Getting to the Next Level

Posted by Gabe on October 31, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 2 Comments to Read

Well now that things are starting to settle down after our biggest and best event ever, it’s given us time to think about our next steps. Clearly there will be things we have to change. First and foremost, we have personally financed the last two receptions following our big events. After we did it the first time, we said we’d never do it again. But when no sponsors came forth for the event we held last week, not holding the reception at all was simply not an option. We feel that getting the kids and parents together in a social setting is so important for future networking that it goes part and parcel with the event itself. The reception ended up costing us more than double the one we did in the summer. So much for “we’ll never do that again”. But what we realized we must do is before we agree to hold these types of events we must make sure that sponsorship is already in place. We can’t change the mall’s budget, so how we must handle next year is by starting the planning of it much earlier, which means now. We hope to attract a relatively high profile personality to our next event so that sponsors would be much more willing to chip in. We will not ask just any celebrity, however. It must be one who aligns with our mission and supports what we are doing. We have already chosen one, now we’ll just have to see if she can and will choose to come.

Another thing we have realized is that we can no longer do everything ourselves. My wife Michelle had to miss half of Kids Are Heroes Day because she was decorating the room to prepare for the evening’s festivities. We both had been running ragged for months in preparation and especially the week prior. Next year we hope to use local high school volunteers and/or local citizens to help us with preparations.

It was great having Diana and Levar speak at schools the week prior to help publicize the event. We hope to be able to expand on that next year and coordinate something similar where we can get out to many more local schools during the week.

So the future looks very bright for us. We must simply adjust our sails accordingly. MaryMargaret (thus Kids Are Heroes) is scheduled to be featured in Discovery Girls Magazine in early 2011. Another brand new “tween” magazine to be distributed in the US and Canada is coming on the market in Q1 of 2011 called “Luella Girl”. MaryMargaret is also featured in their premiere edition. We will be speaking to many schools through live video conferencing equipment on February 2. If all goes well this will be a quarterly thing for us. Looking back on where we were just a year ago, I expect other unforeseen things to come our way — this time they should be even more significant as awareness of us around the world elevates.

We gave a presentation to a local chapter of the Kiwanis club this past week. I started out by telling the stories of some of the children from our web site. Then I simply stated, “That feeling you now have of hope, inspiration, wonder and awe is something I have with me all the time and is what we are trying to share with the rest of the world.” It’s as simple as that. What a ride this has been so far and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

An Event That’s Hard to Top

Posted by Gabe on October 24, 2010 under KAH Day 2010, Kids are Heroes | 4 Comments to Read

Left: Jacob raises money for CCFA. Right: Sam and Calista are raised by ex-Brown William Green.

As expected, Kids Are Heroes Day flew by like a bird in front of a window and now it’s over. It has left me with so many images and memories of wonder, fun, laughter and inspiration. Our neighbor Danielle Grace started the day off with a wonderful a capella rendition of our national anthem. In honor of our hero Diana Onyonyi and her chaperon Joan Oburu who flew all the way from Nairobi, Kenya to be here, we followed our anthem with the Kenyan national anthem. Christina Stenbrenner, marketing director of the FSK Mall, enlisted her dad’s help as DJ to keep things going in between events. What a setup he had with two video monitors, flashing lights and all the right music to keep the crowd excited throughout the day. The Oakdale Singing Owls, a choir of students from Oakdale Elementary School, graced us with two adorable songs about making a difference. Young Jordan Brown delivered a speech about his efforts to help raise money to erect a statue for Major Dick Winters, who was a WWII veteran of D-Day. Jordan is passionate about not letting us forget about this war, because as he puts it it was a war that could have ended up in the takeover of our country by another. Nicholas Giordano thrilled everyone with his classical guitar rendition of two songs, including “You’ve Got a Friend” by James Taylor. At 11:30 Diana Onyonyi from Kenya gave her speech entitled “Peace is Possible”. That was followed by Levar Fisher (ex-Arizona Cardinal) and William Green (ex-Cleveland Brown) whose speech and demonstrations both moved and highly entertained all who witnessed it.

Levar Fisher (ex-AZ Cardinal) and William Green (ex-Cleveland Brown) put on a GREAT show!!

