Chasing Their Dreams… “One Step at a Time” is the aptly named fundraiser/awareness event that will take place at the Tewksbury Memorial High School track on Sunday, June 24th. All parents and children are encouraged to join this “Kids Fun Run” and celebration of dreams.
Donations will benefit St. Jude’s “Who Just Dream to Live” and The Lia DiFronzo Fund. Lia is a 6 1/2 year-old Tewksbury girl suffering from a rare form of leukemia.
Registration starts at 9:00 am and the Run starts at 10:00 am. Each child who enters the fun run will receive a yellow star. Their dream will be written on the star and the star will be placed on the child’s back. Children may then choose from a 100meter, 200meter or 400meter run. Upon completion of the running, the children will receive a special certificate that has been personalized by their parent or guardian.
“As we move through the fast paced life, we will sometimes overlook our children’s creativity and talents that are bottled up inside of them. These little people are amazing. Many kids are only involved in structured activities and forget how to think ‘outside’ the box. Now is the time to give them the space and support to create and dream,” said event organizer and Julann Briggs, of Tewksbury, in a flyer promoting the event.
Tewksbury resident Chris Stone is helping Briggs set-up and run this event. She emphasized that the purpose of this day is to get parents to listen to their kids and to encourage their children to have dreams. They don’t need to be big dreams; it could be riding a bike or it could be bicycling in the Olympics…what is important is that children have dreams.
In a flyer circulating via e-mail, Briggs explained the goal of the Chasing Their Dreams event: “To allow your children to create and express ideas with no resistance and full understanding. For parents to understand how important their listening and support can change a child’s outlook and attitude to communicate. When we listen, we understand! When we support, we allow creativity! Let your child express their thoughts and keep an open mind. Our children are more amazing than we can possibly imagine and they have ideas and dreams that are important to them. We all can support our children more, and when we do, they will feel important and they will be heard.”
To the parents, event organizers send this message: “From now until the day of the celebration, explore with your child all possibilities and ideas they can create and express with your support. See if they want to dance, fish, paint, take a trip, write a book or a song, the possibilities are endless when we listen.”
In helping this project come to life, any contributions, participation, ideas, and support will be appreciated. Donations may be brought to the event or can be sent to Lowell Five Bank where a special account has been set up. Please make checks payable to “Chasing Their Dreams.” For more information please contact Chris Stone at 978-851-7780 or Julann Briggs at 978-804-1629.
Copyright 2007 CBLEGVOLD All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Friday, May 11, 2007
Room For Improvement, part one
Television cameras will be rolling into Wilmington on June 1st as Channel 7 News Boston films its latest segment of “Room For Improvement.” The Finn family’s 25’ by 5’ enclosed front porch at the front of their 1920’s era home has been selected for a makeover.
Last fall, homeowner Kristen Finn e-mailed Channel 7 with pictures of her worn down and rarely used front porch. In December she was contacted and told her room had been chosen for a spring segment of “Room For Improvement,” and this spring Channel 7 sent designer Melanie Murphy, of Redecorating By Melanie, to recreate the old porch into a usable space for this family of four.
“It’s a very surreal thing right now,” said Kristen Finn who went on to say that she hopes the room will be “welcoming, warm and cozy and at the same time have a garden feel to it.” Finn and her husband Jay want a space where they can spend time with their children Ashlyn (age 6) and Patrick (age 10).
Designer Murphy is ready to face the challenge. This will be the sixth segment of “Room for Improvement” that Murphy has filmed since joining the team in 2005. The homeowners gave her a budget of $2000. Her design team also includes an installer and a painter, Charlie Prokop from Custom Painting of Chelmsford, who is donating his time for this project.
According to Murphy, the biggest challenges in this project were “the fact that we had to put down a new floor and it needs a lot of TLC (tender loving care) and to freshen it up so the whole family can use it.” She went on to explain that the Finn family has already had a new floor put in and that will not come out of her design budget.
The floor weighed heavily on the Finn’s mind too. When asked what would she not want to see in her new room, she replied: “anything would be an improvement to what it was. I trust Melanie – the only thing is to not have the floor back!”
The rest of the details of the design cannot be released right now because, as part of the television segment, the reveal of the final design is filmed to show the homeowners’ reactions.
Since the first segment of “Room For Improvement” aired on July 14th, 2005, there have been more than 40 segments filmed all over the Boston area, and these can be viewed on the Channel 7 website. Each one is a couple of minutes in length and includes some background with the family, the work done to the room, and the final reveal.
Many segments are already lined up for the remainder of the year. Murphy currently has five more upcoming projects, some of which include a nursery, an office with a Red Sox baseball theme, and the waiting room in the Children’s Hospital Radiology Department.
The Wilmington segment of “Room For Improvement” will air several weeks after the on-site filming on June 1st.
Copyright 2007 CBLEGVOLD All Rights Reserved.
Last fall, homeowner Kristen Finn e-mailed Channel 7 with pictures of her worn down and rarely used front porch. In December she was contacted and told her room had been chosen for a spring segment of “Room For Improvement,” and this spring Channel 7 sent designer Melanie Murphy, of Redecorating By Melanie, to recreate the old porch into a usable space for this family of four.
“It’s a very surreal thing right now,” said Kristen Finn who went on to say that she hopes the room will be “welcoming, warm and cozy and at the same time have a garden feel to it.” Finn and her husband Jay want a space where they can spend time with their children Ashlyn (age 6) and Patrick (age 10).
Designer Murphy is ready to face the challenge. This will be the sixth segment of “Room for Improvement” that Murphy has filmed since joining the team in 2005. The homeowners gave her a budget of $2000. Her design team also includes an installer and a painter, Charlie Prokop from Custom Painting of Chelmsford, who is donating his time for this project.
According to Murphy, the biggest challenges in this project were “the fact that we had to put down a new floor and it needs a lot of TLC (tender loving care) and to freshen it up so the whole family can use it.” She went on to explain that the Finn family has already had a new floor put in and that will not come out of her design budget.
The floor weighed heavily on the Finn’s mind too. When asked what would she not want to see in her new room, she replied: “anything would be an improvement to what it was. I trust Melanie – the only thing is to not have the floor back!”
The rest of the details of the design cannot be released right now because, as part of the television segment, the reveal of the final design is filmed to show the homeowners’ reactions.
Since the first segment of “Room For Improvement” aired on July 14th, 2005, there have been more than 40 segments filmed all over the Boston area, and these can be viewed on the Channel 7 website. Each one is a couple of minutes in length and includes some background with the family, the work done to the room, and the final reveal.
Many segments are already lined up for the remainder of the year. Murphy currently has five more upcoming projects, some of which include a nursery, an office with a Red Sox baseball theme, and the waiting room in the Children’s Hospital Radiology Department.
The Wilmington segment of “Room For Improvement” will air several weeks after the on-site filming on June 1st.
Copyright 2007 CBLEGVOLD All Rights Reserved.
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