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BLISSFUL BEDROOMS ANNUAL BEACH DAY 2019

We had such a wonderful and memorable day at the beach! Despite the weather forecast for rain, which went from a pesky 10% to a formidable 60% chance in a matter of hours, we decided to defy the rain and go ahead with our planned Beach Day event anyway. After all, Blissful Bedrooms is highly favored and continuously blessed and the van was packed, the food was cooked, the Access-a-rides were scheduled, the volunteers were pumped and hours had already been put into preparing for one of our favorite occasions of the year. Our awesome team of volunteers arrived at the beach bright and early to set the stage for a joyful day, and as we were setting up there was a brief – 5 minute – shower and then it was over! We spent the next 7 hours having the most glorious time bobbing in the ocean, building sand castles and enjoying each other’s company. The sky was a bit grey, but the temperature was perfect, the water was welcoming and the best part was that we had the beach all to ourselves without the beating, hot sun slowing down our groove. It truly was a perfect day at the seaside! Then 5:00 came around, and it became apparent that the bullying clouds were back and even more pissed off than earlier in the day. They seemed to have some pent up resentful precipitation about to explode, probably because our courageous group wasn’t fazed at all by their earlier threat to put a damper on our day Having had our full of swimming and beach play, we observed big dark clouds take over the sky and we knew this time the rain was definitely coming for us. So our volunteer team took fast, concerted action and we quickly relocated our guests to the large pavilion on the boardwalk. Within minutes, the skies opened up and poured rain down on our deserted paradise as our guests enjoyed the show from their fully protected spot. Shortly after, our dinner arrived courtesy of Tom’s of Coney Island and we were indeed a very content and jolly group as we ate our scrumptious burgers and fries, and enjoyed the sounds and sights of summer rain. It was an adventurous and novel experience and it was so much fun!



As we reflect on the day, we have no disappointment whatsoever about how it all unfolded. Of course, we wouldn’t have wished for rain and we naturally are sorry for the handful of disabled youth from our community who didn’t make it because of the ominous weather prediction but, for the most part, every young person with a disability who was scheduled to take part did make it to the event. This is powerful because it means that their (and their caregivers) faith and anticipation for this much loved day was so strong, that they took the gamble and journeyed from the Bronx to Brooklyn, also choosing to defy the weather predictions and trusting in the graciousness of the day ahead. But the very best part was that our group of disabled youth had a brand new experience that normally is avoided for them at all costs. They had the chance to get caught in a rainstorm, to feel the excitement of running for shelter as the water gushed from the sky, and then when it was all over, they got to smell and breathe in the clean, crisp ocean air and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the seashore after a storm. Isn’t this precisely what our Blissful Bedrooms events are really all about……. fostering opportunities for disabled youth to have experiences that are normally off limits to them because of their disabilities and supposed fragility, as well as the inconvenience associated with involving them. Whether it’s swimming in the ocean, camping out in a tent deep in the woods, boarding the scariest ride in the amusement park, rowing a canoe, etc., everything we do has the intention for the disabled youth in our community to have the chance to live life to the fullest, and us volunteers sure do use all of our strength and determination to make it happen for them. That is why we will always remember Beach Day 2019 as being a perfectly imperfect day!

Thank you to the elite Blissful Bedrooms volunteer team that made this all possible. The truest measure of a great team is how they work together during unpredictable circumstances and adapt to the moment. Our team effort yesterday couldn’t have been better if we underwent hours of practice drills. Everyone intuitively knew what was needed without being told and our priority was always the safety, comfort and enjoyment of our precious guests no matter what the weather condition was.

Thank you to Tom’s Coney Island for the extremely generous dinner donation which was thoroughly enjoyed by every guest and volunteer and was a perfect complement to obtaining shelter from the rain.

Thank you to the Parks and Recreation Department for providing us with beach wheelchairs that helped make the labor of transferring our guests to and from their wheelchairs a whole lot easier!

Thank you to everyone who has donated $$$ to our Summer FUNdraiser up until this point. We didn’t know if we could pull off this second event of our summer programming because of lack of funds, but we squeaked through and we were able to get our van in working condition in time for the big day. We are grateful for all the help we have received and continue to receive.



