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American Yacht Club and Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital (MFCH) host 30 families with chronically ill children, who are patients at MFCH at the hugely successful 3rd annual 2007 Sail4Kids “Make a Memory” Cruise and Picnic. Sunday, July 29, 2007 at American Yacht Club
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Sail4Kids is a sailing community effort lead by American Yacht Club (AYC) on behalf of the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital (MFCH) at
Westchester
Medical
Center
. There are currently two parts. The first involves a leisurely cruise from American Yacht Club with children from the hospital. The second is a fundraising event, also hosted by American Yacht Club.
The purpose of these events is to give the young patients of the hospital and their parents a day out on the water to create a positive memory as a break from their illness. It also provides AYC and the community a connection to the real issues behind why the hospital needs and deserves support. Finally, it helps to generate funds for the continued support of the hospital and those in need of its services.
The Sail4Kids “Make a Memory Cruise”, which was held on July 29th at American Yacht Club, is intended to create lots of smiles and happy memories for the children and their families. This year AYC hosted over 30 families with children being treated at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. We had a fleet of about 40 boats, both sail and power, standing by at AYC to take the families out for a cruise. In the end we did all go out for a cruise through the harbor and adjacent waters on the available power boats during a brief respite in the weather – the kids grinning from ear to ear as a result. Prior to that members and staff at AYC had set up countless nautical shore activities creating much excitement all around. After the cruise the participants returned to a barbeque feast.
This is the third year this event has been held. Last year, we hosted 19 families on 17 boats. This year it has expanded considerably, with members of other clubs and the sailing community at large getting involved. The volunteer effort is truly heartwarming. It started two years ago when Daria and
Alex
Blackwell
, members of AYC who are active supporters of MFCH, asked “What are we doing specifically for the children?” They thought that sharing a day on the water might lift the spirits of the children for a short while. It seemed like a pretty simple thing to do and a little time could possibly make a big difference. They did a pilot the first year with three families and of children with diabetes and their nurse educator.
Both the cruise and the benefit dinner/concert are hosted by AYC on behalf of MFCH. While this event is meant to benefit the children directly, the dinner/concert is the main associated fundraising event for the hospital.
The Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at
Westchester
Medical
Center
is an acute care facility. As such, they manage trauma and acute episodes of chronic illness. So for example, a child who enters a diabetic coma may be transferred to the medical center for the expertise needed to save that child’s life. Once through the acute episode, their medical management will be adjusted to help prevent further hospitalizations. Others have cardiovascular problems, metabolic diseases, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis that may flare up periodically requiring acute care.
For the most part, however, these children are very normal children facing abnormal circumstances in their lives. They learn to live with their health issues, and learn to teach us all what it means to have this level of courage.
MFCH is truly an amazing place starting with the architectural concept (there’s a train breaking through the outside wall and a huge aquarium you can walk through in the lobby), moving through the family-centric set-up of “neighborhoods” (gone are the old hospital wards of the past) where parents can stay overnight in their child’s room, the kid-friendly environment (with a baseball hall of fame, a heroes neighborhood complete with a real fire truck, dollhouses and a sailing salon designed by Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens and built by Derecktor Shipyards), and the incredibly talented and caring staff that make miracles happen every day.
The Sail4Kids committee has developed have various levels of sponsorship to aid the hospital. Some companies and individuals have sponsored the boats, others have sponsored food, goody bags or the special events like knot tying and gutter boat racing. Most simply see the Children’s Hospital as a very worthy cause. More importantly, the event brings the sailors closer to the issues and gets them more involved in other fundraising activities.
The funds generated go directly to benefit programs for the children at the hospital. For example, the diabetes educator program has been funded directly by the funds raised by AYC and Sail4Kids. In this program, nurse educators teach children with juvenile diabetes who have not been well controlled how to manage their condition better on their own with the assistance of insulin pumps in many cases. The pumps are provided free of charge to children in need. Many of these children who have had multiple episodes of diabetic coma requiring hospitalization are now incident-free. Knowing that, and having made friends with the children and families who were among the first to take part in Sail4Kids and the first to benefit, is reward in itself.
This program has also inspired a few young people to take up sailing in the process!
Several sponsors have already contributed to these efforts, and Sail4Kids gratefully acknowledges their support:
