A Day of Fun for Children's Health

On March 12, 2016 LadyStar Cleaning, owned and operated by Cheryl and Mark Peckham of Hamden, is hosting a fundraiser to benefit the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer through the Academy of Kempo Martial Arts “Help a Child Initiative”. This event will be held at Odie’s Place on Whitney, at 3352 Whitney Avenue, Hamden Ct.

There will be children’s events from 1:00pm to 3:00pm featuring magic and balloon animals by the Great Magician Sirico, singing performance by Kate Simpson and string ensemble by Maureen Ruhe. There will be pizza and soft drinks provided by Odie’s Place on Whitney throughout the children’s events.

Adult events will be from 3:00pm to 6:00pm featuring comedians Rich Cyr and Marcellino Moose, Extra Sensory performance by Keith Zalinger, music acoustics by Headspace and musician Tim Webster. There will be drink specials offered at the bar during the adult events.

Come on out to this great event and take part in the fun and don’t forget to bring your wallets. There will be silent auctions for a restaurant package with gift certificates from 10 different restaurants within the New Haven Area, a pizza package, jewelry, even a tattoo gift certificate plus much more. The event will also be hosting raffles for things such as a coffee basket, three tool baskets, AAA certificate and many more (to see a complete list of auction and raffle items please go to www.academyofkempo.com). This is going to be the primary way of collecting donations for the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer. There are other ways to make donations and help with this great cause; you can donate by going online to www.tommyfund.org (please make a note that your donation is going to “A Day of Fun for Children’s Health” fundraiser), or you can just show up to enjoy the festivities and bring your donation to the event. Any and all corporate donations are welcomed and encouraged.

Donations of arts and craft materials are greatly appreciated also. These arts and crafts will be donated to the Smilow Cancer Hospital for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology through the Help a Child Initiative.

The “Help a Child Initiative” is a program started in October of 2009 by Frank Ciarleglio, the Instructor at the Academy of Kempo Martial Arts in Hamden, to help children with life threatening diseases. The program is designed to collect items such as arts and crafts material for children as young as infant to 21 years of age. These items will include but not be limited to, Tempera Paints, sand art kits, bead kits, window painting kits, wood projects and jewelry kits. We are also collecting items that can be decorated, such as white tee shirts, white pillowcases, I-pod cases and cloth bags and general items needed to assist the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer and the Child Life Specialist-Pediatric Specialty Clinic at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and the Smilow Cancer Hospital for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. This is still one of our major goals with the program, but because of the great response that that the Academy has had the program has grown into much more. The “Help a Child Initiative” is also collecting toys, books, games and pretty much anything that a child can play with while they are undergoing treatments.

The “Help a Child Initiative” program also collects monetary donations so that the Tommy Fund will continue to have a budget built in to purchase what they need so the Child Life Specialist can work with the children who are undergoing cancer treatments. The money collected will also help provide financial assistance to families whose children are undergoing cancer treatment at the Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer Clinic located on the seventh floor of Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. The fund is flexible and can meet a variety of needs including: rent or mortgage payments, utility bills and other household expenses, wigs, parking for any patient's parent or caregiver, snacks and toys, games and other activities

Pediatric oncology social workers tell families about the resources available from the Tommy Fund. If they would like assistance, the Tommy Fund arranges to pay the bills directly to the mortgage or utility company.

Tommy Fund has supported programs such as support groups for patients, parents and siblings, creating the “Quiet Room,” a refuge for parents in the Pediatric Specialty Center, funding recreational equipment in the pediatric specialty center and inpatient units and sponsoring the annual holiday party for patients, family and staff.

The Tommy Fund for Childhood Cancer acts as a helping hand to the pediatric oncology section of the department of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine and the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, working alongside the dedicated professionals in the field. Through their collaborative efforts, they are able to diagnose and provide treatment to children with blood disorders and malignancies, conduct research and teaching in the field of childhood cancer, and support entire families throughout a child’s treatment.

One in every 330 children in the United States develops cancer before the age of 19. The pediatric oncology staff at the Tommy Fund for Child Cancer Clinic, located in the Smilow Cancer Hospital, treats more children with cancer than any other facility in the state. Smilow sees about 85 new cases of childhood cancer yearly and follows approximately 500 patients from diagnosis through treatment and by helping children re-enter the mainstream after treatment. Over the past 30 years, dramatic gains have been made in the area of hematology/oncology – in clinical and laboratory research, diagnostic procedures, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy – which has led to a current cure rate above 70 percent for most forms of childhood cancer.

For more information and to stay current with the sponsor information, silent auction items and raffle prizes, visit www.academyofkempo.com and follow the link for “A Day of Fun for Children’s Health” or call Frank at the Academy of Kempo Martial Arts at (203) 288-9990.