At 1PM adult heroes Gary Compher, Staff Sgt Robert Guerra, Tracy Vagrin and Frederick County Commissioner Vice President David Gray were on hand to deliver the county proclamations to all of our heroes in attendance: Adele Taylor, Jacob Krause, Emma Franceschina, John Sun, Calista and Austin Pierce, Jordan Brown, Riley and Jack Necessary, Kennedy Kulish, Diana Onyonyi, Nicholas Giordano, Felicia Clements, Casey Landahl, Evan Frank, Tana and Jack McKinsey, Connor and Hannah Hawkins, Amanda and Alison Keelan, Hannah Colvin and MaryMargaret O’Neill. This was followed by a special presentation of awards given by the Discovery Girl Magazine, as three of our heroes, Calista Pierce, Kennedy Kulish and MaryMargaret O’Neill recently won a role model contest and will be featured in an upcoming issue of the international magazine. At 2PM MaryMargaret O’Neill delivered her speech about kids who bully others trying to do good things which was followed by a video she wrote, directed and produced about her Black to Blue project, which aims to save animals devastated by the gulf oil spill. That was followed by Adele Taylor as she showed off her lyrical dancing skills to the delight of the crowd. Jacob Krause then voiced a very poignant account about how his condition of ulcerative colitis has affected him personally and how he has raised thousands of dollars for Chrohns/Colitis research. Kennedy Kulish spoke about her “garden of good”; as you plant seeds of different acts of goodness you are then able to watch them grow. Evan Frank demonstrated a well in Africa powered by children playing, and showed us what the dirty water (that some people in South Africa must drink) really looks like. The last presentation was a video of Diana Onyonyi’s press conference in Kenya where students too young to vote got together to help prevent the outbreak of violence at the impending election.

Levar gives hero Austin an autographed football.

We were very lucky to have two photographers on hand doing pro bono work for us: Mary Kate McKenna (who took these photos) and Kelsey Felice Shupe. We are so grateful to these young talented professionals. You will certainly see quite a few amazing photos of the day in the coming weeks. I was able to film Diana’s and Levar’s speeches, albeit quite unprofessionally, but nonetheless you will get to see how outstanding they were as soon as I get them produced.

We were also fortunate to have met Leslie from EmbroidMe Frederick who donated Kids Are Heroes T-Shirts to each of our 25 heroes. Jacob is seen wearing one at the top of the post.

The event was capped off with a reception at the Holiday Inn FSK in the courtyard/pool area. Maureen Chamberlain, director of catering, put on a wonderful spread and believe me when I tell you she and her staff went above and beyond the call of duty. My wife doesn’t just throw a party, she puts on an event. This year’s theme was international thanks to Diana’s attendance and MaryMargaret’s creativity, so the room was decorated with flags from other countries, little globe beach balls and balloons, and in keeping with the Kids Are Heroes at the mall theme, Christina supplied us with fountain coin posters from the last three years which were added as wall decorations. MaryMargaret and Diana were in charge of the “Welcome Heroes” posters and Diana’s chaperon Joan stepped up to help with the cookie decorations as well. As I predicted even though the reception was scheduled for 6-8PM, we didn’t leave until after 10PM as the kids were still having fun in the pool together.

Nick Giordano from New Jersey plays classical guitar.

As I look back I regret that I did not get sit down and speak to each family enough, but sincerely hope all felt welcomed. I honestly don’t know at this point how we are going to make next year’s event better. This year I did not sit at the Kids Are Heroes table once because I did not want to miss a single thing. This was definitely worth it as images and events of the day continue to appear in my thoughts. Seeing all these children together and witnessing first hand their commitment and passion to their causes inevitably fills you with inspiration and hope which is the fuel that makes you want to to walk down their paths.

In closing I would like to formally thank Christina Steinbrenner, Levar Fisher, William Green, Maureen Chamberlain, Mary Kate McKenna, Kelsey Felice Shupe, Jessica Fitzwater, David Shafer, Stacie Lemick, Daniel Mullins, Leslie Simensen and all the heroes and their families who came out to celebrate with us. I would also like to thank Tracy Vagrin, Gary Compher, Staff Sgt. Robert Guerra and Commissioner David Gray for their leadership, community service and assistance with this great day.

Diana delivers her speech: "Peace is Possible"

I must also say that the presence of Diana Onyonyi and her chaperon Joan Oburu from Nairobi as they were guests at our house for the entire week will be something we will never forget. MaryMargaret and Diana were inseparable and it really gave us a sense of culture from a foreign country. We were graced with their polished manners, their commitment to pitching in no matter how tired they felt and their overall fun companionship. Truly if we all could do this with each other more often there would be far less strife around the world.

