Kem, "You're On My Mind". Not a Kem fan, but this song! It's great. So I'm pushing the National Kidnet Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) Zoo Walk. The Zoo Walk is one of several fund raisers for NKFM. The Kidney Walk at the Detroit Zoo is where it all started! More than 4,000 people attend this heartwarming event each year that features Radio Disney, many children’s activity stations, multiple food and vendor areas, a raffle of “gotta have it” items, a celebration of individual family teams, dialysis teams, and corporate teams, a Champions Tent for our kidney patients, free parking and of course a chance to spend a day at the zoo. There are also fundraising walks in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Muskegon and Portage. The NKFM also has golf tournaments, balls and fun runs.
Kashif, "Help Yourself to My Love". So they have all these fund raisers. What to they do with the money they've collected? Well I've been involved in 2 of the programs. One is the peer mentoring training. The company that operates my dialysis center asked the NKFM to help them start a peer mentoring program. Peer Mentors are Chronic Kidney Disease patients or have a lot of knowledge and/or experience with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The Peer Mentor program is designed to support fellow patients by listening, problem solving, empowering and being a source of information about CKD. The other program is Special Events - Assisting the development department in fundraising and supporting various events such as the Kidney Ball, Kidney Walks, golf outings, wine tasting and more. This is a great way to interact with donors, businesses and community leaders all while having fun. We did this by volunteering at the Health Fair a few weeks ago.
Teena Marie, "Portuguese Love". Little woman, huge voice! In addition to those programs, NKFM has prevention programs for children from preschool to middle school. One of the programs is Healthy Kids and Kidneys. Overweight and obesity are of epidemic proportions in children. Pediatricians are reporting that they are seeing more children with diabetes and high blood pressure. With the Centers for Disease Control estimating that one in every three children born in 2000 will develop diabetes, the leading cause of kidney disease, the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) provides health education and health behavior change programs for middle school students.
Healthy Kids and Kidneys (HKK) is an 8-week evidence-based health education and disease prevention program, offered to fifth-seventh grade students in elementary/middle schools within Detroit, Pontiac, Flint and Inkster.
These are just a few of the programs the NKFM offer. You know I'm going to go over all of the in the coming weeks.
The Stylistics, "You Make Me Feel Brand New". The voices, the orchestration and the arrangement. This group and song got my attention back in high school. Love, love it still.
During the period leading up to the Zoo a Walk, there will be addional fund resisters. Last week, Noodles and Company donated proceeds from each meal to the NKFM. On April 30, the Michigan California Pizza Kitchen restaurants will donate 20% of your bill to the NKFM. (See below) I hope you will visit the restaurant on April 30. Margherita pizza. Yum! I hope you can join my team in the walk or sponsor the team, Pat's Adventures. :)
Signing off with Michael Jackson, "Butterflies". Heard Floetry's version at the credit union. I'm gonna download that, too. :-) The they played Usher, "There Goes My a Baby". I though they stole my playlist. Lol. Enjoy your day!
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