & Pit Party!!

A crew of 122, including 9 new families joined Starlight MidAtlantic and got revved up for Monster Jam and a Pit Party at the Verizon Center in DC on Saturday. Early in the day, families got the chance to explore the pit and pose for pictures with the trucks and the drivers. After the party, families were given McDonalds’ gift cards for lunch, and then headed back to the Verizon Center for the show. Clad in Starlight purple ear buds and monster truck tattoos, everyone watched with excitement and cheered on their favorite trucks.

-Nicole Kennedy, Community Outreach Coordinator

Cirque Dreams Holidaze

In December, Starlight MidAtlantic enjoyed the show Cirque Dreams Holidaze thanks to a generous donation of tickets from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Starlight families travelled by car, train, metro and shuttle for the event, filling 119 seats at the show. Everyone watched in amazement as the holiday-themed characters adorned elaborate costumes and performed acts of astonishment. One Starlight mother described it best:

“We took in a most amazing sight of human skill and body maneuvering ever seen. The music, lights, costumes, and theatrical presentations were an opportunity to have our family transported to an imaginary land of holiday daze and awe.”

It certainly was the perfect event to get everyone smiling and into the holiday spirit! Thanks so much to the Kennedy Center and the Cirque Dreams Holidaze cast and company for the incredible show!