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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.
Okay, so we're a little late with the e-newsletter for October – BUT we've had a few things going on, including Baltimore's Battle of the Paddles, the five day, 166 mile kayaking challenge, Cash Bash, our annual Seacrets event in Ocean City, our 27th Annual Benefit & Auction WITH the very talented and fashionable Stacy London, and a few golf tournaments in between.
As we look ahead to the approaching holiday season, we are indebted to our loyal supporters, our donors and our magnificent volunteers, who make all of the programs and services we offer families with critically ill children possible. Your gifts of time, talents and fiscal support MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Thank you!
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Baltimore's Battle of the Paddles
Speaking of physical support, we applaud the tremendous effort and determination of Team Max's and Team Mama's for kayaking 166 miles over five days to support Believe In Tomorrow's military initiative. The collective efforts of Ron Furman, Jason Mislan, Jessica Welsh (the only female in the challenge) Scunny McCusker, Sean Leahy and Chesapeake oops, Delaware Dave, raised over $60,000 for Believe In Tomorrow National Children's Foundation. The money is earmarked to support our Military Initiative. Family members, well wishers, sponsors and supporters greeted the teams as they kayaked into Fells Point, on Saturday, September 26, in the wind and rain. After a few candid shots, everyone headed to Max's Taphouse for a celebration and a warm welcome home!
Thanks to Bill Crouse from Sotto Sopra, Tom Brown from Greystone Grill and Darren Mislan and Rashad Edwards from Kali's Restaurant Group for donating your time, talent and delicious meals during the challenge.
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| Stacy London greets her friend Katie Stains on the Orange Carpet. |
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| The Justiniano boys enjoy themselves at the event. | Carmen Justiniano gives a heartfelt presentation. | The Ruth Family poses with Stacy London at the VIP Reception. |
The Bash...is all about great food, good times, great people and the CASH…
Beach Bash at Seacrets in Ocean City, MD was a huge hit again this year. Over 1,000 guests enjoyed a dine around buffet provided by some of Ocean City's favorite restaurants, including Adolfo's, Buxy's Salty Dog Saloon, Smoker's BBQ, Sunset Grille, The Greene Turtle, La Hacienda, Harborside Bar & Grill, Micky Finns, Outback Steakhouse, Seacrets, Station 7 Restaurant, Centerplace at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center, The Painted Pony, JC's Northside Pub, Village Inn, Original Smith Island Cake Co., Fisher's Popcorn, Fractured Prune, 28th Street, Boog's BBQ, Surfside Susan's, Virginia BBQ, Crab Alley and Bull on the Beach. Not only did our guests leave with full bellies, some also left with their pockets full of Beach Bash Cash! Eight lucky winners left with the big bucks, ten winners left with $500,000 and one 50/50 winner went home with $1750.00! It really does PAY to attend our events! Speaking of Bash's – a SHOUT OUT and thank you are in order to our fabulous Development Committee, who produced another successful CASH BASH last month at Bay Café in Canton.
Tee Stands for THANKS...
A big thank you to all of you who head to the green to generate green for Believe In Tomorrow National Children's Foundation, including Pulte Homes, who host the Pulte Golf Tournament, the longest annual fundraiser for the The Believe In Tomorrow Children's House at Johns Hopkins. Thank you Mike Trimble, John Pierce, Heather Szczepanowski and Kathleen Fornadel; Steve Hutson and all of the folks who organize the Constellation Energy Annual Golf Classic and our loyal supporters who head to the Golf Course in Ocean City, to play in our long standing annual golf tournament.
Notes from the Ride—A.J's that is...
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the ride went extremely well. The weather, except the first night in Blowing Rock, was great. A little cool in the early mornings, then warming up with low humidity and lots of sunshine for the remainder of the day. The toughest day for me was Wednesday, but after that it was smooth sailing. The Blue Ridge Parkway section of the ride was spectacular as were most of the mountain sections; lots of hills to work up a sweat with really fast down hills to give your legs a rest and get your adrenalin pumping. The gently rolling and flat terrain near the coast set us up for some very fast ‘pace lines' and great fun as we moved through the flat country at an average speed of 17 to 19 miles per hour.
We had a great group of riders from here in Hendersonville including Jay Tucker and Mike Thomas who were very strong and we worked well as a team. Our typical day began around 5:30am with bathroom call, breakfast, breakdown of your camping gear, lugging the bags to the support truck, loading up the water bottles, checking air pressures and then on the bike and away to the next town between 7:45 and 8:00am each morning. Our first rest stops were usually around 15 to 20 miles and then spaced pretty evenly throughout the day. Depending on the terrain the average days course was somewhere between 55 and 75 miles. We ate a lot of PB&J's plus loads of bananas, apples and energy bars. And we drank gallons of water and Gatorade. We even stopped occasionally for a ‘real coffee' and breakfast roll or a nice lunch in one of the small towns we passed through. We rode into the early afternoon on most days around 1:30 to 2:30pm whereupon we arrived at the next location, found our bags, and got out of the biking shoes, put up our tents, got a quick shower, thank God for the shower trucks, and then got ready for the next day. I was usually in bed by about 9:00pm.
Keeping track of all your stuff was a significant challenge, even with good planning and careful attention to detail. Searching for lost items consumed a lot of time for most everyone. Everything you needed or were looking for was always in the bottom of the last bag you picked up. With a total of 1500 riders and all the support vehicles we made a significant impact on any town we visited. Usually the facilities were very good and the towns did a great job of creating a festival atmosphere for us. It was a great experience and I'm thankful for your support and encouragement. We will have raised about $15,000.00 for the Believe In Tomorrow House @ Pinnacle Falls when all the donations and pledges come in and get tallied up. Thank you so much for helping us make this house a very special place for some very deserving families.
All the best,
A.J.
Two of our Hands On Adventure Partners offer families an opportunity to get in the ring and onto the speedway in Las Vegas, beginning October 30. Our friends at the PBR (Professional Bull Riders Association) will be at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, October 30-November 1, offering our families a behind the scenes tour of the world of bull riding; while our partners at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) will give our kids access to the pit area to meet the crew and professional race car drivers on October 31, at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It's not too early to order your holiday cards!
Please consider ordering holiday cards created by our very talented and creative Believe In Tomorrow children. This year, there are two new designs you can choose from. Check out our online store for more information.
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| 94% of all donations directly support Believe In Tomorrow Programs. |
Your dollars MAKE a difference.
Workplace Giving — Please select Believe In Tomorrow National Children's Foundation or the Believe In Tomorrow Children's House at Johns Hopkins as your charity of choice in your work place giving campaign. We are listing our designated campaign numbers, for easy reference:
For Believe In Tomorrow National Children's Foundation
Combined Federal Campaign/ Independent Charities of America: 11570
Maryland Charities Campaign: 2111
For the Believe In Tomorrow Children's House at Johns Hopkins
Combined Federal Campaign/ Independent Charities of America: 10703
Maryland Charities Campaign: 3218
Thank you!