A special acknowledgment goes out to my wife, Michelle O’Neill, who worked tirelessly nonstop this past week on planning, “gophering”, decorating and hosting two wonderful Kenyans as our guests. Her touch definitely makes us look good. :) I must thank my sister Maureen O’Connor for driving here from Canada (as she has done for all three KAH Days) and my brother Greg, also from Canada, for joining her. Not to mention my daughter MaryMargaret, for having the spirit to start this whole endeavor and for being, like all the other heroes, a great role model for other children. Already we so look forward to next year.

UPDATE: Wow!! Mary Kate, who took the pictures of the first half of the day, has published her work already!! And you won’t believe the quality of these wonderful pictures!! They really capture the essence of how the first half of the day went. You will really want to stop and take a few minutes to look at these photos. At the end there are a few short videos, including a portion of Levar and William’s presentation, a snippet of the Oakdale Owls’ concert, and William breaks a bat over his knee without first raising it up!!

UPDATE: 10/26 – Kelsey Felice Shupe of Felice Fotographic has also finished her pictures!! These are of the second half of the day and can be seen here!!

Final Preparations

Posted by Gabe on October 18, 2010 under KAH Day 2010, Kids are Heroes | Read the First Comment

Well Kids Are Heroes Week is upon us. I just wish I could slow down time when I want to so it doesn’t rush by so fast as I know it will. We spent most of the weekend making preparations for it. It’s either a gift or a curse but both my wife Michelle and I are very detail oriented. That makes for a lot of preparation, especially since this will be our biggest event ever.

The reason why we had to finish the preparations early is because things get started tomorrow. As we have been telling you, Diana Onyonyi is coming all the way from Nairobi, Kenya as one of our heroes to take part in the celebration. She actually arrives tomorrow as she is meeting the Kenyan ambassador to the United States. She and her chaperon will meet us at the Kenyan Embassy in Washington DC. From there we will escort them back to Frederick where they will be our guests for the week. MaryMargaret is very excited about this and quite frankly so are we. We have never met her, nor have we even spoken to each other on the phone or via Skype. If you think about it it’s kind of an amazing thing. On July 31, 2010 Diana was featured on our web site. And lo and behold less than three months later she will be traveling 7500 miles from Nairobi to stay with us the better part of a week. We are so looking forward to it.

But it’s not all fun and games while she’s here. She came early because she specifically wanted to get out and speak to schools and spread her message any way she can. So on Wednesday she is spending the better part of her day at Middletown High School visiting several classes. Thursday she is joining our other partner Levar Fisher (ex-Arizona Cardinal) at two local elementary schools to speak. And on Friday we will be at the WHAG studio in Hagerstown so she can be interviewed live on the noon news show. In the meantime I am hoping that she is willing to help MaryMargaret with her speech that she plans to deliver on Kids Are Heroes Day. Diana will also be speaking at 11:30 on that day.

This year will hold the record for us regarding most heroes in attendance (25) and hero traveling farthest (Diana of course). Instead of certificates usually given by the mall management, Frederick County is issuing proclamations to all the heroes. County commissioner President Jan Gardner will be on hand to help pass them out. Levar Fisher will also be there as he was in Gettysburg in June. I would say that his speech (to be delivered at noon) will not be a speech per se, it’s more of an experience. His “assistant” is William Green, a former Cleveland Brown. Football players are known for among other things their strength, and William is no exception. While Levar speaks William is going to be — what’s they best way to describe it — ”destroying” things with his bare hands. We don’t have all the details but if you are a big fan of baseball bats, steel bars and/or frying pans then you might have to look away. Each segment of this “act” is for a purpose and that is to get a message across to all children in attendance. Having seen them do this once before, I highly recommend you come and see it if you are within driving distance.

This will be our third annual Kids Are Heroes Day. Each time I experience one I wish I could share it with everyone. The warmth, hope and inspiration emanating from the children is so bountiful that it stays with you well after the event. I hope to see you there.

Here is a list of all the heroes in attendance:

Jordan Brown, Pennsylvania

Hannah Colvin, Maryland

Emma, Maryland

Evan Frank, West Virginia

Felicia, Maryland

Nicholas Giordano, New Jersey

Connor and Hannah Hawkins, Maryland

Alison and Amanda Keelan, Maryland

Jacob Krause, Maryland

Kennedy Kulish, Pennsylvania

Casey Landahl, Maryland

Jack and Tana McKinsey, Maryland

Jack and Riley Necessary, Maryland

MaryMargaret O’Neill, Maryland

Diana Onyonyi, Nairobi, Kenya.

