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CHOC Children’s

Paint Your Way to Miracles and Magic Event To Benefit CHOC Children’s on 6/25

June 18, 2016 / Lifestyle

The Annual CHOC Walk in the Park fundraising campaign kicks off each year with a very special family event held at the Downtown Disney® District called the Paint Your Way to Miracles and Magic.

At this event, young artists have the opportunity to hand paint a custom ceramic tile that will be part of a larger mosaic to be displayed between the Downtown Disney® District and the Disneyland® Hotel. Family, friends and thousands of Disneyland® Resort guests will be able to view the complete mosaic for the following year. This fun-filled fundraiser is limited to only 191 tiles, so it is important to register early and reserve tiles as soon as possible. A $60 donation is required for each tile, and registrants must sign up for a specific 45-minute session. The first session begins at 9 a.m. with the last session beginning at 2 p.m. Adults accompanying children will be able to watch as children paint. The event is sponsored by the Downtown Disney® District, American Honda Motor Company, Karman’s Art Shoppes, and Color Me Mine, When each session is over, all the food, shopping and fun of Downtown Disney® awaits! The Paint Your Way to Miracle and Magic events officially kicks off the 2016 CHOC Walk in the Park fundraising season. The CHOC Walk in the Park is CHOC Children’s Hospital’s annual 5K walk through the Disneyland® Resort. Last year’s Walk raised more than $2.5 million for the hospital’s Kids’ Care Fund. This fund provides funding to the programs and services in the greatest need both at the hospital and in the community—from mental health services to an expanded neonatal intensive care unit to care for children and families who cannot afford to pay.All proceeds benefit CHOC Children’s. For more information about the Paint Your Way to Miracles and Magic event or to register, visit here.

To register for the 26th Annual CHOC Walk in the Park, visit here.

This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own. Images and logos are property of CHOC Children’s.

Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurant’s 6th Annual Splendiferously Superific Summer Spectacular Ice Cream Eating Challenge, benefitting CHOC Children’s® and Make-A-Wish®

June 26, 2015 / Family Fun, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour, Food, Let's Eat!, Lifestyle, Orange County

Farrell’s recently hosted a super duper fun event at their Brea location, featuring KTLA’s Henry DiCarlo, to kick off their 6th annual Splendiferously Superific Summer Spectacular Ice Cream Eating Challenge, benefitting CHOC Children’s® and Make-A-Wish®! Did I mention that they started filming at 4:45 a.m.? Yep! You can never get too early of a start, right?

Some of the fun guests in attendance that I got to meet included Choco Bear from CHOC Children’s, Tooba from Goon Holler on Vine, the knights from Medevial Times, the pirates from Pirates Adventure Dinner, and last year’s champion and professional eater, Naadar “Freak8r” Reda!

Farrell’s was so generous to provide an abundance of coffee, served in mustache cups (of course) and a breakfast feast fit for a king! Farrell’s doesn’t do anything small!

With the qualifying period for Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurant’s 6th annual Splendiferously Superific Summer Spectacular Ice Cream Eating Challenge under way, let’s talk a little bit more about the details. Since this event gives 100% of its proceeds to CHOC Children’s® and Make-A-Wish®, anyone can enter to win. You don’t even have to be competitive eater to enter. Farrell’s is rallying to get as many people to enter as possible, including those who simply want to donate. From June 19 through July 12, it’s everyone”s chance to come into any California Farrell’s location to shine like the ooey gooey whipped cream and sprinkle covered star they are and qualify! (or simply make a donation)

Here are the 3 easy ways to enter to win:

Donate – Give a minimum of $20 to Farrell’s event (don’t forget 100% of proceeds go to CHOC Children’s and Make-A-Wish) and receive a limited edition event T-shirt, $5 off your next vist to Farrell’s and a 3-scoop qualifying sundae to enjoy at your Leisure. Everyone that donates goes into a drawing to win a year of free Farrell’s ice cream. Each Farrell’s location will draw a winner! Qualify – Trying to qualify is fun and delicious! There are 6 different categories. In addition to receiving a limited edition event T-shirt and a $5 off coupon for your next vist to Farrell’s, you’ll receive a qualifying sundae to eat as fast as you can while being timed. The fastest in each category will be invited back to compete in the July 19, Championship event at Farrell’s in Brea, CA. Even if you don’t qualify, everyone that tries will still be entered into the drawing to win a year of free Farrell’s ice cream. Each Farrell’s location will draw a winner! Championship – Be a champion! The fastest qualifiers in each category get invited back to Farrell’s Championship event in Brea on July 19. Farrell’s shuts down the street, puts up a stage and all qualifiers battle spoon-to-spoon to see who are the fastest ice cream eaters. Every first place winner receives a year of free Farrell’s ice cream, a trophy and, the winner of the Solo Zoo Challenge, $750 in cold hard cash!

