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Despite litany of challenges, 13-year-old inspires others

At age 13, Gloria Mengel already has faced two cancers, blindness, two hernias and a stroke.

Read More at: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/20/3441690/despite-litany-of-challenges-13.html

Rob Loney and Thomas Charles shared their stories with Christa Dubill of NBC Action News yesterday.  It was telecast on Thursday, June 9th.  So far we have had a number of viewers reach out an pledge their support.  Thanks to board members Jim Baker and Tom Collins for coordinating the media spot.

The 2011 Supporting Kids Foundation Golf Tourney is moving to Deer Creak this year.  Deer Creek has put in all new greens and is looking to be in great shape.  The tourney is on June 16th.  We are looking for teams and sponsors.  For more information, check out our flier.

Thanks…

Supporting Kids Foundation Invites Everyone…

Please don’t forget to join us Monday, March 7th for our first Open House Happy Hour (Kids, families…everyone is welcome). Have a beer on us and meet the board that makes this machine work. Stop in for a minute or until Johnny’s shuts the doors. Bonus…they have half price pizzas!

Time: 5:30 – 7:30 (or until Johnny’s shuts the doors)

Johnn’s Tavern Off Ridgeview
10384 Ridgeview Road
Olathe, KS 66061

The Supporting Kids Foundation delivered much needed supplies to Children’s Mercy Hospital’s Hematology / Oncology floor today. No, not medical equipment, but Wii, PS3, DS and PSP games, controllers, accessories and arts & crafts. The foundation members contributed these gifts out of pocket as we continue to reserve the donations we receive for helping families directly.

Pictured: Rob Loney with Aidan and Keely, Kevin Wait,
Tommy Zschoche with Devon and Payton, Rick Ray with Maddie and Lexi,
Dan Prichard, Amanda Woelk (CMH) and Tim Lockyear

Amanda Woelk, Child Life Hem/Onc Team Leader at Children’s Mercy, coordinated with SKF on what was needed.  Amanda told the foundation today that these gifts help her and her team ensure the patients get much needed break and release from their treatments.  She told Lexi and Maddie Ray that she has the best job in the hospital.  She is certainly doing a wonderful job from our perspective.

During ESPN’s Jimmy V Foundation fundraiser, Dick Vitale spoke at half time of one of the games. During his talk, he mentioned the Lucy and the Weber family.

I think we can all share in Vitale’s sentiment that this should not be happening to children. Unfortunately, it is. There are so many great initiatives out there helping with hospitals and research. That is why SKF is focused on filling the gap by helping those families that are effected.

Supporting Kids Foundation is now working directly with Children’s Mercy Hospital’s Hematology/Oncology team to ensure that the the funds we raise provide the most value to those who need it most.  Eighty percent or more of the funds raised by SKF will be distributed to patients through the social work staff at Children’s Mercy.  The remaining funds will be distributed directly to patients from the SKF foundation.  SKF is an all volunteer organization that aims to keep its overhead at or near zero.

In today’s economic climate, many parents have reduced insurance coverage or have increases deductibles.  Many treatment options for cancer require that one parent quit their job or take an extended leave from work resulting in lost income.  It is the goal of SKF to help parents stay focused on their child’s recovery and not treatment expenses.

Working with the Social Workers in Hematology/Oncology is a big step for our foundation in that it gives us greater visibility to the needs.  In turn, we setup our patient grants to be used for a wide variety of patient and family needs to make sure that we maximize the value our donors’ funds can provide.

“Children’s Mercy Hospital takes pride in the care we provide to children in our community.  We cannot, however, do that alone.  The support provided by organizations like the Supporting Kids Foundation is such a relief for parents whose child is diagnosed with cancer.  The partnership between Children’s Mercy Hospital and SKF is crucial because together we can ensure that the money raised is used to meet the identified needs of patients and families.  We’re looking forward to this opportunity.” –  Kim Lovitt, LMSW, Social Work Coordinator at Children’s Mercy

Please help us help ease the burden for these parents while they help their children get well.

Our 2010 KC Metro Cornhole Championship was a huge success. We had a great turn out (32 teams) and very competitive play. KC Cornhole took home the title belts and the title of the best team in the city. More importantly, we raised over $4000 to help families with a child battling cancer.

