Hope everyone has enjoyed their summer, it went by fast. We have been busy at Cameron’s with fundraising, giving back to our community and assisting children and their families.
Fundraising
We held our first annual “Candlepins for Cameron’s” bowling event at Mason Bowling and Recreation Center. A big Thank You to our sponsors for the event, Quiet Logistics, Sterling EMS and Sterling Fire Fighters. Everyone had a fun time bowling, competing with the members of their teams. We were joined by one of our families that we have recently assisted, everyone enjoyed meeting them. It was great to see Paul running from alley to alley to visit with each group. We look forward to hosting this event again next year.
Giving Back
Mid-summer Cameron’s gave back to our community by volunteering at a local event “Nashua River Brewers Festival”, held in Fitchburg, MA. The mission of the organizers “Beers for Good” is three-fold; to raise money for a good cause; to educate the public about the great variety of craft beers in this region; and to attract people to the city of Fitchburg. To date, Beers for Good has donated over $80,000 in festival proceeds to local charitable causes over the 11 years the festival has run. Cameron’s has been fortunate to receive grants from them twice. This was our third year giving back by having volunteers help out, collecting tickets, assisting the breweries and helping clean up after the event.
Assisting Children and Families
We have been able to assist several families and children this summer.
We started out the summer presenting a custom-made bike to a young lady in Marshfield, Vermont. The bike was built for us by David Black and Anja Wrede of Rad-Innovations located in Cornwall VT. At RAD-Innovations LLC™, they actively work with mobility challenged individuals to build and adapt custom inclusive cycling and mobility products. We met at the local school and were able to present the bike to Jordynne in front of her entire school. Jordynne will be able to use both her arms and legs to ride the bike, therefore will help with strengthening her legs.
Cameron’s was also able to assist a family with the purchase of special eyeglasses for their son that were not covered by his family’s insurance company.
We were asked to assist a family that needed to install a wheelchair lift into their home for their three-year-old son. They were unable to build a ramp due to living on a hill. Cameron’s was able to partially fund the lift for them, enabling them to have the lift installed before preschool starts.
We continued to assist a family with travel arrangements and hotel stays in New York City, where they must go for ongoing treatments for their son’s rare genetic disease.
Throughout the summer Cameron’s has been asked to assist several families. Some of the families have reached out to us through hospital social workers at Franciscan’s Children’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital for help with everyday living expenses such as assistance for utility bills, mortgage and rent payments, grocery cards and gas cards to drive back and forth from home to the hospital to be with their children.
Making a Difference
Families must ensure their loved ones receive the vital care they need to survive. To do this they have to miss work for appointments, to be with their children while they stay in the hospital or care for them at home. Cameron’s is trying to help so they don’t also need to struggle financially. Without the continued generosity of our followers, participants and volunteers at our fundraisers and family and friends we would not have been able to help the family’s that we have.