After postponing the QFAD Event twice because of the weather, we were able to finally host the event today @ Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington DC.

We had a pizza party for the patients.  All the girls and boys that were able to attend had a blast.  We did a Valentine's Day theme.  The children made V-Day door hangers, book marks and magnets.  A group of students from Georgetown University showed up to decorate V-Day sugar cookies for the patients and delivered them along w/ V-Day cards and candy.  We made goodie bags for all the boys and girls that could not come to the party room because they were in the middle of treatment.  We did makeup and nails for several patients in the outpatient clinic also.  I also left behind several boxes for the Child Life Coordinator to send to a few out of town patients that were not able to make it to this event but had attended one or two in the past.  We had in attendance and visited w/ 17 girls and 8 boys.

Patty Collins, FireFighter/EMT/RN Frederick County MD and Jamie LPN Frederick MD volunteered their time to assist w/ the patients in attendance today. 

QFAD MD Chapter was invited to participate in a special Oncology Event at Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington, DC along w/ the Washington Wizards.  The event was held outside on the veranda.  We had over 60 children in attendance.  The Georgetown University Athletic Dept was on hand to help out w/ the children.  Female Soccer, Male Football and Soccer Players were on in attendance.  Batman, Spiderman, and the Washington Nationals Mascot were hand to take pictures w/ the children. We had face painting, jewelry making, make up, manicures and craft stations.  All the children had a wonderful time.  A few players from the Washington Wizards Basketball Team showed up to play XBox w/ the children, shoot hoops, sign autographs and take photos w/ the children.  The Washington DC Station 5 Volunteer Fire Dept showed up w/ a fire truck and to take pictures w/ the children.  Radiah Hyatte  2006 Miss North America was in attendance.  I also had Patty Collins Firefighter/EMT/RN for Frederick County MD volunteered.  The University had a catered lunch delivered and desserts.  The children had a lot of fun dressing up doing crafts.  We have been invited back for the event again in Aug/Sept 2007.

I was contacted by Kevin Evans with MacKenzie's story and asked to do an event for her.  I contacted Sue Stuck, MacKenzies' mom, and told her about Queen for a Day and she said my timing was perfect because MacKenzie was losing huge chunks of hair and could use a self esteem/self confidence boost.

We scheduled the event a week out and she invited several of MacKenzie's best friends to come over and participate in the make up, manicures and dress up portion.  MacKenzie was anxiously awaiting my arrival.  She looked so precious sitting in the window sill of her house when I pulled up.  The two of us took to get other immediately.  She has the most glowing smile and wonderful personality.  We spent about two hours pampering the young ladies and taking pictures.  MacKenzie got to pick out her own tiara that was donated by a national titleholder.  A lot of laughter and tears were shed that afternoon and I am sure this will be a memorable occasion that MacKenzie will not soon forgot.

I ended up staying about another hour after everyone had left and just hung out talking and watching a movie w/ MacKenzie.  She along w/ her baby sister wants me to come back and visit them.  She has touched my heart in a way that I cannot put into words and I plan to visit MacKenzie often.

Just wanted to share a few pictures that her father took of the event.  The 2nd picture of MacKenzie is of her in knitted hats w/ pigtails that the local nursing home residents knit to donate to the chapter for the children.  She looks so stylish.  The hats are a really big hit with the patients when I distribute them to the hospitals.

We arrived at Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington DC around 9:00 a.m. to prepare and setup for the event.  The girls were anxious.  We had a wonderful workable area for this event.  We set up nails and makeup at one station, a station for crafts, displayed the tiaras for all the young ladies to admire, a station for girls goodies and boys goodies and of course snacks.

The event started promptly, at 10 a.m. and the DC Fire Dept (consisting of Willis Thomas, Jr., Robert Mooney, Mason James and JR Muyleart) arrived at 10:30 a.m. with a fire engine for the children to enjoy.  We immediately got busy painting nails, applying makeup, displaying jewelry, dress up wear and crafts.  I had purses and goodie bags on hand to stuff full with goodies.  The girls got to take their nail polish, feathered boa, tiara, a snow globe, jewelry, knitted hats, and pick out a stuffed animal to enjoy.  The boys we showered with a selection of firemen helmets, firemen face mask sets, police officer face mask sets, soldier face mask sets and hats.  They also got to pick goodies from the stuffed animal box, fire safety books, pencils, rulers, and a toy of either a car, legos or dominos.  We dressed the boys up in the firemen costumes that I had on hand and took them outside to climb in and on the engine truck that was provided by the DC Fire Dept Engine Company 29.  They also received a NYPD or NYFD t-shirt that were an 'in-kind' donation from Mr. Tim McCarthy and Mr. Geary Johns of EDS.  The firefighters interacted very well with the children.  One little boy lived in the fire engine during most of the event.  He did not want to come out.  We had all the children come down from the inpatient ward as well to participate with the firefighters before they departed at 12:00 p.m.  One patient who had just lost his leg wasn't feeling very well and seemed to be pretty depressed but once the firefighters started interacting with him and telling him all about the bells and whistles on the engine truck he perked up a little.  He really enjoyed putting on their official helmet and getting his picture taken with the firefighters and then when we went up to the inpatient ward he was up practicing on his crutches and took time out to take a pictures with our titleholder and enjoy his goodies. 

