We have extended early bird ticket pricing for AARBF’s 50th Anniversary Celebration to this Friday, August 12, 2022. Take advantage of this great deal before it’s gone! Join us on Saturday, October 15, 2022 for a night to remember featuring wine courtesy of the Foley family as well as some of LA’s best food trucks including, Kogi Truck, Vivace Pizza, Cousins Maine Lobster, Longshot Coffee and Coolhaus Ice Cream.

Thank you to our fabulous event sponsors: Matthew Cunningham/Cunningham Law Firm (Gold), AVITA Medical, Channel Islands Law Group, F&A Federal Credit Union, Nathan Osadchey (Bronze), Ruth Rimmer/Care Plans for Life LLC (Supporter), and Jennifer Radics-Johnson (Friend).

Click here before August 12th to purchase your tickets and sponsorships today!

Many of our burn community members may have had the pleasure of meeting Autumn “Pickles” Ruch. Autumn is Alisa Ann Ruch’s niece and has been a counselor at Champ Camp. She is a filmmaker and is passionate about exploring generational grief and healing through the creation of a very personal documentary, “Stop Drop and Roll – The Film.” Autumn has spent years interviewing family members about the tragic day that shaped their world. The documentary will show how a family’s tragedy sparked a national movement for fire safety, survivor wellness and the memorialization of Alisa Ann Ruch. Follow this link to see the trailer of Stop Drop and Roll – The Film: https://www.stopdropandrollfilm.com/ and see how you can help Autumn complete this project.

On Sunday, July 16, 2022, local Fresno business owner Christine from Hashtag.Balance hosted a special yoga session in support of AARBF. The yoga session was a free event open to everyone in the Fresno community. Christine hosts a similar session each month highlighting a different local non-profit. She says that her sessions are “an opportunity for us to bring the community together through yoga.” AARBF’s Central CA Regional Manager, McKenzie Dern, was able to attend this session and had a great time. Thank you, Christine for hosting this event. AARBF was honored to have been your chosen non-profit for the month of July.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022, was Camp Kindness Day. Camp Kindness Day was the vision of Scott Ralls, Southwoods Camp, and was created in collaboration with American Camp Association and Kindness Evolution in 2018. It is a way to highlight the practice of intentional kindness that happens every day at American camps, including AARBF’s Champ Camp.

This year, in celebration of Camp Kindness Day, AARBF chose to focus on the kindness of our community partners who show their kindness by donating much needed items for our campers.

Thank you to Reid&Co/Rodan and Fields for Chapstick, Lanyards with Chapstick holders, Good News Bears for teddy bears, San Francisco Firefighters for water bottles, La Roche Posay for towels, sunglasses and sunscreen, AVITA for headlamps, Fresno Fire Fighters for the Water Park Dinner, Community Regional Medical Center/ Leon S. Peters Burn Center for the Water Park Lunch and Backpacks, and Kings Canyon Quilting Guild for quilted pillow cases. We appreciate your kind and generous support of AARBF and Champ Camp!

On July 23, 2022, AARBF was thrilled to host a Champ Camp reunion, reuniting all of our current and past Champ Camp counselors. With over sixty in attendance, it was E-Hugs all around as we celebrated the collective years of volunteerism. With volunteers who helped get camp started 35 years ago to volunteers who experienced camp for the first time this year, we are incredibly grateful to all our volunteers that make such an impact on AARBF. We are already looking forward to our next reunion!

On July 29-31, 2022, we were back in the wilderness with our volunteers, community partners and survivors! We had twenty young survivors enjoy a weekend of lake activities (swimming, fishing, paddle boarding, kayaking and relaxing on the beach) and rock climbing with the amazing Calaveras County Search and Rescue at Calaveras Big Trees State Park and at Lake Alpine, California. On top of those incredible activities, we enjoyed time with old friends, playing games and great meals together.

