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VOL. 1 ISSUE 1
CAMP KESEM RICE MARCH 2014
Page 2: Learn about our up-
coming CAMP KESEM WEEK,
fundraising status, and dedi-
cated advisory board!
Page 3: Revisit our past Camp
Kesem Rice events.
Page 4: Meet Giggles, one of
our amazing counselors!
Community Outreach: Hospital Brochure Drop-off
CURRENT STATS:
Camp Kesem Rice’s silly coordinator team.
of camper goal of fundraising goal
The Hospital Brochure Drop-off, the first ma-jor outreach event of the semester, took place the week of January 27. Outreach coordinators Shilpa “Snoopy” Nata-raj and Julia “Scooby” Win planned a week-long event where groups of Camp Kesem Rice volun-teers visited various hospitals in the Texas Medical Center and left brochures to be made available to patients. “The Texas Medical Center is literally right across the street. There are so many hospitals with so many patients with children that we can help. This made it very important and very easy for us to go and spread the word about Camp Kesem there.” Scooby said. Visited hospitals include MD Anderson Can-cer Center, Memorial Hermann, Ben Taub General Hospital, and many more. “I think the brochure drop-off was hugely successful. It’s always wonderful to tell people about Camp Kesem in-person, and everyone we’ve talked to has been incredibly supportive of our cause. By reaching out in this way, we’ve
made mean-ingful con-nections with several peo-ple who can advocate for us, and it’s allowed us to make a big impact in the Houston area.” Snoopy said. With this event com-pleted, the Outreach coordinators have contin-ued spread-ing the word to other places. They are currently visiting support groups weekly, and are beginning to reach out to local schools as well.
IN THIS ISSUE:
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Camp Kesem Week: April 7-12
Restaurant of the Month: April 5 at Jason’s Deli
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Snoopy on the tram ride at MD
Anderson!
CK RICE SWAG:
Buy an awesome t-shirt! Visit teespring.com/campkesemrice. Last day to buy: March 23
To donate, go to campkesem.org/rice/donate
On the week of April 7, 2014, Camp Kesem Rice will present "Camp Kesem Week,” a publicity and fundraising campaign on Rice University campus. The main goals for this week are to publicize Camp Kesem and to raise funds for our cause on the Rice campus through a variety of events. The overall plan is to make Kesem a large presence throughout the week. The Camp Kesem Week Committee has drafted a schedule for the entire week, with at least one activity each day to serve either the publicity or fundraising purpose. “We’re especially excited about the closing event of the week, which is ‘Field Day’. We will be inviting Rice students and the whole Houston community to join us in this fun-filled event that features attractions such as carnival games and a food truck,” Daphne “Ducky” Chiao said. “The committee, consisting of eight volunteers, has been working hard to put everything together from scratch. It has been challenging but definitely very enjoyable and rewarding!” Everyone is invited to come have fun with the Camp Kesem Rice family all week!
Upcoming event:
CAMP KESEM WEEK!
The last Advisory Board meeting for the year was held on February
23. The Advisory Board consists of Dr. Steven “Isotope” Abrams, Tiffany
“Rosie” Akre, Marie Boone-Clark, Vidya “Comet” Eswaran, Amber
“Stitch” Masso, Ryan Meyer, Nicholas “Spaceman” Myers, Michelle
“Aunt Jamima” Parrish, and Marianna “Daisy” See.
Mariah “Bubbles” Lawhon and Stacey “Sunshine” Yi led the meet-
ing, updating the Advisory Board on progress made
since the last meeting as well as facilitating brain-
storming for various issues such as fundraising,
camper recruitment, Camp Kesem week, and even
camp programming.
“Each member really cares about our chapter
and our mission. We always learn so much during our
advisory board meetings!” Bubbles said.
These advisory board meetings were held quar-
terly since the beginning of the academic year in Au-
gust. Our advisory board consists of adult profession-
als of various fields in the greater Houston communi-
ty, who serve as dedicated volunteers. They are very
passionate about Camp Kesem and directly support
our chapter by serving as representatives of Camp
Kesem Rice in their place of work, supporting our
fundraising efforts, and providing us with unique tal-
ents, insights, and resources.
“Our advisory board is extremely helpful and always has great ide-
as, resources and community contacts.” Sunshine said.