At 12:30 p.m. we departed the outpatient clinic and went up to the inpatient ward.  We set up the event in the playroom.  We did the same setup as downstairs with the nails, makeup, a Queen Picture Station, tiara display, snacks, toy display and crafts.  We visited a few of the patients in their rooms.  A few of them were not receptive to having their pictures taken because they were not feeling very well.  I left a few goodie bags, tiaras and boas for a few of the girls who wanted to attend but were unable to make it.  They are scheduled for treatment later in the week.

We had about 40 patients and siblings.  They really enjoyed being pampered and fussed over.  It did not seem like we were there for 5 hours, the time flew by because we were having so much fun.  We had a handful of wonderful volunteers on hand; Miss Candice Sample our titleholder, Miss Maryland Ethnic World, Mr. Geary Johns EDS co-worker, Shirley Brokenburr, EDS co-worker, my daughter Ashley Hickerson and cousin Rachelle Taylor.

Again, Thank You to the EDS Herndon VA employees for their continued support of 'in-kind' donations of film, dress up wear, snacks, fire fighter costumes and make up items for the events.

The following volunteers were in attendance:  Jessica Morrison Miss Northeastern WV, Nicole Lusk Tiny Miss Sunburst MD, Chanel Smith Miss Ethnic World, Phyllis Hoyer, Pat Meinhardt, Collette Lusk, Meisha Hargrove, Taralita Crafton and Capt. Robert Barczak and Capt. Raymond O'Brocki stopped by to drop off a box of toys and games.   Firefighters were from the Baltimore City Fire Department.  Our parties could not be successful w/o all the wonderful volunteers.

The space wasn't very big to work with but we set up crafts in the hallway and then the makeup, manicures in the room and took pics in the room.  Each child was presented with all their goodies and certificates celebrating them as Queen or Hero for a Day.  We were expecting WUSA TV9 there to film the event, but on their way to the tea party they were called to another emergency so they plan to attend the next event this summer. 

We had visitors to the activity room and we also visited patients in their rooms and also in the lobby as they were leaving after treatment since we started out on the outpatient side.  Then after lunch we moved to the inpatient clinic and had about 6 visitors there and took goodie bags to the patients that were not up to visiting the activity room.  We had about 23 patients and everyone had a blast! 
 

I received a call the day before with a head count of 27 girls and 29 boys w/ roughly 20 of them being teenagers.  So, I had to scurry around looking for items that a teenage boy would enjoy.  The girls I knew would enjoy the pampering and tiaras.  We arrived at the Inn about an hour early after battling the rain and traffic.  What a horrible evening weather wise; this function was rescheduled from February 28th because of a snow storm.  The activity room was huge and bright.  We sat up different stations; at the entrance I had Certificates of Appreciation for the children to sign so that I could send them to the people that had donated items.  Then I put the crown name tags that I had made for the children to decorate at one end of a huge table then spread out the rest of the crafts.  We brought along spring crafts that I had ordered from Oriental Trading.  I also purchased the door hanger crafts and self-adhesive foam pieces from the local Dollar Tree.  They are starting to carry more craft items.  Then 5 other stations for nails, makeup, tiaras, gifts and refreshments.  The children were sooooo excited they started to arrive early.  We welcomed them in of course and they got started right away decorating their name tags, making door hangers, fish thermometers, "Kids Rock" magnets, light switch covers and painting sun catchers.  The parents even joined in on the festivities.  Everyone had
a wonderful time. 

I could not keep count of all the children because so many were running in and out then going back to the residential area to bring in more friends.  I did not get as many digital photos of the event as I wanted because I was so busy taking the Polaroid photos for the children to take with them.  I went through 5 packs of instant film.  For a while I felt so frazzled and disorganized because there was so much going on at once and felt short handed with a few of the volunteers canceling but was reassured w/o having to say anything, that everything was going along great from the parents and the activities coordinator.  They were very impressed with the whole event and kept saying what a wonderful organization and that what we do is so special.

I invited two Title Holders "Miss Ethnic World 2005", Chanel Smith, President & CEO of  Sound Body Solutions, and "Mrs. Frederick County 2005", Dianne Ryan founder of the Jeremy Foundation - www.jeremyfoundation.com.  I also invited members from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad.  The children's eyes really widened when they arrived.  They transported EMT equipment on a stretcher into the Activities Room.  They also brought along several helmets and suits for the children to dress up in.  This was a huge hit, and they were so wonderful with the children.  Everyone was laughing, some were not
feeling too well and went back to their rooms, so we made up goodie bags for them so that the parent or their friend could deliver to them.  We did not end up with 60 children as anticipated.  We figured it was because the event started so late 7 PM, the children were either too tired, too sick or went into town for dinner with their families.  

