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(07/17/08 4:00am)
The growing pains are finished for Franklin Street's Kidzu Children's Museum.
After two years of renting other children's museums' exhibits while raising the money to create its own, Kidzu unveiled its first original exhibit July 11.
"This is a really momentous time for us as a children's museum," Kidzu Executive Director Cathy Maris said. "The rented children's exhibits really didn't reflect and show our community or our creativity."
(06/26/08 4:00am)
Making arrests and raising bail was the theme Wednesday at the Franklin Hotel for some of Chapel Hill's leaders and business owners, who were "arrested" and brought to be "locked up" until they could meet their set bails.
The jailbirds took part in the annual "lock-up," a fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association's local district.
"This is one of our biggest fundraisers," said Karissa Binkley, district director of the Muscular Dystrophy Association for Eastern Carolina.
"People get pretty competitive and like to raise money, especially when they know what the money's going toward.
"They get to meet our kids and families, which allows them to put a face with the disease."
About 200 business representatives and leaders from the area participated in the event, with several of them being long-term participants.
Delos O'Daniel, who has been a jailbird each year since 1983, said he contributes his time year after year because he believes in the cause.
"The first time I participated I went home feeling good about myself," O'Daniel said. "I know the money is going where it's needed."
He put work into raising money before even arriving at the lock-up by mailing out 110 requests for support and making phone calls.
"Anyone who sees those kids in wheelchairs, it's heartbreaking," O'Daniel said. "The least we can do is give some of our time. It just takes a little time."
Each participant volunteered to be arrested and was brought to the hotel to raise his share of the bail by making phone calls and getting pledges. The money will go to the MDA clinics at UNC, Duke University and a summer camp in Stokesdale, and also will help people get wheelchairs and braces.
"Muscular dystrophy affects all groups of people - every age group, both genders, and it stands any ethnicity," Binkley said. "Although we're finding ways to extend peoples' lives and comfort, there's still no cure."
Binkley said the district to which Chapel Hill belongs provides services for 17 counties and 1,500 families at no cost to the patients, and it relies heavily on this fundraiser each year. The goal for this year was $100,000.
Melissa Crane, director of sales and marketing at Franklin Hotel, said she was excited to be hosting the event.
"It's a very important charitable cause, so to have the opportunity to hold it here was an honor," Crane said. "It's a great way for people to have the downtown experience while working toward the cause."
Binkley said the exposure the event brings to MD is important in raising money locally.
"It's a great way to raise money, because it's fun for people so they come back year after year. It also gives muscular dystrophy a more local face," she said.
"It shows people that we're not a nebulous nonprofit organization that just exists - we're important in the community."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu
(06/12/08 4:00am)
In response to an April 10 car accident that left a six-year-old resident with brain and spinal damage, the town of Hillsborough has come together to raise money for the victim's family's needs.
Khari Clark-Hester was riding in the back seat on the passenger side of her mother's car when a truck struck their vehicle as it turned into the family's driveway. Khari is now paralyzed from the waist down.
But her grandparents said she doesn't view her injuries as a setback.
"It hasn't gotten her down," said Sucovis Hester, Khari's grandmother. "She's in good spirits. She's just a happy, cheerful, friendly little girl."
Khari spent five weeks at UNC Hospitals before moving to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, where she will stay until June 16, when she will move in with her grandparents in Hillsborough.
The Hesters have gone through training to prepare for caring for Khari once she arrives home. They said treatment will include the same rehabilitation she currently is undergoing at the children's hospital, along with daily tasks of catheterizing and medicating her.
"She'll learn to do most of this stuff herself," Sucovis Hester said. "She's still going to be an independent Khari and want to do everything herself."
Ricky Clark, a coworker of Khari's grandfather, Malcolm Hester, has known Khari since she was born.
"She's always been Malcolm's right hand," Clark said. "She loves the outdoors. If he was going fishing or if he was coaching on the field, that's right where she was."
Building a wheelchair ramp, paying medical bills and obtaining a medical car seat are some of the immediate needs the Hesters face.
Coworkers of Malcolm Hester, who is the Water Plant Operator 2 for the town of Hillsborough, took initiative to plan fundraisers just a couple of weeks after Khari's accident. Clark said he and coworkers started out by just giving cards with donations.
"But when we found out how severe the accident was, we knew we needed to do something bigger to help them out," he said.
Clark and a few others took on the task of organizing a benefit golf tournament at Cedar Grove Golf Course set for June 14.
"I'm so thankful that we live in a community that would do this for us," Sucovis Hester said. "The response from the public has been amazing."
But amid all of the support for the Hesters, Khari remains the primary focus.
"There's still a 10 percent chance she could walk again, so we will never give up hope," Malcolm Hester said.
Her family has seen her make great progress in just more than two months, Sucovis Hester said.
"She's come a long way from where she started, and knowing Khari, she's going to keep on."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.