Your monthly snack of stories about what's happening at North Star Reach! | |
Detroit Basketball & Motor City Mooseness | |
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Opening night at Little Caesars Arena wasn't a win for the Detroit Pistons, but sure felt like one for North Star Reach as 26 campers, donors, volunteers, and staff did their best to cheer them on. In fact, the Pistons liked us so much that asked us to come back on Monday, November 18 against the Chicago Bulls.
Like last time, thanks to a donation from the Pistons through the Community Ticket Program, we have a limited number of tickets to share with our campily. To reserve your tickets, please reach out to Patrick Smith, Chief Program Officer, with the number of tickets you are interested in. Tickets will be distributed on a first come first served basis. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm; doors will open at 5:30 pm.
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Moose Wonderful Time of the Year Returns
Saturday, December 7
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It's back! Thanks to your feedback, the Moose Wonderful Time of the Year volunteer gathering is going to be on Saturday, December 7 at North Star Reach. Our hope is to fill an afternoon and evening with fun, food, and fellowship. It's been a minute, actually a whole bunch of minutes, since we have been able to gather together and celebrate our amazing community of camp volunteers.
We're talking craft s'mores & hot chocolate, cookie decorating, festive no hands spaghetti dinner, and perhaps some Subway, Supreme Court, Empire, Fool, Doubles Dice, Taco Cat Goat Cheeze Pizza, Moose Match Mayhem, Spot It and other favorite games. Plan on arriving at camp any time after 4 pm. Dinner is at 6:30 pm with evening activities and fellowship to follow.
Past and future volunteers welcome. Limited overnight accommodations will be available in the bunkhouse. Please RSVP by Monday, December 2 via the link below.
Special thanks to Mugg&Bopps for their generous sponsorship of our volunteer gathering!
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Moose-Merch November Special Promotion | |
Speaking of the Moose Wonderful Time of the Year, our Moose-Merch Online Store is open with a great selection of custom North Star Reach apparel. In the spirit of Mooseness, Midwest Graphics, our store partner, is offering 20% off on outerwear through the end of November! We believe cold weather will be here someday soon so be prepared to keep warm like a moose. You can visit our camp store and not only get some awesome stuff, but also support camp with a percentage of your purchase price coming back to us! Enjoy this blast from the past photo featuring camp staff Sissy, Colleen, Moose, Bill, Patrick, and Jessica celebrating that cold weather is actually a thing while wearing NSR apparel! | |
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Find Your Campfire
Volunteer Profile | Tim Andrews
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Serving others has always been part of Tim Andrews' life. He worked in his family's restaurant, was a MP in the Marines, is a firefighter/paramedic and part of the Hazmat, Swift Water and Michigan Task Force One Search and Rescue Teams. He helped found HART Huron Valley, a team that helps support first responders during long and major responses. And he does just about anything you ask of him at camp. Let's frame it another way. He always starts with, "yes."
Tim has been a longtime camp volunteer, even before North Star Reach opened in 2016. He was part of the group that started Camp Michitanki, serving children with organ transplants that served at the inspiration for building NSR's facility.
His camp resume includes cabin counselor, activity leader, logistics coordinator, guy that fixes stuff, tour guide, work weekend crew leader, campfire starter, s'more maker, best hug giver, and of course, incredible role model for all. He often refers to camp has his "happy place" because of its life-changing experiences. Tim shared, "one of my favorite things is seeing kids come back and being in the same cabin group as the year before. Within 10 minutes of seeing their old friends, it is like they were never apart."
Tim has a unique ability to find that sweet spot between creating safe spaces for campers and giving them the freedom to just be bold and exuberant. "I think I enjoy camp as much if not more than some of the campers because I get to just be a big kid there. It is something I look forward to every year," he said with a smile.
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Lasting Impact
In Our Own Words | The Scott Family
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Anna was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 4. Our family learned about North Star Reach through Michigan Medicine after several other camps couldn’t guarantee her safety and they didn’t know how to manage seizures.
NSR made us feel safe from the beginning. As a parent, that’s one of the main things you want for your children – safety. But what we got out of NSR in addition to safety was completely unexpected.
When Anna first started attending camp, she began showing a whole new side of her. It was almost like we weren’t seeing the true Anna until she went to camp and found where she belonged. NSR did that. And it has since become our home away from home. We count down the days until Anna can attend summer camp or we can attend as a family. Thank you, North Star Reach, for being part of our epilepsy family and for giving us lasting memories.
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North Star Reach In the News:
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North Star Reach is Michigan’s only barrier-free, fully accessible medical camp serving children with significant health challenges and their families, entirely free-of-charge. Our programs are more than just fun. They’re purposely designed to foster independence, resilience, and personal growth, helping children and their families to see beyond the limits of their medical conditions and experience all that life can offer.
As a member of SeriousFun Children’s Network, we are part of a trusted global network of camps and programs for children with serious illnesses.
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