We want to thank all of our sponsors for their generosity (see our sponsors page). We also want to thank all of the participants. Thank you for the positive feedback and desire to participate again. We will need your help if we want to make this event bigger and better next time.

Thanks to the Cordish Group and Johnny’s Tavern for providing us a great venue for the event.

Finally, we have to share this video of one of our board sponsors. This happened the monday after the tourney when we delivered the boards to their office. Awesome!

The tourney is almost here and this post is intended to provide the players and their fans with some valuable info. Please review the info below and make sure you are ready to play some cornhole! Let us know if you have any questions at kccornholechampionship@supportingkids.org.

NOTE: The Kansas City Marathon (race map) is going on that same morning.  Please plan accordingly and give yourself plenty of time.  Your best bet for parking is the garage under the Live! area off of 13th Street.

Teams can still register the morning off, but need to be at Johnny’s no later than 9:30am.  Any team that wants to play is encouraged to register online to guarantee their spot in the tourney.

1. Be at Johnny’s between 9am and 9:30am to check in. Matches will start as close to 10am as possible. We will finalize the bracket the morning of the tourney and announce the schedule from inside Johnny’s.  Johnny’s will have breakfast burritos available for sale.

2. The tourney is going to be scheduled in rounds.  Once the bracket is finalized, the first round will start at approximately 10am.  Each subsequent round will occur at the earliest, 30 minutes later.  This will facilitate the scheduling of the matches and should help you better predict when your next match will be.  You are advised to be at the court for your next match at least 10 minutes before hand.  That will ensure that you do not miss the start time and risk forfeit.

Once the bracket has been drawn, the schedule/bracket will be available at http://www.supportingkids.org/tourney.html.

3.  When your match is over, win or lose, you will need to notify the tourney management table (near Johnny’s Tavern’s Patio).  There you will find out what court you will be playing on next and at approximately what time.  NOTE:  Tourney schedule information may be available on this site via SmartPhones.

4.  American Cornhole Association* rules apply, but this is not an ACA sanctioned event.

* The organizers reserve the right to make adjustments to the rules as needed to accommodate the space and time constraints.  Registered participants will be notified of any changes prior to play. Deviations from the ACA rules are as follows.

• Rule 1, Section A Dimensions – The overall court length and width may not be 45′x10′ due to space constraints.  The boards will be the standard 27′ front to front and each player will have ample room in the pitchers box.
• Rule 1, Section A – Equipment Standards #5 – all board sets will have open sides.  It will be up to the players to properly score holed bags that do not stay directly under the board.
• Rule 1, Section A – Equipment Standards #7 – all board sets will be covered with a suitable playing surface that is close to, but no a high gloss latex paint.  All boards in the tournament should play consistent for all players and will be constructed the same.
• Rule 6, Section D. The game shall be played to 21 unless a team scores 11 or more points at the end of an inning before their opponents score any points. It this case the game is a skunk and the team that scores 11 or more points wins the match.

5.  Disputes will be resolved between teams.  While we want this to be competitive and fun tournament, please remember why we are doing this.  Good sportsmanship win or lose is required.

6.  The following establishments will have drink specials the day of the tourney.

• Johnny’s  $3 Miller Lite Bottles and $17.50 buckets
• McFadden’s – $6 Long Island Ice Teas, $6 32oz pitchers, 1/2 priced apps and $0.50 wings
• Ragland Road  15% off total tab
• Pizza Bar  $2 PBR, $3 slices of cheese and $3.25 slices of pepperoni
• Tengo Sed Cantina ($3 Silly Tea)

8.  Prizes:

Ist Place

Title Belts & Official Tourney Board Set with Bags ($300 value) + Entry into next year’s tourney to defend your title

2nd Place

Official Board Set with Bags ($300 value)

3rd Place

Gift Certificates

9.  You will be able to order T-shirts on a prepaid basis the morning of the tournament.  Just ask for details at the registration table.

Thanks for participating.  Don’t forget to tell your friends they can still sign up!  Make sure they are there before 9:30am.