Mindy Paddock & Dan Drabik
sharing "Pearl" the puppy with some
of the Camp Haze Children after the show!

When we arrived back at the camp, I had forgotten that the event for today was “carnival.” The kids were running around and laughing with each other.
They had fun in the bouncy house, the “screamer” slide, and dunking their counselors in the dunk tank, to name a few activities. Since it was almost noon by this point, instead of performing in the hot playhouse, we performed outside in the shade. This performance was slightly different that the night
before because MJ and the other artists that were there sang some songs from the Smart Trax project like “We, Are, Drug, Free,” “Take A Stand, Stop The Violence,” and “A Pack Of Lies.” They also did a few encore performances of songs they sang the previous night. When it was all said and done, I truly believe that everyone involved walked away feeling really great about what we had done. I know that I felt great about what I had seen and helped with. All it made me do is to want to do this sort of thing a lot more. People need something like this in their lives at one time or another for whatever reason. I think what made it even more special for me was the fact that I could connect with these kids because, like many, I have too lost loved ones in my life. It is because of this commonality that I was able to see and understand the goodness we brought to these children and that they bring to each other.

Dedicated to my cousin,
the late LCpl
Troy D. Baily,
USMC

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