TKE-Saw

I would like to share something with all of you. Below is a note from the President of the Ottawa Chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Carleton University. Jon and I are just so overwhelmed with and grateful for the kindness that our community has shown us, and today by the enthusiasm, spirit, and generosity of the TKE fraternity. We are committed to paying all of these acts of kindness forward and to working to improve the lives of children affected by cancer. Right now, that is by telling our story to anyone that will listen and by doing so, hopefully spreading awareness of the need for more research funding and attention.

"I am the president of the Ottawa chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Carleton University, and sit on the board of directors for our international fraternity in the US. TKE was founded 114 years ago on the principles of love, charity, and esteem with a goal to assist in the academic, social, and moral development of its members to create "better men for a better world."
Danny Thomas, the founder of St Jude Hospital was a lifelong member of Tau Kappa Epsilon. TKE chapters across North America continue raising funds and awareness to support the dream of Danny that "no child should die in the dawn of life," with a renewed pledge to the hospital in 2010 to raise one million dollars for St Jude.

When I learned of Phoebe Rose through last weekend's CTV news coverage, I was touched by her story. What a remarkable child she is!The story reminded me how important it is for TKE to continue to propagate awareness for the hope St. Jude brings to the lives of children like Phoebe, and to continue our commitment to financial support of St. Jude. But what the story really showed me is that the families of children like Phoebe often face devastating disruption to their lives and real financial hardship in order that treatment at St. Jude can be an option to them without support from their communities.

The young men of Tau Kappa Epsilon in Ottawa want to raise awareness among supporters of St Jude that there are children and families in our own communities who benefit from what we do to support the hospital, but that we should be supporting those children and families as well. To that end, we will be running a campaign, beginning on the this morning, February 11th, and continuing through the week until Feb 15th, to attract donations and to spread the word about what a beautiful, lively, resilient child and her loving family can accomplish with the help of a strong community and the brilliant work of St Jude Hospital.

In the Atrium at Carleton University, we will be doing what most take for granted as a simple take-it-or-leave it pleasure of childhood, but that young children struggling for their lives might only get to dream about doing: being in a playground bouncing up and down on a see-saw. We will keep that see-saw going for 100 hours non-stop while using the attention we can attract to reach out to people to support Phoebe Rose and her family.

We want no one to take playing for granted.

Details about our campaign (including live video feed of the 100 hour see-saw) can be found on the event page on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/344470799004931/."



Thank-you Tau Kappa Epsilon. I also believe no one should take the joys of play for granted and think this is a beautiful way to honour sweet Phoebe Rose. She can't wait to see the live video of the see-saw in action.