We would like to thank our fabulous group of volunteers, who joined us from all over the state, Patch, Barbie, Viper, Flamingo, Snap, Rickey Rescue, Alpine, Hydra, Pinecone, Loosehead, Princess, Pretzel, Chop Suey and Glow. A special thank you to lead volunteer, Dash, who put in countless hours on this event. We would also like to thank AARBF staff members, Scott “Scooter” Wertz and McKenzie “Bubbles” Dern.

This weekend would not have been possible without the generous support of our community partners: Chapel in the Pines, Calaveras County Search and Rescue, Sierra Nevada Adventure Co., Ebbetts Pass Fire Fighters Association, and our newest partner, the Ebbetts Pass Moose Lodge. Thank you for your support!

AARBF is accepting applications for the 2022 Getaway Family Camp, September 3-5, 2022 in Coarsegold, CA. This weekend camp is a great way for burn survivors to have fun while focusing on the importance of family during the healing journey. There are many great activities including, horseback riding, crafts, archery, paintball, camp fire, support groups and family centered activities. Click here to learn more about this program.

Ready to join us? Complete your application today at: https://forms.gle/tFyyQ2fXktKXYzJt5.

Have you registered for the 39th annual Southern California Golf Tournament?  It is coming up quickly on Monday, September 19, 2022. The golf tournament will be held at the Via Verde Golf Club in San Dimas, CA.

The cost is $220 per golfer and your entry includes golf, cart, dinner, tee gift, and more! If you are unable make it for a fun day of golf, you can still join us for dinner at 5:30PM.

Visit the 39th Annual Golf Tournament page for sponsorship and registration information: https://aarbf.accelraising.com/.

August 12: Early bird pricing for 50th Anniversary Celebration ends.

August 25: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Music Expression, contact Daniel “Apollo” Chacon at dchacon@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 18.

 

September 1: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Caregiver Support Group – Online Video Support, contact Daniel “Apollo” Chacon at 415-495-7223 Ext. 18 or dchacon@aarbf.org to receive log-in information.

September 3-5: The Getaway Family Camp

September 5: Labor Day, ALL AARBF Offices Closed

September 6: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Santa Clara Valley Medical Online Support Group, contact Scott “Scooter” Wertz at swertz@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 19 to receive log-in information.

September 8: Alisa Ann Ruch Birthday

September 8: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Burn Care Professionals Support Group, contact Daniel “Apollo” Chacon at 415-495-7223 Ext. 18 or dchacon@aarbf.org to receive log-in information.

September 11: (1:30pm – 3:30pm), SoCal Survivors Online Support Group, contact Margarita “Cubby” Rodriguez at mrodriguez@aarbf.org or 818-848-0223 Ext. 16 to receive log-in information.

September 13: (6:30pm – 8:00pm), Fresno Community Regional Medical Center Online Support Group, contact McKenzie “Bubbles” Dern at mdern@aarbf.org or 559-286-0710 Ext. 15 to receive log-in information.

September 14: (6:30pm – 8:00pm), North/East Bay Burn Online Support Group, contact Scott “Scooter” Wertz at swertz@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 19 to receive log-in information.

September 15: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Statewide Support Group – Online, contact Daniel “Apollo” Chacon at 415-495-7223 Ext. 18 or dchacon@aarbf.org to receive log-in information.

September 19: 39th Annual Southern California Golf Tournament

September 20: (6:00pm – 7:30pm), Spanish-Speaking Online Burn Survivor Support Group, contact Margarita “Cubby” Rodriguez at mrodriguez@aarbf.org or 818-848-0223 Ext. 16 to receive log-in information.

September 22: (11:30am – 1:00pm), Saint Francis Online Support Group, contact Scott “Scooter” Wertz at swertz@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 19 to receive log-in information.

September 22: (7:00pm – 8:30pm), Movement Expression, contact Daniel “Apollo” Chacon at dchacon@aarbf.org or 415-495-7223 Ext. 18.

September 24: Sprinkler Fitters Golf Tournament, contact Katie Szymczak at kszymczak@aarbf.org for more information.

September 30: NorCal FPO Golf Tournament, contact Katie Szymczak at kszymczak@aarbf.org for more information.