If you’re in it to win it, here are the categories and details:

Men’s Individual Pig’s Trough Challenge (Ages – 16+)
-Qualifying Cost- $20 per person
-Qualifying Sundae – 3-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Farrell’s Famous Pig’s Trough, 6-scoop sundae
-Grand Prize – One Year of FREE Farrell’s Ice Cream

Women’s Individual Pig’s Trough Challenge (Ages -16+)
-Qualifying Cost – $20 per person
-Qualifying Sundae – 3-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Farrell’s Famous Pig’s Trough, 6-scoop sundae
-Grand Prize – One Year of FREE Farrell’s Ice Cream

Kid’s Individual Jr. Pig’s Trough Challenge (Ages – 9 – 15)
-Qualifying Cost – $20 per person
-Qualifying Sundae – Jr. 3-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Jr. Pig’s Trough, modified smaller 6-scoop sundae.
-Grand Prize – One Year of FREE Farrell’s Ice Cream

The Big and Small Pig’s Trough Challenge (2-persons, ages 16+ and 9 and under)
-Qualifying Cost – $20 per adult / child team
-Qualifying Sundae – 3-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Farrell’s Famous Pig’s Trough, 6-scoop sundae
-Grand Prize – One Year of FREE Farrell’s Ice Cream

The 4-person Zoo Challenge (4-person team, ages 16+)
-Qualifying Cost – $20 per person ($80 total for the 4-person team)
-Qualifying Sundae – 3-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Farrell’s Famous 30-scoop Zoo to eat as a team
-Grand Prize – One Year of FREE Farrell’s Ice Cream

Solo Zoo Challenge (Ages – 16+)
-Qualifying Cost – $40 per person
-Qualifying Sundae – A modified Farrell’s Famous Pig’s Trough, 6-scoop sundae
-Championship Sundae – Farrell’s Famous 30-scoop Zoo to eat individually against Professional Eater and past champion Naader “Freak8E” Reda.

Grand Prize – The 1st place winner at the Championship event will receive a year of free Farrell’s ice cream, a trophy and $750 BIG ONES!!!!

Championship Details – The main event at the Championship will be the Solo Zoo Challenge. This will be a true head-to-head event with the one (1) fastest qualifier racing Naader “Freak8r” Reda to see can finish a Farrell’s Famous Zoo Sundae first. The winner will walk away with a trophy, a year of free Farrell’s ice cream, AND $750!!!!

Those who would like to donate to the event but not compete in qualifying, will receive the 3-scoop sundae, the limited edition Ice Cream Eating Challenge t-shirt, and the $5 off coupon but will not be timed. Visit FarrellsUSA.com for complete details.

100% of the proceeds from this event benefits CHOC Children’s® (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) and Make-A-Wish®. The 6th Annual Splendiferously Superific Summer Spectacular Ice Cream Eating Challenge is sponsored by Service Champions Heating & Air Conditioning, Carnival Services, Studio Three Sixty Advertising, Man Eating Chicken, and Brea Downtown.

CHOC Children’s Plans to Address Pediatric Mental Health Crisis in the Community and Kicks Off With a $5 Million Gift

June 15, 2015 / Lifestyle, Orange County

When I saw the announcement from CHOC Children’s about their plans to address pediatric mental health issues by offering extensive services to children, it really touched my heart. Community leaders and executives from CHOC Children’s recently announced a transformative initiative to ensure children and adolescents with mental illness receive the health care services and support they currently lack in Orange County’s fragmented system of care. As a teacher in Orange County, I have seen SO many children, over the years, in need of these kinds of services, but very limited resources available for their families to turn to. Now I feel like there will be more hope for them.

Did you know that 1 in 5 children experience a diagnosable mental health condition during childhood? There are about 150,000 children in Orange County alone who fall into this group and yet, there are no psychiatric inpatient beds for patients under 12 years in Orange County. Due to the absence of designated space to treat young patients, sometimes children with serious mental health episodes remain in the emergency department for days at a time. In addition, there aren’t enough inpatient psychiatric beds for adolescents either, with many needing to be hospitalized outside of Orange County.

There’s a stigma about mental illness and people usually associate it mostly with adults and perhaps young adults or teens, but rarely do they think of it as something younger children need help and care with. Community leaders and executives from CHOC Children’s recently announced a transformative initiative to ensure children and adolescents with mental illness receive the health care services and support they currently lack in Orange County’s fragmented system of care.

Children’s advocate Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, managing partner, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, donated a $5 million lead gift to help establish CHOC Children’s Mental Health Inpatient Center. The new center will provide a safe, nurturing place for children ages 3 to 18 to receive care for mental health conditions. It will also provide specialty programming for children ages 11 and younger.

The new CHOC Children’s Mental Health Inpatient Center will be located on the third floor of CHOC’s Research Building and will feature:

18 beds in a secure, healing environment
Outdoor area for recreation
Specially trained pediatric staff

Construction is expected to begin by fall 2015 and finish in late 2017. CHOC has launched a fundraising campaign to raise $11 million for inpatient capital and startup costs, and $16 million to endow the program.

Recognizing the urgency to help meet the community’s need, last fall CHOC and Rick and Kay Warren, co-founders of Saddleback Church formed a taskforce — led by Dr. Maria Minon, CHOC chief medical officer, and Dr. Heather Huszti, CHOC chief psychologist, and comprised of community leaders, educators and faith-based advisors — to begin discussing a comprehensive pediatric system of care for patients with mental illness.

CHOC’s support of the pediatric system of care includes:

expanding mental health services this year for CHOC patients being treated for serious/chronic illnesses (these children are more likely to have mental health problems, such as depression and severe anxiety, than their healthier peers)
opening an intensive outpatient program in 2016 to keep struggling children out of the hospital and assist those who have been released
expanding CHOC’s outpatient eating disorders program by 2016;
and continuing to facilitate and work on multiple county-wide projects with the task force.

CHOC is raising additional funds for outpatient mental health services. To learn more about CHOC’s mental health campaign and how YOU can help support it, click here.

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are 100% my own. Photo credits: CHOC