Carter and Olivia Ries, Georgia

Calista and Austin Pierce, Pennsylvania,

John Sun, Maryland

Adele Taylor, New Jersey

Thanks and Then Some

Posted by Gabe on October 7, 2010 under Kids are Heroes | 6 Comments to Read

As many of you already know, thanks to our supporters, my daughter MaryMargaret, the founder of Kids Are Heroes, recently won a contest hosted by Discovery Girls Magazine. This is an international magazine for “tween” girls 7-12 that covers many of the issues these young girls have to deal with on a regular basis. MaryMargaret has subscribed to this magazine for a few years now, and this is how we came to know about this competition.

The concept of the contest is that kids send in their applications and 30 finalists would be chosen. From that 30 the top ten would be gleaned by voting for them on the Discovery Girls web site. This voting took place from September 1 through September 30th. As it turned out they chose the top 12 since the votes were so close. 3000 girls had sent in their applications and 57,000 votes were counted. In the end MaryMargaret was selected as a finalist and then chosen as one of the top 12. The prize is that she and her mom will be flown to California for a photo shoot for the 10th anniversary issue of their magazine. This is something that we are all very excited about as this will be a wonderful opportunity for MaryMargaret and great press for Kids Are Heroes to boot.

Something has bothered me about this all along, however. I have been queasy from the start about asking people to vote. As it turned out there were two other heroes from the web site who were involved in the same competition. We were very relieved that both Calista and Kennedy were chosen as well. However, during the entire procedure they were pitted against each other in this competition. This is the opposite of what our mission tells us to do at Kids Are Heroes. We promote collaboration and network building among these children so they can support each other later in life. As the competitive juices (which naturally flow in most of us) heat up, you can’t help but feel a small tinge of resentment toward the other competitors. Now before I go any further I want to make it clear that I do not harbor any ill feelings towards the editors of the magazine itself. They publish a magazine that is designed to be in business, just like all other magazines. They are properly involved in social media and using the trend wisely. This voting system attracted many more people to their web site which boosted their analytics which is what their advertisers are looking for. They are smart business people so they are not at fault here. But again I couldn’t help but feel bad about the whole process. My own brother wouldn’t vote for MaryMargaret until I told him that the votes were more for Kids Are Heroes than they were for her. He saw it as a popularity contest. Unfortunately, when there’s voting involved, it’s hard not to classify it as just that.

A few weeks before the results were announced, I asked MaryMargaret why she wanted to win the contest, besides getting press for Kids Are Heroes. ”I want to go to California with Calista and Kennedy.” was her response. Fair enough, I thought. This will be a great experience for her and her motives seem to be good about it. Quite frankly it will also look good on her “resumé” as these days you can’t be too young to start thinking about these things.

I will say that towards the end I second guessed myself, asking why it was so important to me that she won. How could I argue against the fact that I was trying to “win” this competition so my kid could be in an international magazine? It certainly would outwardly appear that way. But I have always felt that fame and recognition are not what I want for my daughter. As a matter of fact, I absolutely do not want her to have fame when she grows up unless it’s a “Jane Goodall” type of fame. I would not trade my life or anyone else’s for that of a celebrity these days. I wanted her to win because I think it can be a great spring board for Kids Are Heroes. We are still a fledgling organization that is being hit hard by the economy. We need a much bigger groundswell of supportive participants and maybe someone with a little bit of clout to help champion it. And maybe, just maybe, that can happen through the extra exposure we will get from this contest.

So again I must thank those of you who voted sincerely as we would not have been granted this opportunity without your efforts. We are all truly humbled and grateful. And you’ll be happy to know that it will be quite a long time, if ever, that we participate is something like this again.

Agenda for Kids Are Heroes Day

Posted by Gabe on October 5, 2010 under KAH Day 2010, Kids are Heroes | Read the First Comment

From 10AM-4PM on Saturday, October 23rd, sixteen heroes from the Kids Are Heroes web site will converge on the Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick, Maryland for a day of inspiration and celebration. They travel from various parts of the country; one hero is coming from as far away as Nairobi, Kenya!!

All the heroes present will have tables surrounding the fountain at the center court of the mall throughout the day. They will hand out pamphlets, engage people about their charities and how they volunteer and inspire other children in attendance.

Here is an agenda including the events of the day. We hope to see you come with your family – you certainly will be glad you did.

10AM Star Spangled Banner – Danielle Grace

10:30 “Oakdale Owls” Elementary School Choir

10:55 Jordan Brown – Speech

11:15 Nicholas Giordano – Classical guitar

11:30 Diana Onyonyi (from Nairobi) – Speech “Peace is Possible”

12PM Motivational Speech by ex-Arizona Cardinal Levar Fisher

1:00 Awards Ceremony