The National Marine Life Center (NMLC) is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) rehabilitation and release hospital for the treatment of stranded sea turtles and seals, with future plans to expand to treat dolphins, porpoises, and small whales. Its emphasis is to educate the public about the needs and status of these important animals and their environment, and to research their health needs and threats in captivity and in the wild. For more information, see www.nmlc.org.

Catching Joy and The Blue Bunny in Dedham Square teamed up to support Birthday Wishes, a charity that brings birthday parties for kids in homeless shelters. Joy read birthday stories and kids made goodie bags and birthday cards. Everyone capped off the night with yummy birthday cake to celebrate the joy of giving! Thanks to all the kids who gave their care and creativity to help others. Thanks to all the families who donated party supplies. We are still collecting cards/supplies this weekend and will drop off everything to Birthday Wishes in the beginning of next week.

The mission of Birthday Wishes is to bring birthday parties to homeless children. Birthday Wishes recognizes the importance of a birthday in a child’s life and believes that the gift of a birthday celebration provides normalcy, joy and hope in these children’s otherwise unsettled lives. For more information, see www.birthdaywishes.org.

I really loved watching the Heartsongs performance today at the Springhouse in Jamaica Plain! The room was filled with beautiful music, voices and such joyful hearts! Heartsongs is a collaboration between Catching Joy and Creative Adventures in Dedham Square. The kids have been learning songs from the American Songbook and they perform at nursing homes and other community events. The kids really connected with the residents and both sides were smiling and enjoying singing together. Thanks to vocalist Marianne Ryan and pianist Stanley Macht!

For information on how to join the Heartsongs class, go to www.discovermusicandart.com.

The YMCA uses funds raised through the Partners with Youth campaign to offer financial support to families in need and create new and wonderful programs. The programs and services educate and nurture the young, the old and everyone in between. Its programs help children grow, keep seniors healthy, social and active and create an unshakable family bond. None of this would be possible without your support.

Race Beneficiary
Since 1993, The West Suburban YMCA has raised over $115,000 for various local charities through our Annual Angino Memorial Road Race & Family Field Day. This year, they will use a portion of the proceeds to honor two YMCA families, the Heilbrons and the McCarthys. We plan to donate in memory of Joseph Heilbron to The Jimmy Fund and in memory of Bill McCarthy, Jr. to the Neuro-Oncology Research Fund at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The remaining funds raised will benefit our annual Partners with Youth campaign, which aids YMCA children and families in need.

On behalf of Catching Joy, Inc., we thank everyone- planners, technical volunteers, non-technical volunteers, non-profit representatives and sponsors- who helped make New England Give Camp 2010 a huge success! This first GiveCamp was held from Friday, June 11 through Sunday June 13, 2010 at the the New England Research and Development Center (aka NERD) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Microsoft donated space in their facility for the duration of the event, which drew 24 non-profits and about 100 New England technical professionals as well as many additional volunteers. Participants brought sleeping bags and tents and truly make it a ‘camp’ experience, if we slept at all!

GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals – including designers, developers and database administrators as well as marketers and web strategists – donate their time and unique talents to provide software solutions for local charities and other non-profit organizations. Since its inception in 2007, the GiveCamp program has provided benefits to over 150 charities, with volunteer-time donations exceeding the equivalent of $150,000 in services! For more information, see www.negc.org.

Catching Joy enjoyed visiting the Blue Bunny in Dedham Square on June 14, 2010 for a free and fun special Storytime. Joy read children’s books about celebrating differences, including special needs, to promote the Special Olympics Summer Games, to be held June 18-20 at Harvard University The kids felt joy making cards for the participants of the Special Olympics that Joy will bring to the games. All are invited to come watch and cheer during the games!

For the schedule of events, see www.specialolympicsma.org.

The fundraiser took place at Discover Music And Art in Dedham Square on June 14, 2010. It was a fun-filled event with a great line up of talent including singers, actors, painters, poetry readers and more! Catching Joy organized the art project where kids decorated paper guitars and were invited to join the finale guitar sing-a-long to “This Little Light Of Mine.” Everyone was a star who participated and supported this worthy cause!

Discover Music and Art (DMA) is a consortium of visual and performing artists dedicated to inspiring artistic expression, learning and enrichment. DMA’s philosophy is based on “Whole Learning” which applies multiple learning styles to creative and artistic development. Educational programming includes: Music, Movement, Performing, Multimedia, Visual Arts classes and Therapy Programs for infants, kids, teens and adults. DMA’s staff are multiple award-winning and nationally acclaimed professionals, teachers, mentors and practitioners. For more information and class schedule, see www.discovermusicandart.com.

Catching Joy was pleased to be a part of World Oceans Day at the New England Aquarium on June 6, 2010. World Oceans Day is an opportunity every year to honor the world’s ocean, celebrate the products the ocean provides, such as seafood, as well as marine life itself for aquariums, pets, and also a time to appreciate its own intrinsic value. Catching Joy hosted a children’s activity table where we made turtle projects to promote the National Marine Life Center’s (NMLC) efforts to help protect and care for marine wildlife. Kids enjoyed decorating the paper turtles and learning about NMLC’s efforts to help save them. It was great to see so many families at this special event and enjoy all that the NE Aquarium has to offer.

The Aquarium is redefining what it means to be an aquarium: combining education, entertainment and action to address the most challenging problems facing the ocean. Through a wide variety of educational programs and conservation initiatives, NE Aquarium makes a lasting impact globally. For more information and upcoming events, check out www.neaq.org.

The National Marine Life Center is dedicated to rehabilitating for release stranded sea turtles, seals, dolphins, porpoises, and small whales, and to advancing scientific knowledge and education in marine wildlife health and conservation. For more information and to learn how to get involved, check out www.nmlc.org.

Catching Joy was delighted to be a part of the Stone Zoo’s Teddybear Check-up event today! Kids brought their teddybears to get checked and received a certificate showing a clean bill of health. Catching Joy hosted an arts and crafts table where kids decorated paper teddybears that they were able to tkae home as a reminder to schedule their doctors’ appointments and keep healthy! It was great to see so many kids and families at the zoo today and many joined in the Teddybear parade with their Catching Joy bears!

Catching Joy was delighted to support the Kidney Walk today, May 16, 2010, at the Franklin Park Zoo. Catching Joy hosted the children’s activity table where kids and adults made cards for patients. The cards were given to the National Kidney Foundationm (NFK) and from there they will distributed to dialysis units. Catching Joy also had a great walking team and families enjoyed the two mile walk through the zoo.

Here are the numbers as of today: total donations collected online are over $186,000 fueled by 2000 participants and over 185 teams!! Catching Joy thanks everyone who participated and made a difference!

The Kidney Walk was a fun, inspiring, community fundraiser which called attention to the prevention of kidney disease and the need for organ donation. It was also an opportunity for patients, family, friends and businesses to come together to support the millions of Americans with chronic kidney disease. Thanks to the money raised through the walks, NKF is able to offer free health screenings for kidney disease, public and professional education programs, advocacy to make patients’ voices heard through legislative action, and a vital research program to identify new clinical treatments.

For more info. on how to get involved see www.kidney.org.