Camp Journal

four ways to get involved this fall

Sure, Labor Day weekend always seems like the end of summer, the end of all things fun. When you turn in pool passes for homework, backyard barbecue’s for meals-on-the-go. At Flying Horse Farms, we believe in having fun year round. So, we invite you to join us at some of our events this fall. We’d love to see your face.

An Evening of Jazz with Luxury Brown, Sunday, September  19, 6pm to 10pm.

What better way to spend a Sunday evening than with live jazz, a live & silent auction, and plenty of friends? Come to Vonn Jazz for the Second Annual Evening of Jazz fundraiser. All door, raffle, and auction proceeds benefit Flying Horse Farms.

Tickets are $15 per person, or $25 per couple.      

Crab Races at the Lazy Chameleon, Wednesday, September 29, 7pm to 10pm.

A family friendly event you won’t want to miss. Hermit crab races at the Lazy Chameleon in Powell the last Wednesday of the month. The cost is just $5, with 50% of proceeds coming back to Flying Horse Farms, and the other 50% goes to the winner of the crab race. 

Jay Shockey, one of our amazing volunteers, knows how to pick winning crabs.  He had two crabs make it to the finals during the August race.  Jay, we’re sorry your crab, Pearl Necklace, didn’t finish first. You’re always a winner in our book.

CVG & New Albany Fall Classic Car, Cycle and Truck Show, Downtown Square, New Albany. Saturday, October 9, 9am to 5pm.

Join us at the First Annual Fall Classic Car Show, presented by Commercial Vehicle Group, Inc. Whether you have a car you would like to show, or you prefer to be a spectator — there will be plenty of entertainment (and prizes) for all. Proceeds will benefit Flying Horse Farms. For more information about the Fall Classic Car Show, contact Jim Williams at jim.williams@cvgrp.com

Macy’s Shop for a Cause, Saturday, October 16. All day shopping event!

Love to shop, save money, and help Flying Horse Farms all at the same time? Macy’s Shop for a Cause is the event for you. Flying Horse Farms will be pre-selling shopping passes which are good all day at any Macy’s location. Shopping passes cost $5, and will give you 20% savings on almost all purchases in the store, and 25% off a single purchase.

100% of proceeds from the tickets will benefit Flying Horse Farms. To purchase shopping passes, please contact Lisa Panos at lisa@flyinghorsefarms.org.


Dream Makers build bunk beds (for campers to dream)

We are forever grateful for the time and talent our Dream Makers (Flying Horse Farms volunteers) give to us each week. This weekend, our Dream Makers took the camp by storm–with drills, hammers, and screwdrivers in hand.

Dream Makers prepare for day of furniture building

Furniture assembly by the numbers: 12 camper cabins x 16 beds per cabin + volunteer beds in the medical center + four dozen dressers = thousands of happy campers!

Thank you, Dream Makers, for providing the muscle we needed this weekend to take a huge step forward to opening our doors this fall.

Don Champman               Shawn Morgan

Lawrence Dudley              Michelle Rausch

Lexie Hinkle                      Jim Robinson

Scott Jones                       Jay Shockey

                   Garnett Jones                   Skot Shockey                    

Glenda Morgan                Michael Smith

Kyla Morgan                     Mike Smith

Katelin Morgan                Stan Stauffer

Lydia Morgan                   Caleb Stuttler

Shawn Morgan                 Tom Swanson


Action Packed Saturday

Mount Gilead football team gets practice off the field

On Saturday, the Mt. Gilead football team took a break from running drills on the football field to help move furniture at Flying Horse Farms. As truckloads of bunk beds arrived, our team of volunteers formed an assembly line and worked through the hot August morning – moving furniture off the trucks, into camper cabins. A sincere thanks to Head Coach, Jim Ringer, and the four assistant coaches for making community service part of the playbook for these fine young men.

Members of the Mt. Gilead football team moving furniture

We would also like to thank many other volunteers who spent their Saturday morning up at the camp. We couldn’t have done it without you:

Andrew Altman                                             Chris Schumacher

Dave & Zack Baker                                         Stan Stauffer

Rodney Clinger                                             Jeff & Caleb Stuttler                                                

Carla Eighinger & Family                            Tom & Micah Swanson

Earl Linder                                                   Jeremy Watchel

Jim Robinson                                                Emily Woods

Last, but not least…the food.  We are so grateful for Doug, at Krispy Kreme Polaris, who donated six dozen donuts, and to Jennifer, at Subway in Mt. Gilead, for providing 1/2 priced lunches to our hungry helpers.

