Go Team Annabelle!

We are so proud of our campers for their summer accomplishments (trying new things, advancing in swim, making new friends, developing leadership skills, creating a fabulous art project, getting over a fear…. the list is endless) but it is also nice to highlight camper accomplishments for things outside of camp and share them with our Stonybrook Camp community.

Annabelle and Adam Christ, twins from Randolph, are joining us for their sixth summer at Stonybrook and bring to camp a love for Giants football and lots of camp spirit. At camp, Belle loves cooking, swimming and arts n’ crafts while Adam loves super science, jumping pillow and boating/fishing.

Belle and Adam, along with their entire family and many friends, are part of Team Annabelle and we applaud them for their amazing fundraising efforts for Cystic Fibrosis through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Great Strides Walk. Belle leads the team, which brings together many supporters,including other Stonybrook friends.

We interviewed Belle to find out more about Team Annabelle and all she has done for Cystic Fibrosis awareness.

What is Cystic Fibrosis (CF)?
Belle: CF if a disease that I was born with. It makes all of the liquids in my body very sticky, so I can get lung infections and can have trouble digesting my food. I take a lot of medicine and do a lot of therapy everyday to keep my body healthy.

What did you do to raise money and awareness about CF this year?
Belle: We did the walk for cystic fibrosis at Horseshoe Lake. It was our 7th year walking as Team Annabelle. Our team has over 75 people in it and we raised over $25,000 this year. In total, we have raised well over $100,000 for the cause over the last 7 years. In addition, to raise awareness for CF my mom and I shot a video clip with Shaun O'Hara from the NY Giants to promote awareness through his Foundation HIKE. I spoke about living with CF and why it is important to support CF research and fundraising.

Does CF slow you down?
Belle: No way!

Are you proud of yourself and your family for raising money and awareness about CF?
Belle: Yes I am.

What has this accomplishment- fundraising and helping with CF awareness- taught you about yourself?
Belle: That I can do anything I believe in

What do you want to be when you grow up.... camp director?
Belle: Actually, yes I would love to be a camp director, I love camp!

Besides your favorite camp activities, cooking, swimming and arts n’ crafts, what are your other interests?
Belle: I love the NY Giants.

According the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, CF is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that: clogs the lungs and leads to dangerous lung infections; and obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food. For more information on CF, you can go to the foundation website at www.cff.org.

Once again, we applaud Belle and her entire family for being so ambitious and successful both in their fundraising and in their helping to raise awareness about CF. In the last six years we have gotten to see Belle in action at camp and we can definitely agree that CF has not slowed her down! She demonstrates a great deal of bravery, takes things in stride and always has a smile on her face. Go Team Annabelle!


Check out this link for more information
http://www.cff.org/great_strides/teamannabelle


Don't forget to check out http://www.stonybrookdaycamp.smugmug.com to see all of the pictures from camp!