Pedal Trans-America 2008: Chez Mello

A message from the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation

Ryan and Dwight hope to raise $10,000 to support the burn camp, which will host 70 children between the ages of 8 and 18. They are determined to reach the West Coast as a personal challenge as well as helping young burn survivors.

Started in 1991, the Arthur C. Luf Children's Burn Camp is located in northern Connecticut on 176 acres. Every summer, burn survivors come to the burn camp, which is a safe and fun environment that helps kids heal emotionally and physically. The Burn Camp is free to the children, who come primarily from the Northeast and some foreign counteries, but any burn survivor child anywhere is welcome. More than 70 adult counselors, primarily active and retired firefighters and burn unit nurses, occupational and physical therapists, child psychologists and even a doctor will serve as mentors for the week.

It's also our goal to promote burn awareness and fire prevention and education, which we do year around. We sponsor a burn survivor, burned in a car accident that involved speeding and drinking alcohol, who speaks to high school students throughout Connecticut. We also support the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, helping to purchase equipment.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Chez Mello

Day two we made it through another hot one from Norwalk, CT to New York, NY. We stopped at Colony Grill Pizza in Stamford for lunch. Mmm... Ryan went vegan with me on the pizza as dairy does not seem to be agreeing with his stomach on this journey. We didn't make it to the concert which had brought us to the city (our friends These Green Eyes), but Anna and Maria Mello saved the day for us by putting us up and giving us the absolute 5 Star treatment. Many, many thanks to them and their family for their enormous hospitality.