Happy New Year!
As you can imagine, things
have been very hectic and busy, here at Camp Good Days, and the time just goes
by so quickly. We've just wrapped up our Annual Kazoo Fest, and our 35th year.
This special time of year
provides us with the opportunity to be thankful for our many blessings. Camp Good Days has so many special angels,
who in small ways and large ways, help us to continue fulfilling our mission
and who have helped me to keep my daughter Teddi’s memory and legacy going, and
for that I am forever grateful.
Throughout the past few
weeks, I have done a lot of reflecting on our 35th Anniversary
summer. It’s safe to say our 35th Anniversary did not go according
to plan. We had spent much of the 2013-2014 winter planning various events to
commemorate this milestone year, and were excited to celebrate our 35th
Anniversary.
As I’ve said many times,
life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. May flooding at our
Keuka Lake Recreational Facility put our 2014 schedule in jeopardy. With
consecutive floods that devastated our camp, we were unsure that we would be
able to hold any sort of activity at our facility all summer. Over $500,000
worth of damage ravaged our property, and we are still busy making repairs.
It’s crazy to think that
out of something so terrible, came so much good for Camp Good Days. The amount
of people who reached out and volunteered their time and services was truly
heartwarming. The overwhelming amount of people who donated money to help us
make repairs on our facility was incredible. Over 700 people volunteered and
helped us pick up the pieces of Camp during the first week after the flooding.
We had volunteers staffing the phones in our office, as well as at our
Recreational Facility, and received thousands of calls of people asking how
they could help.
There are numerous
volunteers who went far out of their way to come to our aid, but I would like
to take this opportunity to thank the many special angels, who without them,
I’m confident we wouldn’t have gotten Camp ready in time for our 35th
Anniversary Summer. The list is far too long to name, but you know who you are,
and we could not have gotten camp back up and running without you.
It is also the time that
we plan for the coming year and all of the excitement and unknown that goes
along with that. With that in mind, I
would like to share with you some of our objectives for 2015 with CANCER
MISSION 2020.
There has been a lot going
on in regards to CANCER MISSION 2020. As
many of you know, CANCER MISSION 2020 was officially launched on December 2,
2010 and it is hard to believe that four years have gone by already. We are proud of how far we have come in such
a short time and we are excited about the coming year. CANCER MISSION 2020 is based on a three-prong
approach of INFORMATION – CALL TO ACTION – ACCOUNTABILITY.
In 2015, we will shift
into the CALL TO ACTION phase, with the re-introduction of the legislation that
was established by Congressman Tom Reed, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and
Congressman Chris Collis into Congress previously.
This Holiday Season was particularly
difficult, and new cancer diagnosis, as well as friends succumbing to cancer,
really put a damper on the Holidays. Cancer is a disease that not only
prematurely takes your life; it almost humiliates you while doing so.
The recent death of Stuart
Scott is a reminder that cancer is an equal opportunity killer. Stuart led an
inspirational life, and blazed his own trail in the broadcasting world. Cancer,
unfortunately, doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, young or old, black or
white, Democrat or Republican. Cancer needs to be put it on the front burner in
America, and by supporting CANCER MISSION 2020, you can help us do so.
11,000 people die each
week from cancer. That’s unacceptable. What’s worse is that these people do not
live in a vacuum. They’re our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends,
or in my case, my child, Teddi.
I ask that, in 2015, you
make a true effort to inform your friends and family about CANCER MISSION 2020.
It’s a true grassroots movement, and your help can make an impact. CANCER
MISSION 2020 will save money in research efforts, as well as time. Research
will be required to be reported, even if it has failed.
Special thanks to all
those who have responded to our call for help in obtaining signatures for the
CANCER MISSION 2020 Petitions, both online and in person. Thousands and thousands have signed the
petition and we continue that effort, as there is strength in numbers and we
need that strength to demonstrate to our leaders that we want cancer to be a
top priority. Please share the CANCER
MISSION 2020 Petition with your network – people can sign online or download
hard-copy petition sheets at www.cancermission2020.com.
This New Year, I have made
it my resolution to blog more, and keep you all informed as to the progress of
Camp Good Days, and CANCER MISSION 2020.
To those who would like to
get more involved this New Year, and made a resolution to volunteer, please
check out www.campgooddays.org, and
be sure to tune into the Camp Good Days Radio Show, which airs the first
Thursday of every month at 5:30 PM on 92.1 FM/1040 AM WYSL Radio.
