My Hero--Paul Newman

As I was running on this lovely fall-like morning, I started thinking about something that I had read about how today's young people have so many seemingly (to me anyway), unworthy hero's and idol's--so many of them are either musicians, singers, athletes or actor's. When I look at how some of these people seem to live and what they stand for---I am a little upset that so many of today's youth want to be like them.

Having said that, I have to admit that I TOO have a hero/idol from the acting world! Without a doubt, Paul Newman is my hero!! Not for the reason's that some might think though! Yes--without a doubt, the man had the most beautiful blue eyes that God ever gave a man.....and YES, he was a great actor...and one can't deny that the word "HOT" comes to mind also!! The reason that Paul Newman is my hero is because of the amazing way that he dealt with his fame and fortune. One of my favorite Newman quotes is----"I'm not running for Sainthood--I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out."

The reason that this man is MY hero.....is the same reason that he is a hero to so many children and their families. Many of the kids who call him their hero are too young to even KNOW about Paul Newman the actor.They know him as the amazing man who had a dream for a place where sick children could go and "Raise a little Hell" and just "Be kids"....and he made that dream come true in the form of The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.

My family had the honor of being at the Camp this past weekend. This wasn't our first visit to Camp, we have been there a couple of times a year for the past several years...and yet, every time we go there, I am just filled with a sense of wonder and awe! I can't even describe the way the place makes me feel. To use the words of a former Camper..."it's just MAGICAL!" Ray and I went up on Friday afternoon and slept in Lulu's Lodge, which is a place that was built to lodge staff members and families of Campers, etc.This was the first time that we ever had the opportunity to sleep over and I felt like a kid getting to go to Camp!!

These lovely bunny ears were in our room at the lodge! I'm sure someone placed them there just for Ray!!

Ray had to bring band equipment this time because his band, Sundance Kidz had been asked to perform on Saturday for the Camp Challenge Bike Ride. We had to unload the equipment Friday night so that we could load supplies, tents, etc for the Rest Stop that I would be in charge of for some of the riders on Saturday morning. We had a wonderful dinner catered by Vanilla Bean and there was some awesome BBQ pulled pork!!I was so happy that Krissy Juhaz, a trainer for some of the marathons and a big supporter of camp sat and ate with Ray and I. Krissy is one of my favorite people EVER and I had not had a chance to really talk with her in awhile! I talked to her about helping me with a REAL training plan for another marathon and she said she would be glad to help!!

After dinner there was a meeting for the volunteers on safety and some other issues. Then, Ray and I took a nice little walk to the lodge and got settled in our room.

Saturday morning we were at the dining hall at 6:30 to get started setting up for the band. I won't go into all of the details of the morning, but I was amazed by all of the work that goes into such an event! All of the people who work for Camp and Team Hole in the Wall are the most amazing group of people and you can tell that they don't just WORK  for Camp....they LIVE for Camp and the kids!

Ray worked his butt off getting the sound equipment set up before he had to go with me to set up the rest stop! After getting the tents set up he headed back to Camp to get ready to perform. I had an amazing group of helpers at the rest stop,Colleen Brown and her children, Lillie and Francis, my sweet guy Conor and a lovely young woman named Corey, whose boyfriend was riding in the event! Alex was supposed to help us but got recruited by Ray to run the sound board for the band! It was a hectic and yet wonderful day! We were at the 10 mile mark of the 15 mile bike ride route and the riders had endured a LOT of hills before getting to our Rest Stop. The kids were wonderful about taking riders water bottles and filling them, or just handing out food, drinks, etc! Colleen and Corey both worked so hard at their jobs and made sure that the riders all got what they needed....including a lot of encouragement and praise for their hard work!

We didn't get back to Camp in time to hear much from Sundance Kidz, but what we heard was great! Alex said that she had a LOT of people come up to her and say that they thought the band sounded AWESOME!!

It was a great experience and the riders raised a lot of money for Camp!! But back to my hero.......

The Story of Camp

In the beginning, there was a dream, the vision of Paul Newman. Flush with the early success of Newman’s Own, his company that gives all of its profits after taxes to charity, Mr. Newman began receiving scores of letters asking for help from parents of children with serious illnesses. Tax rules, however, prohibited the thriving young company from making donations to individuals. He began pondering other ways to help these children and decided to establish a camp where they could retrieve some of their lost childhood and “raise a little hell.”

What better place to fire the imaginations of youngsters than a village scene right out of the Wild West? He built it in record time and dubbed it The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for the rag tag bandits from his film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Like Butch and Sundance, The Hole in the Wall is a place where our children find a refuge from the outside world and the care and worry of serious illness. Then, Mr. Newman filled his Camp with caring, capable staff – because it is people that make the magic happen.

Camp welcomed 288 children that first summer; twenty five years later, more than 1,000 children enter our gates from June through August alone each year. Today, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is the first in a family of camps for children with serious illnesses in the U.S. and overseas with more than 100,000 youngsters served worldwide.

Need I say more???

I am very happy to say that my 17 year old daughter puts Paul Newman at the top of her list of hero's also!! Yeah, she still likes a lot of those cute young singers and actor's.....but she KNOWS the importance of people like Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and some other people who truly CARE about the world and the people in it and she strives to be like them! I totally believe that the "magic of Camp" has helped instill in my children the importance of helping other children! Even Conor who at age 11 can have that...."ME--ME--ME" attitude sometimes, REALLY believes in supporting Camp and totally enjoys volunteering there! As much as he would LOVE to attend this amazing Camp, he understands how important it is for sick children to go there and he wants to help make that possible!

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