We look forward to seeing our advisory board again on August 2nd
for our Camp Send-off with all of our counselors!
Fundraising Update
Online donations:
Offline donations:
Livestrong Matching Grant:
TOTAL:
$10,947
$4,719
$7,500
$23,166
77.2% of $30,000 goal
CK Advisory Board meetings
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The Camp Kesem family gathered for S’mores Bonding on January 26, joining around the campfire for Camp Kesem Rice’s first-ever all-Kesem bond-ing event. The event had everyone roasting marshmallows, assembling their s’mores, and enjoying each other’s com-pany. “I enjoyed having one-on-one or group conversations with people,” Jarvis “Android” Miller, one of the Volunteer coordinators who planned the event, said. “It was good just to catch up with everyone and be silly.” The GBVs were also given their first taste of Camp Kesem camp songs, in-cluding the “Hey Burrito!” and the “Llama” song. Android and Meera “Meerkat” Namireddy, the other Volun-teer coordinator, will be planning another bonding event shortly, aiming for the week of March 17!
S’MORES
CK PAST EVENTS More! and
After a competitive application pro-cess, the 2014 counselors have been se-lected and are currently participating in weekly training sessions to provide the best experience for our campers. One of our counselors, Ashley “Taro” Cha, said she applied because Camp Kesem’s mission deeply resonated with her. “My mom back in the day was a child affected by her mom's cancer, and I'm sure that she would have been really touched and moved by the camp if she could have gone all those years ago,” Taro said. “I thought that it would be an honor to just talk to and have fun with these kids.” Counselors are being trained on topics ranging from basic can-cer education and camper safety to handling homesickness and understanding the grief and mourning process.
One powerful training session led by Stacey “Sunshine” Yi and Sanjana “Yogi Bear” Puri featured the Empowerment Ceremony, where all counselors were linked to each other by a web of yarn as they exchanged the reasons as to why they “Kesem”. Training sessions will continue until the end of the academic year.
The empowerment ceremony.
Counselor Training Sessions #GivingTuesday This year, Camp Kesem Rice partnered with
#GivingTuesday by launching the #BigKidsGive
photo campaign! We set up a photo booth on
campus on December 3 so Rice students, staff,
and others could spread the magic of Camp
Kesem and the spirit of #GivingTuesday—and
pose with our cute caterpillar, Karl!
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Meet Giggles, one of Camp Kesem Rice’s awesome counselors! She is a ray of sunshine and seeing her is guaranteed to make you smile! Giggles is a junior at Rice from Houston, TX majoring in Psychology and minor-ing in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. She is super excited for CK this summer be-cause she loves working with kids and getting to know them on a meaningful lev-el. Through counseling, she hopes to create an atmosphere that is both fun and supportive for CK’s campers. She also looks forward to becoming a part of CK’s incredible community and learning the stories of each of the campers she meets. In her spare time, Giggles enjoys volunteering for various organizations includ-ing PAIR (Partnership for the Advancement and Immersion of Refugees), Rice Ser-vice Council, and Texas Children’s Hospital. She also enjoys baking delicious cook-ies and spending time with her friends. Giggles is an absolute sweetheart. She is truly the full package; she’s incredibly kind, hardworking, caring, and (fun fact) she was even in a TV commercial as a little kid! CK is so excited and lucky to have her as a counselor and Giggles is ready to contribute to an amazing camp this sum-mer!
Counselor Spotlight: GIGGLES!
CAMPER INFORMATION:
campkesem.org/rice/donate
CONTACT US! Committee Email What We Can Do For You!
Directors [email protected] Corporate sponsorships, non-profit partnerships, all general
questions
Outreach [email protected] Camper information & registration
Volunteer [email protected] Student volunteer information, camp counselors
Development [email protected] Donations, fundraising questions
Operations [email protected] Camp activities, campsite information
Marketing [email protected] Public relations, press releases, media outlets
campkesem.org/rice/campers
TO DONATE OR MAKE YOUR
OWN FUNDRAISING PAGE:
NOTE: Camp Kesem Rice encourages donating by cash or check. Our chapter receives the full portion of these donations.
Phone: (385) 985-3736
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/RiceCampKesem
Follow us on Twitter:
https://www.twitter.com/campkesemrice
Follow us on Instragram:
https://www.instagram.com/ricecampkesem
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