Jingle Bell Jog

Heather H., Heather G., and Teresa at the Jingle Bell Jog

This weekend Team Daniel staff members are participating in the 31st Annual 7th Group Association Jingle Bell Jog 10k run/ 5k walk! The 7th Group Association holds this event every year to kick off the Holiday Season and to raise money for their organization. The goal of the 7th Group Association, which is a non-profit all volunteer group, is to support families of the 7th Special Forces Group, especially the families of fallen warriors.
This year’s event will take place in Downtown Fayetteville at the Medical Arts Center on Robeson Street. Registration will take place the day of the event starting at 6:30 in the morning, but you can also register online and by mail ahead of time. The registration fee is $25 which includes a long sleeve t-shirt for the event. The run/walk will start at 8:30 am on December 5th and everyone is invited to attend. In addition to the run/walk, the Golden Knights will jump that day around 8 am to kick off the event. The Haven will also be at the event with dogs and cats that are up for adoption. This year there are over $2,000 worth of prizes and raffle items to win!
If you are unable to participate in the run/walk but still wish to help out, the 7th Group Association is looking for volunteers to help with things such as registration, water stations, and route directions. To register or get more information about the Jingle Bell Jog visit their website at http://www.active.com/running/fayetteville-nc/31st-annual-jingle-bell-jog-10k-run-5k-walk-2009.

Participating in the Jingle Bell Jog is a great way to give back to those who have given so much for us.

Special Olympics of North Carolina Winter Games

Picture Take from SONC.com

It is that time of year again! Special Olympics North Carolina (SONC) Winter Games are about to begin. The Winter games include ice skating and alpine skiing, the SONC Basketball and Cheerleading Tournament, and of course the SONC Summer Games. The SONC is also having a Bowling Tournament on December 6, 2009. The event will be taking place in Newton and Raleigh for the Western and Eastern tournaments. Over 400 athletes are anticipated to attend! There will also be family members, coaches, and volunteers present to make sure the tournament is a success. All of the volunteer spots for this event have been filled. To get more information about the Special Olympics North Carolina along with local and statewide event information, volunteer information, and athlete information visit http://www.sonc.net/.

The Buddy Club

Attention families in the Asheville area!! Have you heard about the Buddy Club for children with developmental disabilities? This event is aimed at children with developmental disabilities who have no services or who have had recent cuts in services. The Buddy Club is designed to give parents the night off while their child/children play with their individual buddy for the night.
Trained staff will be on hand to make sure this event runs smoothly. The space for this program is very limited so be sure to stop by F.I.R.S.T to pick up your application. The deadline to have the application returned is November 10, 2009, which is quickly approaching! The actual event will be held on November 13 from 6-8 p.m. at the West Asheville Community Center. F.I.R.S.T. is hoping to make this a monthly event, but they are in need of community groups and organizations to be the Buddy part of the Buddy Club.
If you think you might know a group or organization that would be interested in fulfilling this mission be sure to inform them of the Buddy Club! For more information see the Buddy Club flyer at http://www.westernhighlands.org/images/stories/buddy_club_flyer.pdf

Search the Internet and Raise Money for Team Daniel Foundation!!

Want to help raise money for Team Daniel Foundation while searching the internet? Then search using GoodSearch.com! Every time you do an internet search using GoodSearch.com money is donated to Team DanielFoundation. Who knew raising money for a good cause could be so easy! The best part is that using GoodSearch.com is as simple as using any other search engine, and since it is powered by Yahoo! You get the same great search results.
To get started, go to GoodSearch.com. Then, choose which organization you want to do your goodsearch for. Make sure to choose Team Daniel Foundation (Fayetteville, NC). You can then do your internet search as you usually would. Doesn’t it feel great to know that you are helping raise money for Team Daniel Foundation while doing something as simple as searching the internet? Another great thing you could do to assure that you are aiding Team Daniel Foundation when searching the internet is to download the GoodSearch toolbar or make GoodSearch.com your homepage, that way you don’t have to waste time pulling up the website to do your searches. This makes GoodSearch.com and raising money for Team Daniel Foundation quick and convenient!
Do you shop online often? GoodSearch.com also powers GoodShop. There are tons of great online stores that you can do your shopping with, and up to 30% of what you spend will be donated to Team Daniel Foundation! There are also great coupons and deals available through GoodShop so be sure to check it out!

We thank everyone in advance for taking the time to make GoodSearch.com your way of searching the internet and raising money for Team Daniel Foundation!

Click here to go directly to www.GoodSearch.com!

Team Daniel is a Sponsor of the Karen Chandler Beach Music Festival

On October 11, 2009, the Karen Chandler Trust held its 6th Annual Beach Music Festival and Team Daniel, LLC was proud to be one of the sponsors of the event! The event took place at the Sol Rose Amphitheatre at Campbellton Landing on the Cape Fear River. We had several members of the Team Daniel staff who participated in the event and they had a wonderful time spending their day raising money for those diagnosed with cancer in our area.

The Karen Chandler Trust has been doing great things for those with cancer in the Cumberland County area for many years now. The KCT started when Karen Chandler, a local musician, was diagnosed with breast cancer. A group of local musicians held a benefit to aid Karen and her family with the financial burdens she was facing because of her illness. Karen, a single parent of two, lost her battle with breast cancer on August 4, 1999, but her friends and family wanted to continue their giving to those in need. They decided to establish the Karen Chandler Trust as a formal North Carolina Non-profit Corporation. The KTC has continued to grow and aid those in need for several years now. Their first beach benefit was held in September of 2004 and has been quite successful every year. To date, the Karen Chandler Trust has raised and distributed $150,000 to cancer patients in the Cumberland County area. The money given helps patients with expenses such as food, shelter, transportation, and medical treatments.

Focus Group Frenzy

The Benefits of Focus Groups

Team Daniel serves individuals with developmentally disabilities across the state of North Carolina. The best way to collect community information is to go visit the community and speak with its members in a facilitated group discussion. You learn a lot through these discussions about the unique needs of the community. For instance, we have found that families we serve in the Charlotte and Lenoir area, have a difficult time finding local dentists who specialize in serving people with developmental disabilities. Many of these families travel 30 miles or more to have their child seen by a specialty dentist who will meet the needs of their child or loved one.

In the most recent issue of EMPOWERED (Fall 2009), we featured an article on Special Care Dentistry. Access Dental is a non-profit mobile dentistry unit that provides dental services to older adults in long-term care settings and individuals with developmental disabilities. They serve several counties within central North Carolina and we need more services like this throughout our state. Communities should come together so that we have enough mobile units to cover all 100 of North Carolina's counties!

Each focus group gives those in attendance a chance to discuss specific needs of the community and share available resources that families may not know exist. These meetings are rich with dialogue and those who come, share their own knowledge and/or learn something they didn't know before.

Where We've Been in 2009

This year we began our focus group tour in Fayetteville, NC. We then visited Lumberton, Raleigh, Charlotte and Lenoir. Our final stop this year will be in Asheville, NC. In 2010, we plan to start the tour all over again.

Let's Catch Up

Well it's been two weeks since we last posted, so let's catch up! Team Daniel Foundation has released the Fall 2009 issue of EMPOWERED! This quarterly publication provides current information for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

Does EMPOWERED feel slightly heavier than the last issue? Well it should, because we added eight additional pages of information! Our goal is to keep you informed about topics that impact individuals with developmental disabilities and it's great to be able to do so with more pages.

Please check out the Fall 2009 contents page at www.teamdaniel.info/magazine_events.html and if you don't have a subscription, order one today!