Interested in Sponsoring a Camper to Come to Rally?
Many of our campers and families face financial hardship related to medical expenses. The Youth Rally takes pride in the fact that no camper is ever turned away on account of inability to cover registration and/or travel costs. People like YOU make that possible each year!
There are numerous sponsorship opportunities available at:http://www.youthrally.org/donate/
Thank you for reading and for being a part of our incredible Rally family!
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Boots on the Ground
This past January, Maggie McCaslin, hosted her sixth annual “Got Guts” volleyball tournament in an effort to increase awareness for Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, and people living with ostomies. Over 60 teams from all over Nebraska and Kansas showed up to compete in this two day tournament. Between concessions and registration dollars, Maggie and her supporters raised over $10,000!
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Maggie was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at age 4. Each year Maggie donates all the proceeds to organizations supporting those living with conditions like hers. This year, thanks to exposure from the United Ostomy Associations of America’s national conference in St. Louis (also a beneficiary of the event), Youth Rally was one of those groups!
“My heart strings were pulled when I attended the session on Youth Rally at the conference. I never realized there were so many people walking a similar journey – I went from Ulcerative Colitis, to the cancerous polyps, to an ileostomy. I want to help bless others with an opportunity to relate to someone else who is also trying to conquer the struggle. There is strength in numbers! God bless you all!”
~ Maggie Snyder McCaslin, Event Organizer
The Youth Rally would like to thank Maggie, and all those who supported the event, for all her hard work and dedication to her community. After 21 years and 19 surgeries, she is living a happy and healthy life with an ileostomy, and wouldn’t change that for anything!Special thanks also to the UOAA for their support in connecting us with Maggie!
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For the first time ever, the Youth Rally participated at the Pediatric Colorectal, Motility, and Pelvic Reconstruction Conference. Elliot Smith, Jenna Fisher, and Rory Bolser traveled to Columbus, OH for the three day conference. They made great new connections, attended sessions, and made quite an impression on the conference staff, who invited them to be back at this conference from now on! We are so proud!
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Getting to the far reaches of Rhode Island might be challenging for some, but not for Jacob Kehr, who made it there for the New England Regional WOCN Conference in November (he only had to drive about five hours). Jacob was so excited to represent Youth Rally; he made new connections who will be receiving our Leak newsletter going forward, and helped sell raffle tickets raising money for Rally! Way to go Jacob! He even ran into Sandy Quigley, one of our new WOCN’s from 2015.
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| Would you like to nominate an outstanding Youth Rally volunteer to be recognized here? Please email info@youthrally.org to submit a counselor or nurse or camper whom you think embodies the Youth Rally spirit. |
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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO, PAUL HASTINGS
Each year on my birthday I make a wish – a wish that every child wishing to attend the Youth Rally has the financial means to do so and that, once they get there, they have a once-in-a-lifetime experience that keeps them coming back year after year. It is the best way I know how to honor the thousands of campers and counselors whose lives have been touched by the Youth Rally in its 38 years of existence.
Year after year, thanks to the recruitment efforts of our tireless volunteers, we host campers and counselors from all over the US and Canada, and from as far as the UK, Belgium, and Russia! We are all about “You are not alone.” We offer supportive programming that boosts self-esteem and gives these teens the tools they need to be independent and thrive in a world that embraces their diversity and celebrates their accomplishments both as campers at Youth Rally but also as adult counselors at the very place that served them as campers.
Please join me in helping a kid attend this year’s Youth Rally at the University of Washington, Seattle, for our 38th year! The cost for tuition for one participant is $425.00 – now add travel expenses and the price for one child can quickly exceed $1200.00!
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/PaulHastingsBirthdayWish/2016
Words alone can never express the gratitude I feel for your generosity when looking into the eyes of a child who is realizing, perhaps for the first time, that they are not alone in this world – that the very thing that makes them “different” makes them AMAZING!!!!!
THANK YOU so much for your help and support of our very special rally. With Love and Respect and Gratitude for what you do to give to our kids,
All the best,
Paul J Hastings
Chairman & CEO, Youth Rally Committee, Inc.
Diagnosis: Crohn’s Disease with ileostomy
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Contact Us!
We are a small group of dedicated volunteers who believe in the Rally experience and have seen over and over the positive effect camp can have on young people.
We are friendly, we do not bite, and our door is always open to anyone who wants more information, wants to get involved, knows a kid who might like to know more about camp, or wants to either donate or help develop ways to raise money!
You can connect with us using the social media links below, or email a member of the Youth Rally Leadership Team at mailto:info@youthrally.org.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
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