We have one final event to pull of this summer – our 7th Annual Camping trip at the Blissful Cabin Retreat for Disabled Youth in the Catskills – in TWO WEEKS. We do not have anywhere near the funds we absolutely need to go through with our final summer event and so we are appealing to YOU now to please consider helping us, because surely if you had enough interest to read this post up until this point, you perceive value in our charitable efforts. Please donate whatever you can to help us bring a very special group of disabled youth camping over Labor Day weekend. If we raise enough funds in the coming week, we will work tirelessly to pull off the third and most labor intensive Blissful event of the summer, of that we give you our solemn promise, but we we need gas in our tank and we are calling on our community of supporters to fill us up with fuel so we can power on. Thank you!

20 is plenty if coming from MANY, less is perfectly fine and more is truly divine. For ten years, our grassroots, all volunteer organization has been depending on miracles and the kindness of our community and we won’t lose our faith in you now. Please make your tax deductible donation today here and sponsor joy.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/BlissfulBedrooms/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10156825008653533

Thank you to our wholehearted and united volunteer team
TEAM BLISSFUL BEDROOMS BEACH DAY DAY 2019

Alex Baderian
Eric Brines
Alexis Garcia
Alexey Gold Dvoryadkin
Martha Gold-Dvoryadkin
Ivette Hernandez
Deena Kaiser
Juan Lopez
Maud Nevoret
Jason Rivera
Robert Sparks
Sarah Seim
Denira Solano
Theresa
Yanira Vasquez


THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS
who have donated so far to our Blissful Bedrooms Summer FUNdraiser 2019
making this exciting day, the second of our 3 summer events, possible!

Individuals
Brenda Allen
Cynda Arsenault
Marcus Arthur
Chelsea Bacon
Steven Baderian
Saije Bashaw
Rochelle Bell
Christina Buck
Linda Buck
Erica Bunin
Rebecca Burke
Maria Cenabre
Jan Chambers
Emma Craig
Stephanie Freeman
Anna Georgalis
Michele Golom
Sharee Gordon
Hector Guerrero
Julia Hardee Forbes
Petery Ivy
Vera Jones
Yuko Kudo
Lisa Levy
Soanie Meadows
Melissa Moschitto
Kimberly Mossel
Janet McNamee
Sue Nelson
Jamie Nemeth
Lincoln O’Brien
Vera Pavits
Lauren Pennock
Kyle Poquette
Catherine Quinn-Ward
Maria Rinklin (in Memoriam of Gerald Helmdstadt)
Gina Rivera
Aileen Salvante-Martin
Jessica Santikul
Sara Seidman
Rebecca Seim
Robert Shore
Shari Silverman
Brandon Snider
Orlean Sorio
Keevily Spero Whitelaw
Ryoya Terao
Nancy Tompkins
Jordan Traister
Meredith Traquina
Yvonne Vailes

Companies/Organizations
Bruderhof Community – Woodcrest
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
The New York Yankees Foundation
The Stephen Colbert Americone Dream Fund
Tom’s Coney Island

If you couldn’t be there with us physically, you can still be a great help in helping us manifesting our 3rd and grand finale event of the summer by making a donation of any amount at the link below.

DONATE HERE

Summer is an intense and important time for Blissful Bedrooms programming. We take advantage of the warm weather to pack in as many meaningful gatherings as possible so disabled youth can get out of their bedrooms and experience joy with others. It is also one of the most grueling times in terms of successful fundraising and rigorous planning in order to carry it all out. As you probably know, every person on the Blissful Bedrooms team volunteers their time and energy and concurrently hold down full-time jobs, as well as family responsibilities and other obligations. It speaks to the passion, endurance, and commitment that the Blissful Bedrooms team has for the mission of our organization, which is now going into the 8th year of existence! However, we do rely heavily on grassroots fundraising to sustain our charity, and we are truly grateful and honored by each and every donation that is invested so that we can continue to do this heartwarming and socially impactful work. Thank you so much for your generous backing!

Please help us by making a donation of any amount at all at this link: http://blissfulbedrooms.org/donate/.

We couldn’t do this without the modest and contributions of many people. Thank you so much for your support of Blissful Bedroom and for being a treasured part of our community.