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.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

You Can Always Count on a Gordon from Black Mesa.

Black Mesa Twin Cinemas

On a cold night on the Navajo Reservation we found ourselves in Kayenta, Arizona after riding just about 100 miles through the desert, from dawn till dusk. It was around 11pm when we arrived and we were exhausted, hungry and covered from head to toe in dirt and road debris. We grabbed something small to eat at the only gas station opened in town at that hour and I went off on my bike looking for a camping spot while Dwight watched our gear at the gas station. I rode around town scouting out spots to camp for the night. With absolutely no luck, for the first time this trip, I returned and shared the bad news with Dwight. Without any other options, we decided to set up camp in the local supermarket's front parking lot. As we were searching for a decent place to lay our heads, a movie theater employee walked out from the theater and asked us if everything was okay...I started talking with him for a bit and after understanding our story, he asked us if we wanted to sleep in the movie theater!

He invited us indoors and we immediately set up our bags and pads on the floor in the lobby of the theater with the comforting smell of popcorn saturating the air. It turned out that the movie theater employee was actually the owner and he lived in the theater, his name is Gordon.

Gordon invited us upstairs to the projection room and we were able to take a shower in the bathroom of the living quarters next to the projection room. We got all cleaned up and retired to the theater lobby for a great night's sleep.

In the morning, we were awoken to a breakfast which Gordon bought for us and had ready in the theater lobby. He introduced us to the laundry mat and the grocery store next door to his theater.

That night in Kayenta was truly looking bad. We had beaten ourselves to get to civilization and once we arrived, we found nothing which advanced our situation. We were beaten, battered and discouraged. Then we bumped into Gordon and everything changed. We were dry, clean, comfortable and safe because of his help. This was another example of the effect one individual can have on two others when he lends a helping hand. This is one of the dynamics of a trip like ours, which makes it so special. Thank-you Gordon.
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