“Sunshine Kids return to Steamboat for Winter Games (The Steamboat Pilot & Today)” plus 3 more |
- Sunshine Kids return to Steamboat for Winter Games (The Steamboat Pilot & Today)
- It wasn't all fun and Games (Los Angeles Times)
- Kids find it’s fun to run for a reason: reading (San Diego Union-Tribune)
- Fail succeeds in Kids Marianas Cup (Saipan Tribune)
| Sunshine Kids return to Steamboat for Winter Games (The Steamboat Pilot & Today) Posted: 07 Mar 2010 12:20 AM PST Advertisement Steamboat Ski and Snowboard School instructor Katie Zinn helps Sunshine Kids participant Alexis Sanchez untangle her skies Wednesday. Online■ Go here to see a TV 18 interview with Jennifer Wisler, director of children's services for Sunshine Kids. ■ Go here to learn more about the organization. Steamboat Springs — At times, Kristine Duthie looked determined, nothing but a concentrated expression on her face. At other times, she just laughed. Encouraged with positive feedback from Steamboat Ski and Snowboard School instructor Jessica Koenig on Wednesday, Duthie, 17, worked to perfect her turns in the Desperado magic carpet area at Steamboat Ski Area. It was only her third day on skis. Learning how to ski was an opportunity Duthie — diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in November — didn't think she'd ever have, especially in the middle of her chemotherapy treatments. Duthie, from Hewitt, N.J., is one of about 25 youths who made the trip to Steamboat Springs last week to participate in the Sunshine Kids Winter Games. Sunshine Kids is a national nonprofit group that provides activities for children with cancer. Through assistance and contributions from local businesses and organizations, the Sunshine Kids participated in a number of activities in Steamboat from the moment they arrived Feb. 28 through their departure, which was scheduled for Saturday. Since November, Duthie has spent every other week in the hospital. The Ewing's sarcoma was discovered during treatment for a broken pelvis she suffered in a car wreck in September. Doctors found a tumor in her right leg. "I didn't know if I should cry," she said. "I didn't know if I should scream. I didn't know. I take it day by day, and I work through it." The valueSunshine Kids began in 1982 after Rhoda Tomasco, a volunteer in the pediatric cancer unit of a Houston hospital, met a boy who wanted to see snow, said Jennifer Wisler, director of children's services for Sunshine Kids. Wisler said Tomasco wanted that boy to get his wish and that he eventually did. Sunshine Kids works with more than 75 hospitals in the United States and Canada to provide opportunities for children diagnosed with cancer, Wisler said. "It lets the kids accomplish and conquer: accomplish a new task and conquer a new goal," she said. "I think that's important for kids with cancer." For the Winter Games and other Sunshine Kids activities, the organization works with hospitals to identify children whom doctors and nurses think are physically able to participate, can fit a trip into their treatment schedules and will benefit the most, Wisler said. She said it's the event's sixth year in Steamboat. The children in Steamboat last week were being treated at hospitals in Washington, D.C.; Newark, N.J.; Chicago; Miami; Houston; and Corpus Christi, Texas. Wisler said the event could be positive for children who may feel isolated or depressed. Bill Copeck, Duthie's nurse at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Patterson, N.J., has worked with Sunshine Kids for the past decade. He called the Winter Olympics a "once in a lifetime deal for a lot of the kids." "I think the biggest thing is it allows them, her especially, to meet other kids going through the same thing, to show them they're not alone," Copeck said. "I think the other thing is it's such a great opportunity for the medical professionals to see the kids outside of the hospital, to see them having fun and not having to worry about their treatment." Community involvementWisler said the Winter Games wouldn't be possible without donations and discounted products and services from local businesses and organizations. She said they include Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp., Sheraton Steamboat Resort, Howelsen Hill Ski Area, Old Town Hot Springs, Black Tie Ski Rentals, Saddleback Ranch, Maribou Ranch, Johnny B Good's Diner, Ski Haus, SmartWool, Under Armour, St. Cloud Mountain Club, Alpine