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We Believe — Believe In Tomorrow provides exceptional hospital and respite housing services to critically ill children and their families. We believe in keeping families together during a child’s medical crisis, and that the gentle cadence of normal family life has a powerful influence on the healing process.
The New (Web) Face of Believe In Tomorrow
Over the past four months, the Believe In Tomorrow communications team has worked tirelessly to bring you a more detailed and accessible web site to access daily, surf and enjoy. We’ve expanded our “For Families” section, making it easier for potential and present Believe In Tomorrow families to discover what our programs have to offer. We created a “Volunteers” page to provide a forum of recognition and opportunity for those who wish to contribute and give back. For our more web savvy viewers, we’ve crafted a social networking hub.
Please take a minute to explore our new site and take in the people and stories that bond us together. Check back often as new family stories, donor thank yous, pictures and video will be posted often. We welcome feedback at: info@believeintomorrow.org.
The following are what we need to get this project completed for the summer season and make this house a home for all our believers:
The Believe In Tomorrow House at Pinnacle Falls, set to open in summer 2009, sits just beyond the gate of a secure community, just minutes from Flat Rock, ten miles from downtown Hendersonville, and 35 miles to Asheville. Pinnacle Falls offers its residents the privacy to stretch out and relax in a mountain community with the convenience of a thriving downtown. |
Pinnacle Falls Falling into Place
A new Believe In Tomorrow Respite Facility is on the brink of opening its doors in the mountains of North Carolina. Soon, Believe In Tomorrow families will be welcome to enjoy a spacious, quiet time of relaxation, with easy access to hiking trails, soothing waterfalls, and more importantly: each other.
Before we can unveil this respite home – more than two years in the making – we need your help in putting the finishing touches on a unique and inspiring home that will serve hundreds of families with critically ill children for generations to come.
The foundation is searching specifically for licensed members of the homebuilding profession and companies looking to contribute services or goods to help make this project a reality.
Looking to contribute without the added pressure of a fundraising page? Know a great company who wants to help make Port to Fort a success with a donation of goods? Believe In Tomorrow is still looking for donations of several race necessities. The runners and walkers will stay hydrated and happy on race day with donations – however big they may be – from the items listed below.
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It’s not too late to sign up for Port to Fort, Believe In Tomorrow’s annual 6K race through Fort McHenry in Baltimore.
Port to Fort – top fundraisers
Some Port to Fort participants are racing ahead of the competition even before the race begins. These runners and walkers have gone above and beyond to support Believe In Tomorrow by becoming our top race fundraisers through Firstgiving.com.
1. Edward Brennan: $1,010.00
2. Becky Lambert: $770.00
3. Marty Delaney: $665.00
4. Josh Sutherland: $500.00
5. Victor Rini, Jr: $475.00
Other Top Port to Fort Participants:
The 70 FSS team from Fort Meade has the most participants with over 25 members.
Allegis Group IS Coffee Club is the largest corporate team with 16 members, while Morgan Stanley's For the Kids has 11.
The tightest race of all: community teams formed by groups of friends and families. The two teams with the most participation are Sarah's Brew Crew (23) and Life is Fragile, Love is Not (22), both led by Believe In Tomorrow families.
*Note: Numbers are current as of March 30
Thanks for being a believer!
Respite Spotlight: The Brewers Brew-up Support
One evening in late January, David and Jennifer Brewer noticed a subtle change in their one and a half-year-old daughter, Sarah; she started losing some of her coordination.
“Deteriorating motor skills – that’s what tipped us off,” says David. “Ironically, that’s the thing she is still battling now.”
A visit to the neurologist and MRI didn’t reveal anything at first, but soon doctors found the source of Sarah’s motor skill problem: a tumor at the back portion of her left shoulder. Two weeks later, Jennifer and David sent their daughter into surgery to have the tumor removed. After six months of chemo, regular steroid treatments, and muscle therapy, Sarah is slowly regaining the coordination (although she may never have full control.) And, with the help of Believe In Tomorrow respite trips, Sarah’s family is working on regaining some of their own coordination and normalcy.
April is the Month of the Military Child
Twelve hours after doctors diagnosed Cydney Young, then one-year-old, with Wilm’s tumor, Cydney and her mom, Crystal Young, boarded a plane from Portugal to Walter Reed Hospital. Two weeks later, Crystal’s husband (Technical Sergeant in the U.S. Army) and two kids joined the other half of the Youngs stateside to support Cydney as she went through rigorous chemo treatments, post-surgery.
“It’s an emotional roller coaster, so really all you have is each other,” says Crystal of the treatments and difficult times that followed for the military family.