The Activities Coordinator, called me the next day to say thank you for doing such a wonderful job and that the children were talking about the event all morning and wanted us to come back.  The parents said their "Thank You's" and said this was a wonderful thing we are doing, and that they will cherish the moments from the evening that put huge beaming smiles on their child's face.  One little girl hadn't talked that much, but she was full of words and laughter that night.  We had a blast.  One little boy, who was "Mr. Personality" scammed the volunteers into a game of UNO.   Another little girl talked me into braiding her hair.  She said, "I heard we get the full treatment here and that you do hair too!" I laughed.  She asked me why I was laughing, and I told her that "I am
just a very happy person and laugh all the time".  She made me chuckle with her way of asking for her hair to be braided.  I ended up putting two French braids in her hair which made her very happy.  Then she went back to her crafts and moved onto the makeup and took a picture with the Queens.  They all enjoyed this part and loved the HUGE Sparkly crown Miss Ethnic World wore.  I had a few volunteers cancel because they were sick and some were stuck in traffic because of the rain, but I did end up taking along 4 volunteers as well.  They always stick by me and enjoy the events.  We wrapped up around 9:30 PM so I took all the volunteers to dinner as a "Thank You" for always coming through for me.  Without the volunteers to donate their time, the parties would not be as successful.  

From the final tiara and medal count I figured roughly, 24 girls and 15 boys, OH...and 1 father and 5 mother's.  Everyone had a blast!!!  This event was very special because we had so many international patients.  A few were from London, India, Mexico and Brazil.  Each had their own family member with them to translate and wanted a QFAD in their country. One young lady that I enjoyed wanted me to paint her nails ten different colors.  We settled on two colors; one color per hand, so one hand ended up being Gold with glitter and the other a pretty deep violet.  Some of the girls would sit back and watch; taking it all in.  Others would poke their head's into the room and then leave but eventually they made it back to the event before we wrapped up.  I plan to return to The
Children's Inn in the fall.  My next scheduled event is at Johns Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Outpatient Clinic in May.

QFAD has brought so much joy and contentment in my life.  I cannot imagine NOT being a part of this wonderful organization!

 

Today we hosted a tea party at The Children's House at Johns Hopkins in the heart of Baltimore, MD.  Invitations were sent out 2 weeks ahead of time to all of the children.  We had replies from 10 children but ended up only having 3 girls and 2 boys due to the other children not feeling well and undergoing treatment that day.  This did allow each volunteer to take a child and give them their full attention.  The children got to make penguin and snowman crafts.  We also gave each child a goodie bag filled with makeup, jewelry, and LIVESTRONG bracelets. Each child also got to pick a beanie baby, and they received a stuffed bear and items from the Baltimore City Fire Department.  The room was very spacious and cheery so we were able to set up separate stations for each activity.  The children wanted to do everything and were excited to know that each of them were going to receive a tiara or a medal which were donated by Ms. Kimberley  Hulsey (www.dbkkids.com) and Ms. Kimberlee Ratliff (Ms. Universal USA). 

We had 4 volunteers (Pat Meinhardt, Roseann Eells, Ashley Hickerson, Rachelle Taylor), Ms. Chanel Smith (Ms. 2005 Ethnic World), Ms. Taralita Crafton (Baltimore City Fire Dept), and Mrs. Susan Guynn, a reporter from the Frederick News Post who brought along a photographer from the paper, to help with the children and media coverage. 

The parents were so thankful and overjoyed to see the smiles on their child’s face.  They all asked us to come back soon.  The children enjoyed getting their pictures taken with Ms. Chanel (Ms. 2005 Ethnic World) and Ms. Tara (Baltimore City Firefighter). The fact that they got their pictures signed and got to keep each Polaroid as a memento of the day thrilled the children tremendously.  In addition, knowing that they got to keep their tiaras and medals put a huge smile on their faces and warmed all of the volunteers’ hearts.  Everyone had a wonderful fun filled afternoon.  Once we got all the Queen and Hero festivities completed, the children dispersed and went to the other play rooms and the volunteers and parents joined them in playing games and conversing.

Specials thanks for continued support from EDS Herndon, VA employees, Loudoun County Brownie Troop 490, Kenneth Smith with Disaster Restoration Solutions, who donated the LIVESTRONG bracelets that are so hard to find, Ms. Kimberely Hulsey of Designs by Kimberley for KIDS and Teens www.dbkkids.com who donated the tiaras and medals, and also Ms. Kimberlee Ratliff (Ms. Universal USA) who donated tiaras as well.  Their continued support is what makes our parties successful.

My next function is scheduled at the Children’s Inn at NIH in Bethesda, MD.