Bank, KPA Productions and others. "Bringing the Sunshine Kids to Steamboat is a community effort," Ski Corp. spokeswoman Loryn Kasten said. "Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. is proud to be a part of that effort. It takes a lot of organizations to make that possible." Laura Cusenbary, of Prudential Steamboat Realty, helps organize the Sunshine Kids' two trips to Steamboat each year. The Tour de Steamboat, which will be held July 17 and is preceded by a benefit dinner the night before, also benefits Sunshine Kids. She said Prudential works with Sunshine Kids nationally, so locally, it was a natural fit to fundraise and assist with organizing activities. Cusenbary also said it was a community effort. "Even in a challenging economy, everyone in this community pulls together to donate for these kids," she said. "Our entire community rallies around to provide these kids a great experience." Cusenbary added that it's tough to see children having to deal with cancer, but to see them light up, to see their enthusiasm, is the reason she's proud to be involved with Sunshine Kids. Up nextDuthie is scheduled to have surgery this month to remove the tumor. Copeck said Ewing's sarcoma is treatable. He said Duthie's surgery, which could require removing her leg, and the rest of her treatment will determine her prognosis. But Duthie, a country girl who likes to ride horses and dance, wasn't worrying about that last week. She was enjoying her trip. She said her favorite activity was sit-skiing Tuesday. "Her smile was from here to here," Duthie's friend Vicky Garcia said, pointing from one side of her mouth to the other. Garcia, 21, also participated in the Sunshine Kids activities. On Wednesday, Koenig, Duthie's ski instructor, said they were working on turns in preparation for Friday's final Winter Games event in Bashor Bowl. Koenig said the goal was to get the youths prepared to ski through the gates on the course. Duthie said her trip to Steamboat, her first time on skis, her interactions with the other youths and the activities they participated in allowed her to get away from everything else in her life for a week. But it also meant more than that, she said. "It means that I can still do stuff, maybe not as much as everyone else can, but I can still do stuff," Duthie said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| It wasn't all fun and Games (Los Angeles Times) Posted: 06 Mar 2010 07:38 PM PST After a horrible tragedy, a Canadian woman picked up the pieces by becoming the guardian of her five nieces and nephews and sharing the Olympic experience with them.This is the story that won't go away a week after the Winter Games ended. It is horrific. It is inspiring. It involves the anguished wails of children and one of the most drastic U-turns a life ever saw. If you think Joannie Rochette's heart broke in Vancouver, wait till you hear the tale of Karla Green, 34, who in an instant lost a sister but gained five grieving kids. Here's the hellish part, the part that makes you shake your head over a needlessly awful event. Days before the Olympics began, Green's sister and brother-in-law were killed by an alleged drunk driver 10 blocks from their Alberta home, leaving behind four daughters and a son, ages 4 to 14. It was 5 a.m. when Aunt Karla got the news. In hours, the registered nurse would leave behind her job and her condo for Red Deer, a small river city of 90,000 that is anything but Vancouver. In a move pre-arranged by her sister a year before, Karla would become the children's legal guardian. In ways legal documents never reveal, their guardian angel. Karla knew instantly Red Deer was where the kids belonged -- in their own beds, their old schools, surrounded by the pals and playgrounds they loved. Not that any of this was seamless. Though caring for people is her life's work, Karla didn't have kids of her own. She soon learned that her nieces and nephew had a million activities. There were financial concerns to deal with. Amid it all, there were enough emotions to stump a priest. So here's the unbelievable part, the moment where an ordinary someone looks tragedy in the face and shrugs. You think about it now and wonder where she got the strength, or if you could ever be half as strong. Because one day, Karla Green got an inspiration, perhaps divine. Amid all the crud life had suddenly tossed her way, Karla decided that she would take her orphaned brood