SDES Journal

D
ancing With Diabetes Barndance and Bar-B-Que to support children with diabetes took place Saturday, September 8,2007 from 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at YMCA Hargis Retreat in Chelsea. Activities enjoyed by the 154 attendees as they arrived included live music by the Herb Trotman Band and barbecue dinner on the porch of the dining hall overlooking the lake, canoeing, swimming and children’s games.

…the event raised close to $15,000 to provide needs-based scholarships for programs…

At 7:00 pm, camper Drew Meanor of Montgomery opened the program with a
moving story of his great experiences at Camp Seale Harris learning how to better
manage his diabetes and making lasting friendships.

Honored guests, Children’s Hospital of Alabama’s Endocrinology Division, were presented with the Friend of SDES Power to Live Award 2007 in recognition of the practice’s partnership in fulfilling the SDES mission: “helping teach children and families how to live with diabetes.” Accepting the award from Terry Ackley were Dr. Hussein Abdullatif and Dr. Jocelyn Atchison. Presenting sponsors on stage included Stacey Schneider from Bayer Healthcare and Aimee Minton from Roche donating $1000 each in honor of the award to the SDES Scholarship Fund.

A live auction led by McCrary Auctions was then followed by lively line dancing led by Jackie Talley enjoyed by the children and adults. The event raised close to $15,000 to provide needs-based scholarships for programs including Camp Seale Harris, Camp Sugar Falls and Family Support Programs.

The highest selling auction item was a beautiful quilt made by Lil Giaccone, event planner Dr. Carol Dashiff’s sister, and was purchased for $375 by Dr. Dennis Pillion, UAB School of Pharmacy. Camper Drew Meanor’s mom Kristy Meanor had the winning bids for an Alabama football signed by Brody Croyle and a Daniel Moore print of “The Last Pass,” depicting Croyle’s last game. Drew has displayed them
proudly in his room.

Thank you to all the generous auction items donors, sponsors and attendees for making the event such a success!

F

or some of us camp is all about friendships, for others it is about great experiences, but these are not just traits for Camp Seale Harris, these are traits of all diabetes camps world wide. A couple of Camp Seale Harris staff members, Sara and William, have just represented camp at a Diabetes Education and Camping Association Conference, Peak ’07 Soaring to Succeed, in Toole, Utah.

… sitting through talks about camp and youth leadership William and Sara got to know people from across the country…

The conference was held at Camp UTADA a camp a few miles outside of Salt Lake City. Sara and William traveled across the country with the hope of bettering our camp program back home through discussions with camps just like our own on issues that we all face throughout the summer. While sitting through talks about camp and youth leadership William and Sara got to know people from across the country, some new faces and some we remember from years past.

A few familiar faces walking around the conference were those of Lara, Adam, and John. Lara was a girl’s counselor for Camp Seale Harris from 2000-2003, but has now returned to the camp where she grew up in Canada Camp Morton/Maxwell. Adam was our new friend this past summer that was a participant in our Camp Joslin exchange program and is looking to return thankfully. John as most of you might remember was our old Camp Director before Sara took over once he left to take a year round Camp Administrator job with Camp Joslin. Though it was good to make new friends and great to catch up with old ones, the most important thing gained from the conference was new ideas that we can bring back to Camp Seale Harris. Look for new and better things in the coming months because Camp Seale Harris is growing and Peak ’07 was just a step in the right direction.

Camp Seale Harris is now on Facebook!!!

Be sure to add camp as your friend and tell your friends about Camp!