Our Family Relations Co-Chair, Joe Altizer, has a few words to describe his day volunteering at tree climbing therapy last week:

When I was growing up, as with most people, I took for granted the fact I could do something as simple as climb a tree. The Tree Climbing therapy does an amazing thing by giving some pretty great kids the ability to do this, that otherwise would not be able to. They were able to climb this tree and look down upon their families, friends, and for some their wheelchairs! I didn’t think it was possible to see anyone smile as much as these kids did that day. Many of them didn’t want to come down at all! I am so grateful to have been part of this and thank Dance Marathon to be able to give me the opportunity to help with this amazing therapy.

How would you like to help a child who has received an organ transplant have a life-changing camp experience?  Camp Michitanki is celebrating the 10^th year of serving transplant kids from around the State of Michigan, Chicago and Ohio by providing a one-week residential camp session.  Camp Michitanki hosts a very typical camp program with the goals being of providing our campers a typical summer camp experience in the same manner as their friends.

Camp Michitanki 2012 will be held June 23-30 at a camp just north of Ann Arbor in Holly, Michigan.  We are recruiting volunteer staff members who are at least 19 years of age and available the entire week to help make camp possible – we had more than 90 campers last year and expect similar numbers for our 10^th year!

We will host group interviews for new volunteers as an opportunity for us to get to know you and for you to get to know Camp Michitanki in March and staff decisions will be made by March 30th.  Staff training will be held on Saturday June 2^nd from 9 AM – 3 PM and be held in Ann Arbor.

Our volunteer application is here Register On-line  You will need to create an account and then complete the on-line forms.  You will receive a confirmation e-mail with additional forms that must be completed, signed and returned via fax – do not use a cover letter or include the instruction pages that print with the forms when you send back the bar-coded forms.

Please contact Patrick Smith at patrick@northstarreach.org with any questions.  A week at camp is life-changing experience for both camper and volunteers – thank you for considering changing a child’s life!

Please share this information with anyone who may be interested in camp this year.

Sincerely,

Doug Armstrong, RN, MS
Camp Michitanki Director
300 North Ingalls Street, RM 4C01
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5475

On January 21st, we held our first ever Adaptive Sports Day! The event helped to showcase the amazing therapies and activities that DMUM kids participate in. Adaptive Sports day featured performances as well as interactive therapy demonstrations from several local therapy programs which kept both the kids and  the dancers engaged and entertained. Many kids were able to use the event as an opportunity to show their teams the cool things they have been learning in therapy, and parents enjoyed having the chance to talk one-on-one with therapists and explore the various recreational therapy programs available to kids in the Ann Arbor and Royal Oak areas. We had a tremendous turnout from dancers, who have continued to show an unprecedented excitement for our cause all year long.

Want to share a memory from Adaptive Sports Day? Leave it in our comments section below!

This year’s PJ Party was a ton of fun for dancers and families alike! Teams spent the afternoon their pajamas participating in activities which included cookie decorating, games, coloring, trivia and more! We also enjoyed a rocking performance from special guest Know Obstacles. Most importantly, teams and families had another opportunity to enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other better!

What was your favorite part of the event? Let us know in the comments below!

Pumpkin Carving is the first time teams meet their families that they are paired with for the year. It is also one of the first times that a dancer will see what DMUM is all about, by meeting the families who are directly affected by the cause! There were so many activities that the teams could do with their families! From the eye-ball relay race to drawing Halloween themed images on your head! Everyone had a blast!

(Click on the photo above to see more great pictures from this years pumpkin carving!)