through one of the most incredible stretches of grief counseling you'd ever imagine -- the Winter Games, 700 miles away. Adjustments on the fly The parents, Krista and Brad Howe, had both been engineers in Red Deer. They volunteered for everything -- sat on school committees, organized company curling teams, set up weekend outings. "They were such good parents," Karla explains. "Took the kids everywhere…it was always about the experience." Karla, meanwhile, had a different life, that of a young single living in Vancouver -- filled with friends, dinners, adventure. She loved to travel, and before becoming a nurse had worked as a tour guide and scuba instructor. Recently, she went back to school for her master's degree in nursing. Lately, life was settling down. She thought about having kids one day -- but that day was not here. With Karla's help, Krista and Brad had planned for a year on how they would take the kids to the Olympics, part of Brad's insistence on exposing them to new experiences. They managed to get tickets to ski events at Cypress Mountain, and while Karla watched the kids, some curling events for Mom and Dad. They planned on how they would squeeze eight people into Karla's tiny Vancouver condo. "It was a really scary decision," Karla says, explaining her call to go ahead with the trip. "My goal for these kids was to gain some security, and that as dark as things were to show them that somehow life would go on." So Karla went to work. With the help of the Vancouver Olympics organizing committee, she managed to trade the curling tickets for speedskating. Then someone managed to come up with tickets to a men's hockey game: Russia versus the Czech Republic. WestJet pitched in with the changes in itinerary. It would be the first plane trip for the four younger kids -- Mom had wanted it to be a surprise. So they were stunned when they arrived at the airport; the kids just assumed they would be driving. The trip was going just as Karla had hoped, lifting the heavy gloom from the children's shoulders, changing the backdrop of their lives. But as their plane rose in the sky, Molly, 6, looked out at the clouds and wondered: "Are we closer to heaven now?"
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| Kids find it’s fun to run for a reason: reading (San Diego Union-Tribune) Posted: 07 Mar 2010 01:43 AM PST Magic Mile, today's 8K race benefit literacy councilSunday, March 7, 2010 at 1:30 a.m.  John Gastaldo / Union-Tribune Participants in the 6-to-9 age group of the Union-Tribune Kids Magic Mile took off down Sixth Avenue near Balboa Park yesterday. The event is a precursor to today's Race for Literacy.  Photo by John Gastaldo - Union-Tribune After the Union-Tribune Kids Magic Mile yesterday morning, participants got the chance to show off their dance skills at Balboa Park near Sixth Avenue. Race for Literacy 8K Run/WalkWhen: 8 a.m. today Where: Race begins at Pan American Plaza in Balboa Park and ends at Pantoja Park, G and Columbia streets, downtown. Race for Literacy 8K Run/WalkRegistration: 7 a.m. today Start time: 8 a.m. Start point: Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park End point: Pantoja Park, G and Columbia streets, downtown Parking: Old Navy Hospital and other sites near Park Boulevard and Presidents Way Traffic closures: Traffic will be blocked from Presidents Way through the Laurel Street Bridge from 6:30 to 10 a.m. Most other roads along the route will be closed from 7:45 to 10 a.m., including: Sixth Avenue north from Juniper Street to Robinson Avenue, 7:45-9:45 a.m. State Route 163 south from University to 10th avenues, 7:45 to 10 a.m. G Street from Fifth Avenue to Union Street, 7:45 to 10 a.m. G Street between Union Street and Kettner Boulevard will be closed through 11 a.m. Shuttles will return participants to Presidents Way starting at 8:15 a.m. U-T Multimedia: For a photo gallery of yesterday's children's race, go to uniontrib.com/race-literacy SAN DIEGO — Tigers from Scripps Ranch, Roadrunners from Santee and Geckos from San Carlos were among the 3,000 or so participants in the Union-Tribune Kids Magic Mile in Balboa Park yesterday — a prelude to the 8K Race for Literacy scheduled for today. Unlike the 8K, a timed race of nearly five miles that runs from Balboa Park into downtown San Diego, the Magic Mile was a noncompetitive walk-run event that featured parents pushing strollers or carrying toddlers on their shoulders as their older children — mostly on teams from elementary schools around the region — chatted while walking the route. More energetic participants took the event seriously enough to run the mile-long course as fast as they could. Jacob Aries, a 9-year-old student at Willow Grove Elementary in Rancho Peñasquitos, kept track of his time and easily outpaced the 6- to 9-year-olds in his age bracket. Jacob said he ran the mile in five minutes and 59 seconds, faster than his 6:15 pace at the Junior Olympics in Virginia a year ago, a national competition where he finished eighth. "He's a real Speedy Gonzalez," said his mother, Maria Aries, a marathon runner studying to become a respiratory therapist. "He runs like crazy." A variety of schools and religious and civic organizations fielded colorfully named teams, like the Dingeman Tigers, Rio Seco Roadrunners, Casillas Comets, Green Elementary Geckos and St. John of the Cross Crusaders. The Knowledge is Power Program Academy, a charter school that has one Saturday session a month in addition to its weekday classes, incorporated the race into its schedule, fielding a team called KIPP Adelante. "We really feel good about running it, especially since we're giving other people a chance at reading a book," said KIPP eighth-grader Estivatis Cano, who walked much of the course with her friends Christina Mellor and Alyssa Reyes. Like the 8K race, the Magic Mile raises money for the San Diego Council on Literacy, which provides tutoring services and other resources to help local students improve their reading skills. This year's co-sponsors included San Diego Family Magazine, soft-rock radio station KYXY 95, Motorola, Tiger's Milk energy bars and the Ronald McDonald House Charities. In keeping with the noncompetitive theme of the race, each child received a book as well as a medal. And though there was a raucous party atmosphere with live music and games, many children plopped down on the grass to read. Sitting in one cluster were more than a dozen students from Morning Creek Elementary School in Sabre Springs, reading books such as "Magic Tree House" and "Bridge to Terabithia." Which did they like better — running or reading? "Reading!" said Fatima Nourallahi, who was engrossed in "Keeper of the Doves," a popular book set in the early 1900s. "I liked the race, but I like reading better." Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Fail succeeds in Kids Marianas Cup (Saipan Tribune) Posted: 07 Mar 2010 06:08 AM PST
Fail, composed of Clay McCullough-Stearns, Jake Lee, Christian Miller, Ilia Corella, and Minori Yoshida, went undefeated in the double-elimination tournament and clinched the U14 division title after beating Team Prodigy in the finals, 21-17. In the championship match where Fail had a twice-to-beat advantage, Team Prodigy looked strong and boosted its chances to force a Game 2 when it threatened the eventual champion, 16-17. However, good ball placement from Miller and McCullough-Stearns' intimidating presence at the net saved the day for Fail. Corella served for match point and Fail wrapped up the finals, as the ball headed to the right backline with Team Prodigy's Phalai Frink failing to return it. Joining Frink on the runner-up team were Poland Masaharu, Jared Sablan, and Frankie Camacho. Four other teams competed in the U14 division of the four-person beach volleyball tournament: Hot Spikers, 670 Blow Outs, Spankin' Swingerz, and Team Money. The weekend tournament also had a separate competition in the U17 division with Sons of the Beaches besting nine other squads. Sons of the Beaches, which had Dae Min Jeon, C.J. Libut, Angelo Salas, Minsung Kim, and A.J. Batallones as members, earned twice-to-beat advantage, too in the finals against All-Stars, but took only one set to win the U17 championship, 21-12. The victory was sort of back-to-back for Sons of the Beaches, as the team also ruled the 2009 edition of the Kids Marianas Cup, which then had only one age group competition. Sons of the Beaches swept Lamers in last year's best-of-three sets finals, winning Games 1, 15-13, and 2, 15-9. Besides the Sons of the Beaches and All-Stars, the eight other teams that joined the U17 division competition of the Northern Mariana Islands Volleyball Association-organized Kids Marianas Cup were Eat Some Sand, Jammers, Yeah Buddy, Same Same But Different, Girl Power, Pink Strikers, and Dalena's Team.
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