A Day at the NHRA
By Jennifer Nelson
Believe In Tomorrow recently jump-started a longtime relationship with the National Hot Rod Association as a continuation of its Hands On Racing program. Hands On Racing, like all Hands On Adventures, is meant to ignite the imaginations of critically ill children and inspire them to follow a particular person or event, compelling them to focus on the future rather than present or past treatment. This season’s first Hands On Racing event took place in Gainesville, Fla. Below is a first-person account from a Believe In Tomorrow family.
The day started off with a brief ride from our hotel to the Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida. Upon arriving at the gate we were greeted by Chaplain Larry Smiley. Mr. Smiley then introduced us to Lindsey from the NHRA and his fellow Chaplains: David and Sandy. This was the beginning of a very exciting day for the Nelson family.
Follow Us on Facebook and Twitter
Our Facebook presence is growing and we’re enjoying seeing feedback on our walls and via direct messages. Here is just some of what our Friends have written.
Believe In Tomorrow Founder and CEO Brian Morrison is also now on Facebook and Twitter. Join our social network today!
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Send us your message via Facebook or write on our Cause or Group walls, or on Twitter, and see your name in our next e-newsletter!
Spotlight: The Lathwells Show Sibling Support … Eight Times Over
It’s a mild Tuesday morning and four Lathwell boys sport matching red thermals while finishing bowls of cereal around the table at the SunTrust Suite in the Believe In Tomorrow House at St. Casimir. Their father, Kevin Lathwell, energetically wipes down the table and introduces the grinning boys.
“They love it here because at home we don’t have a TV,” says Lathwell, who lives an hour and forty minute-drive away from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Hedgesville, W.V. “These are big hockey guys.”
A Rocking Good Time … With Pictures to Prove It!
Over three hundred guests followed the purple carpet into a soccer stadium to mingle with magicians, party with pirates, and electric slide with Elvis at Believe In Tomorrow’s annual Rock the House event, Saturday, March 7.
The Believe In Tomorrow benefit party brought some of Baltimore’s most lively guests to the Canton neighborhood. People munched on pulled pork sandwiches, sipped Basil 8 cocktails, and downed shrimp and oysters from Mama’s on the Half Shell. The live and silent auction drew some tough bidders; guests duked-it-out over a private party for 45 at Silo Point STYLE Lounge and restaurant year, a package of restaurant gift certificates totaling over $700.
Emcee Downtown Diane kicked the party off, while the Real Geniuses kept things rolling with 1980s cover tunes. Elvis and the pirates also took the stage throughout the evening.
As the Real Geniuses played their final set, guests drank their last orange crush, made their final bid on the silent auction and then wandered off into the warm Canton night.
A big thank you to all who made the party possible! You are true Believers.
Gear up for the Summer Season at Believe In Tomorrow’s Oceanfront Properties
As the warmer months arrive, the Believe In Tomorrow respite houses – The Children’s House By The Sea, The House On the Bay, and The House on Fenwick Island – are gearing up for another summer season. Here’s a glimpse back at the faces and activities that characterized the healing process last summer.
Is your little one the next Pablo Picasso?
Snap open the finger paints, wet the water colors, and tie on the painters jackets. The Believe In Tomorrow Children’s House at Johns Hopkins is putting a call out for child artists to contribute work that will keep hundreds of critically ill children smiling throughout the treatment process.
Over the coming month, staff at the Children’s House will collect paintings, pictures, and any other original artwork to hang throughout the hallways and rooms of the house in an effort to update the look and feel of the house. They need your help! Staff request that any children under 18 send original work on an 8 by 10-inch scale alongside a 4 by 4-inch picture of the child so the artist may be recognized for all of the hard work he or she has done.
Hurry! The Children’s House will only display the first 44 pictures received. Please send both pictures to 1915 McElderry Street, Baltimore, MD 21205 in a 9x12 manila envelope. Please don’t fold artwork. If you have any questions, please email either Tara tstradling@believeintomorrow.org or Danyelle dcrawford@stevenson.edu or call 410-614-2560.
Volunteer of the Month: Linda, the Super Volunteer and Maestro
By Mindy Weidman
The usual picture of a volunteer: someone who shows up at a facility to follow directions, rag and spray bottle in hand. But then there’s the volunteers who can come into a hospital house, manage its operations, put in extra hours at events, lead, teach, and basically engrain themselves into the organization.
These “super volunteers”, like Linda Piazza, who began volunteering at The Believe In Tomorrow House at Johns Hopkins about a year ago, always complete these vital and invaluable tasks with the greatest degree of humility. For Piazza, volunteering is just a part of life.
Interactive: Easter Bunny Pin
Submitted by: Dorothy Glewwe
Hopping with joy over Easter? Keep the little ones entertained with this bunny pin craft. The whole family can get the creative juices flowing, and you’ll have something to wear to your next garden party. Follow the directions below to create a Girl Scout favorite!
Materials needed:
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Directions:
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