Wow! What a blast we had during Summer Program at Cool Kids Clubhouse. Cool Kids (remember, siblings are included) spent every Thursday and Friday in July together at the Clubhouse. We had several special guests who donated their time, talents, and treasures to the Coolest Kids. Christiane Matey, founder of Mint Nutrition, helped kick-off Summer Program on Day 1 by coming and teaching Cool Kids how to make tasty, healthy snacks including chocolate hummus, smoothies, and energy balls! Her daughter, Annabelle, also came along to teach Cool Kids how to make chocolate mousse and gave each Cool Kid a handmade bracelet.
On Day 2, we had TWO special guests- Cliff Kinchen from Kinchen Martial Arts and Brooke Graham. Cliff brought several of his students and taught Cool Kids about confidence, focus, respect, and the appropriate steps to follow to defend themselves against bullies. Cool Kids even had an opportunity (and all succeeded) in breaking a wooden board with their hand! His students also demonstrated their skills with several awesome kicks and moves! Brooke Graham set up an escape room right inside the Clubhouse! Cool Kids had to work as a team and use their knowledge of managing emotions to solve the clues to escape. The special guests continued with Andrea Orr coming to lead Cool Kids in a fun yoga group getting creative with animal sounds and poses. Alaska, the therapy dog, and her human, Ray also came to visit Cool Kids twice as we wrapped up our days talking about our favorite activities and new friends made. Our last special guest, Holly Gainsboro, came to lead Cool Kids in a Mask Art Activity to express how they see themselves and how others see them. In between all of these special guests, we had lunches together, played games, shared lots of laughs, painted nails, assembled Legos, and won lots of cool prizes! On the last day of Summer Program, Elevation Church-LKN hosted a Family Luau for all Cool Kid families that included shaved ice, face painting, a giant water slide, dinner, crafts, and games. This was such a special time for families to relax and enjoy each other.

Thank you to all of our Cool Kids for coming and being a part- we hope you had tons of fun! Thank you to our special guests for your generosity and investing your time and talents into enriching the quality of life of the Coolest Kids fighting cancer.  Thank you to our volunteers and lunch sponsors for making Summer Program run smoothly and successfully- we couldn’t do it without you. We are certainly wrapping up the summer with grateful hearts.