It’s the moment Kids of Courage was waiting for…Ski Madness 2017! As we waved goodbye to a snowy New York on Thursday morning, March 16, we said hello to…an even snowier Connecticut! The first half of the day was spent in SportsCenter Connecticut, eating a scrumptious lunch, playing fun arcade games, winning prizes, running through the coolest laser tag and wheelchair ice-skating!
We then made our way back to the buses and headed to the DoubleTree by Hilton in Leominster, Massachusetts. We ate a delicious meal catered by Creations Caterers & Event Planners (thank you, Nosson Schultz and crew!), as a surprise guest joined our meal! Let’s just say it was a huge surprise when Donald Plump (yup, a Trump impersonator) walked into the dining room! He brought along Captain Jack Sparrow and Cinderella with whom we took pictures and chatted. Magical! It was followed by special photos with the great ESTI Photography.
After such an exciting and jam-packed day, we had one last activity to complete. The dining room was filled with dough as we braided and baked challahs with our very own head nurse, Sara Miriam Kaplan.
On Friday, the amazing couragers splished and splashed at an indoor waterpark, CoCo Key Boston North Shore. The group split up for the day, meeting back at the hotel for an absolutely amazing Shabbos!
Ah, the serenity of Shabbos set in as everyone joined for a beautiful Friday night dinner in our Grand Ballroom. The singing (and eating, of course) sent everyone’s spirits soaring, making the feeling of Shabbos come alive. The oneg was such a nice ending to the night, and everyone slept very well that night. Shabbos day brought fun games, good friends and great food (how could we not mention it again?!). We had a blast playing steal the salami, charades and bingo! And let’s not forget Courager Aryeh Perlow’s epic speech about his love for Kids of Courage. Shabbos exited with the same beauty it entered, with every courager singing along to a gorgeous havdalah.
If you think the fun stopped there, think again. It was time to party! Uri Davidi rocked K.O.C. with an epic private concert just for us! There was dancing, singing, jumping and laughing as the room came alive. The dance floor did not stop shaking with everyone moving and shaking to the beat. After partying it up, it was time to retire to bed for an early wake-up for Sunday’s ski day!
We couldn’t wait to get to Mount Snow; we (literally) woke up at the crack of dawn and loaded the buses. Off we went to snowy Vermont. It was so great to see all our friends from Mount Snow and AbilityPLUS again. Everyone got their turn at shredding it and showing off their amazing skills on the slopes! What a rush! Fun was had by all! After a packed day of fun, we returned to the buses and started our adventure back home. Don’t worry, the fun didn’t stop there…each bus had a party on the way back! As we pulled up to Brooklyn, there were tears in everyone’s eyes as we said our goodbyes. But it isn’t really goodbye, it’s just see you later.
Kids of Courage is a volunteer-based, 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the lives of medically fragile children and their families through year-round programming. To learn more or to make a donation, please visit kidsoc.org.
By Ahuva Hirtz
