September Issue of Frederick Magazine

All I did was ask them to mention that Kids are Heroes Day is coming up on September 6th.  They printed a full page article instead.  (How cool is that??) Check it out here.

John Sun’s Article

Check it out.  Kristina Negas wrote a very nice article about one of our aspiring heroes, John Sun.  I bet he gets lots of help from people.  I think he’ll be ready just in time for Kids are Heroes Day.

More Press Coming

Scheduled to appear in the “Slice of Life” section in the Frederick News-Post this Thursday is an aspiring new hero named John Sun.   I will update after it comes out.

Heroes (and some crafts) for Kids are Heroes Day

I believe it was the marketing director of the FSK Mall who had the idea of making crafts at each table for Kids are Heroes Day.  At the time I didn’t realize how good an idea that was, as the kids and parents have really come up with some fun and significant things to do.  The idea of the craft is to either raise awareness about the charity the hero is involved with, and/or to donate the craft directly to it.  Here is a list of heroes we have so far and many of them have crafts listed - I will try and update them as we get more information from the rest of the heroes:

MaryMargaret O’Neill, Julie Yankaskas:  MaryMargaret and Julie are collecting for the Frederick County Animal Shelter.  They will have a “Virtual Adoption Center” at their table.  What that means is before the event we will take pictures of many of the available animals at the shelter and reproduce them on paper.  A child will be able to select and name the animal, draw pictures of its food, favorite blanket, dog house, etc. on the page.  Then the young boy or girl will be able to take that picture home with them (with the idea of getting his/her parents to adopt the actual animal).

Rianna & Reagan Joy and Taylor Garner:  The charity these girls are working for is Justice for Dogs, which is a local organization bent on preventing the chaining of dogs outside.  Specifically, these funds will go to help people who chain their dogs build a fence so chaining will no longer be necessary.  The craft is to build a lapel pin that the child can take home, similar to the picture below:

Justice for Dogs Lapel Pin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kimani West: Kimani will allow the kids to do what she has been doing all along.  At her table kids can paint messages like “Never Forgotten” on stones to be laid at the grave sites of our fallen heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Kimani will take all the stones to Arlington Cemetary.

John Sun: Although John’s official charity is Small Angels Rescue, his passion is also to help families with premature babies.  At his table kids can decorate “welcome” cards that will be placed in gift baskets for these families.

Anna Lemick: Anna’s charity is Labrador Retriever Rescue.  At her table kids can decorate bags that will be used to hold treats for the rescue dogs.

Julia Lemick: At Julia’s table kids will be able to decorate and create holiday cards that will be sent to our troops over the holidays.

Mercy Blouin-Escoto: Mercy will have coloring pages at her table referencing children and MDA which is her cause.

Shannon, Todd and Amy McQuin: They will all be collecting for St. Baldrick’s, an organization dedicated to cancer research in children.  St. Baldrick’s coloring pages will be available for children.

Mandy Mossburg: Mandy will be collecting for two separate charities: Horsenet Horse Rescue and the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Walk.  She will have poster boards available for parents and children to sign in honor of those family members and/or friends who have been lost to breast cancer.

Courtney Williams: Courtney’s cause is Chase Away K9 Cancer, an organization determined to get rid of cancer in dogs.

Hosts for Kids are Heroes Day

As you may know, there will be a recognition ceremony at 1PM on Kids are Heroes Day at the FSK Mall.  Originally I thought that some sort of celebrity would be good to introduce them.  But what right has any celebrity, local or national, earned to hold this position?  This is an honor to recognize these heroes.  The right to present them should be earned.  That is why we decided to have local adult Frederick heroes introduce them.  I think the field of hosts is now set (in no particular order):

Jeannine Milyard: Jeannine has been a teacher for 30 years as a Special Educator at Rock Creek School in Frederick, MD.  Rock Creek is a level 5 special education school that serves about 100 county students with special needs.   In 2006 she founded the Believer’s Club; a travel club for children with special needs and their parents.  She takes the kids and parents to places like Disney World and New York to see broadway shows.  She has been awarded the Wertheimer Award for Excellence in Volunteerism multiple times.  Jeannine has also volunteered for Habitat for Humanity and a local soup kitchen.

Colleen McCarrick:  Colleen was one of six female finalists for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award.  When she was 12, she started something called Kids Theater in Myersville.  The summer program, which raises money for charity, has grown every year since, and McCarrick, a June graduate of Middletown High School, hopes that after college she can make it an even larger operation. She will be attending McDaniel College in the fall.  See the press about her theater group here.

Lt. George Thomas: Lt. Thomas has been a long-time volunteer firefighter, and has been a career firefighter in Frederick County for a number of years.  In addition to his regular duties as a Firefighter/EMT when he was assigned to the Operations Bureau, he was in charge of the Car Safety Seat Program, and he is very active in Scouting.  In his current assignment as Safety Officer, he responds to all major incidents to assist with and oversee Incident Safety.

William Derbyshire: Bill has been a professional social worker since 1977.  He has worked in Ohio, Virginia and Maryland in several different social work settings. He has been working at Rock Creek School, a local school for children with special needs, for five years as their school social worker.  He also works as a part time family therapist two nights a week at Blue Ridge Behavioral Health Services.  He has also coached lacrosse on the middle and high school levels for 15 years in the Catoctin area.  

Amy Dockendorf: At the time of this writing Amy is organizing a benefit concert at Cafe 611 for our American troops and the survivors of Darfur to be held Aug. 16th and 17th.  Read more about her in her News-Post article.

Press to Date

I suspect we will be getting more press soon, so since this is the News section, I thought that before I add links to new press I should have links to the press we’ve enjoyed up until now.  Kristina Negas’ column from the FNP started it all.  Then came the Channel 9 interview.  When MaryMargaret did her lemonade stand NBC 25 covered it.  And finally the Gazette also ran a story.  There will be lots more soon – look for it here.