Taking a lunch break in the dining hall

Next Saturday, August 28, we will be assembling bunk beds for the cabins. If you consider yourself handy with a drill, and strong enough to lift heavy furniture–we’d love to have your help.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Amy at amy@flyinghorsefarms.org


First Lady Frances Strickland tours Flying Horse Farms

The excitement around Flying Horse Farms continues to build as more and more people hear about this wonderful camp for severely ill children. This week, we were honored to give a tour to Ohio’s First Lady, Frances Strickland.

See video of her tour with Board Chair, Rhonda Fraas, and  Camp Director, Patrick Smith.


Welcome to the Flying Horse Farms family

You know camp is one step closer to opening when the Director of Nursing and Medical Programs has arrived.   We are pleased to welcome Teresa Setnar to the Flying Horse Farms family. Teresa will be overseeing critical medical procedures, staffing and care that our campers will be getting while at camp.  This means our campers will be given the medical attention they require, without interrupting the reason why they are there — to have fun.

Teresa comes to Flying Horse Farms with 20 years of pediatric nursing experience, mainly affiliated with Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

Jeff Stuttler joins us as the Facility Manager, Liz Lewis is our Regional Development Officer, and Regan Walsh is the Director of Marketing & Communication.


Whole Foods Giving Grill

Having Fun Painting Faces at Whole Foods

Cindy Lazarus, Lisa Panos and some of our loyal volunteers had a great time at the Whole Foods Giving Grill on Sunday, July 25th. Visitors feasted on freshly grilled foods and savored the thought that a portion of the proceeds will benefit Flying Horse Farms.  In addition to raising awareness for the camp, volunteers painted kids’ faces to show them what camp fun is all about!


Friends of Lake Street

The Friends of Lake Street Team Presents Cindy Lazarus with a Check

We love our motorcycle friends!  The “Friends of Lake Street” organized a party and poker run for motorcyclists in the Delaware and Ashley Ohio areas and raised $8,000 for the camp!  The poker run began at Kintz Bar & Grill with riders collecting cards at various stops. After a full poker hand was collected, riders ended the evening with a fun party featuring four different bands at Circle K Farms.  A special thank you is owed to Cathy Jackson and Crystal Queen who were instrumental in getting Flying Horse Farms involved in this amazing event.  Thank you to everyone who was involved.


Board Chair, Rhonda Fraas, Featured in Capital Style

Once in a while, our favorite people get recognized in the media for the great work they do both in and out of the camp.   Below we feature a profile of our current and terrific Board Chair, Rhonda Fraas, that appears in the current issue of Capital Style (a central Ohio magazine).  Congratulations to Rhonda for this well deserved recognition!

http://www.capital-style.com/live/content/issue/stories/2010/07/yc-rhonda-fraas-trendsetter.html


Flying Horse Farms Floats!

It’s safe to say that support for Flying Horse Farms is coming in ALL shapes and sizes.  Last weekend one central Ohio neighborhood, New Albany, enjoyed a “floating” Big Red Barn in its Fourth of July parade.   Wow!  We want to shout out a special thanks to Theresa Belford and Donna Racque who were the masterminds behind this one-of-a-kind celebration that brought some excellent awareness to the camp.   We appreciate their creativity and endurance (especially in the heat) as well as recruiting all of their kids to take part.

Floating Big Red Barn in the New Albany Fourth of July Parade


What a (Flying Horse) Ride!!

Riders head into West Virginia. Our caravan was 3/4 of a mile long!

There are so many people to thank and so many stories to tell. Where to start? A good place is this: The Flying Horse Ride 2010 was a huge, enormous, outstanding success.

The dedication of Darris Blackford from A.D. Farrow Co. Harley-Davidson and lead organizer Bill Snodgrass from the Red Knights International Firefighters Motorcycle Club is a big part of why! These two men and their leadership in both the inaugural year last year and this ride is truly remarkable. Without them, we wouldn’t have had over 140 people on a 400 mile journey raising $37,000 for the children and the camp.

Special thanks also goes to our lead sponsor, Time Warner Cable.  We were blessed to have their partnership and support toward helping to make this ride so successful.  Thank you!!  To see the full list of all our generous sponsors, click here.

This is one of many thanks we’ll offer to every single person who put forth their time, energy, spirit and will power to make this ride so memorable and truly fun. The police escort the whole way was a true delight for even the most seasoned riders second only to the tour of our sister Hole in the Wall camp, Victory Junction (look for a separate post detailing that awesome opportunity).

Below are a few photos to enjoy, but we encourage you to visit our photostream on Flickr where many, many more are posted. Bravo to everyone, on behalf of each and every child. We appreciate every dollar and every mile knowing the many smiles they will bring.

Darris Blackford, Jenni Belford, Bill Snodgrass and David Belford

At Victory Junction

And the Miatas!

The Bus!