Reminders

3 on 3 basketball begins Saturday at 12 noon. Fun, prizes & a round ball!

Sunday will be an Ice Cream Social at 2:45 pm. Bring your dollar and enjoy an afternoon treat.

A Special Thank You

Dear Connecticut Belair Members, Friends and Families: Many thanks to all of you that participated in this year's Swim for Savvy swim-a-thon!  This year's event was extra-special as we had the Warrior Princess herself join us for the fun and festivities.

Hopefully, you had a chance to meet with Savvy and her parents, Robert and Ana Anselmo.  The family was so touched by all of the kind people at our pool that gave of their time and money in support of their child.

If you attended, you may have seen two other children with Savannah.

One was a little girl named Allison Brown.  Allison, age 2, was also born with the same disease as Savvy, Biliary Atresia, and received her liver transplant a little over one year ago.  The second child, Xander, is 9-months old, also has Biliary Atresia and is still waiting for his miracle donor.  Seeing these three children together playing, smiling and giggling despite their very real and severe health issues is quite a sobering experience.  Knowing the challenges that they live with on a daily basis like, how do I politely ask the kind person behind me in the grocery line not to touch my baby because her immune system is so weak that any slight cold could land her in the hospital with devastating effects; will my child ever be able to go swimming in a public pool like the beautiful one at Connecticut Belair; how will I keep my child from contracting a cold or the flu when in school; will my child's blood work this week show that her transplanted liver is being rejected by her small body; and so on, truly puts everything into perspective and makes you appreciate how lucky we are to have our health.  Seeing Xander's coloring and the "whites" of his eyes, now yellow reminded us that just a few short months ago Savvy was in the same condition, actually worse I'm told, as he is.  But there is hope...and we witnessed that with Savvy and Allison.

Even though Savvy has received her liver transplant, her little body could reject it at any time.  Unfortunately, her chances of rejection do not diminish with time and the medicine that helps her body accept her liver, also weakens her immune system.  Therefore, for the rest of her life, Savvy will undergo constant monitoring, testing, medications, special diets, and having to deal with life's "normal" activities with extreme caution for fear of getting very sick.

Thank you for being a part of Savvy's success story and for continuing your support.  We would like to especially thank the Tucker family for their patience with our many phone calls, emails, meetings, help with coordination of logistics, and Chandler for his great accomplishment swimming 116 lengths even though having participated in this week-end's All-Star meet!  GREAT JOB, Chandler!

We are also extremely appreciative of the effort displayed by all others that supported us to include all members of the pool's Board for allowing us to host the event again this year; the swim team for allowing us to announce and provide a reminder of the swim-a-thon during a couple of pep rallies and also for allowing us to use the tents for the lap counters; Mina, the lifeguards and Curl Burke for watching over the swimmers into the wee hours of the morning and keeping us safe (staying awake for almost 24 hours to make sure everyone is safe is not an easy task and Mina and the lifeguards were INCREDIBLY SUPPORTIVE, all the while helping us with a smile); all participants, their parents, and sponsors for taking the time to participate and lend a hand; Geoff Owens and his family for the use of their movie equipment and the time spent by Geoff and his son, Joseph, in helping to set everything up; Dennis and Karen for allowing us to use the snack bar freezer to keep the ice pops frozen; the Emerson family for allowing the use of their tent for many of the overnight swimmers; all pool members, themselves, for bearing with us as we made use of the lap lanes and putting up with the music for an extended period of time; and all those that generously donated flat amounts simply because they cared and wanted to help. If we missed anyone, it is completely inadvertent and we apologize. We recognize the impact that this fundraiser has on all members of the CB pool community and are very humbled by the acts of kindness displayed by all.

Now for this year's stats.  While we had fewer swimmers this year than we did last year (46 versus 70) and we didn't raise as much as we did last year (last year we collected $8,000 in pledges during the event and an additional $2,000 afterwards), we are extremely grateful for what we collected as every dollar collected is one more dollar that will help Savannah.  Total pledges received during this year's event were $1,889.20, of which $672 were already paid.  In addition, we received flat pledges totaling an even $1,000!  Walk up pledges were actually $55 greater this year!  Approximately 30% of this year's swimmers indicated that they would be collecting pledges after the fact.  Attached is a copy of a pledge sheet in case you've misplaced yours.  Instructions are included in the attachment; however should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either Carolina Peraza at caper213@yahoo.com or (240) 793-0118, or Janid Harrington at janidharrington@comcast.net or

(703) 346-4704.  Checks should be made payable to COTA, and "Savannah A." should be written in the memo portion of your check.  Please do not send cash.

Attached is also a listing that includes all swimmers and the number of lengths each swimmer swam.  (Try saying that fast three times with a mouthful of peanut butter!)  If there is an asterisk beside your name it means that you have not received your Swim for Savvy certificate.  If this is the case, please pick it up either at the front desk or, if you are on the swim team, it will be in the swim team folder (thanks Kaydee!).  You will need to know how many lengths you swam when collecting the pledges of those that pledged per length.  And remember, you are allowed to add pledges after the fact, too!

Fun Facts Regarding This Year's Event:

*     The swimmer that swam the most lengths - once again, Ms. Jasmine

Walton with 536 lengths!  This year Savvy, herself, presented Jasmine with her award - a $100 gift certificate to Circuit City!

*     Age of the youngest swimmer - 4

*     Age of the not-so-youngest swimmer - 50

*     Total miles swam by all swimmers combined  - 80.57.  To put this

into perspective, that equates to over 17 times across the Chesapeake Bay!

*     Average age of children swimmers - 11

*     Median age of children swimmers - 11

Once again, thank you all, for your generous support.  Without you, none of this would have been possible.

May God bless each and every one of you, Carolina Peraza and Janid Peraza Harrington

P.S.  If you have any suggestions you'd like to offer, please do so!

We'd love to hear from you!