Hello Everybody

I am writing my last blog for Think Detroit PAL today. : (
The past six months have been great here and I have learned a great amount of information that will come in handy as I enter the professional working field.

I just want to thank everybody here at TDP for all of their help and support these last six months. The people here are truly amazing!! If you are ever looking for a great family to be a part of, TDP is the place to be.

Thank you everybody for everything!!
and Thank you readers

Have a great day

Mariel

Hey everybody,

Like I said earlier, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. Things have been pretty hectic around Think Detroit PAL lately. Summer programs and fall programs have all come to an end, the cheer competition has come and gone and only the football final game has to be played at Ford Field.

Winter sports are beginning and this year we have indoor track, boys basketball and girls volleyball offered here at Think Detroit PAL. It is going to be a great winter season!!!

I will keep you posted on more information!

Thank you for reading
Mariel

ps - have a great day!!

Lately

Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t been updating lately, things have been kind of crazy around here. Busy busy busy. Anyway here a few things that have been going on at Think Detroit PAL lately:

I’m excited to say that I have been chosen to help with the MVP of Detroit event. I really cant say much about it but its very time consuming.

Think Detroit PAL has a new CEO. I would like to congratulate Michael C. Porter, who will be taking over in early 2011.
Sports wise at Think Detroit PAL, football and cheer has started up. There has been a few games as well as a few homecoming games for the teams. Soccer has also started up and many kids from our soccer camp decided to play on our league : )

Our $40 for 40 campaign is going on still, we are getting closer to our goal day by day, all donations are helping out tremendously.

On a sad note:
I’m sad to announce that one of the people that work for Think Detroit PAL has lost his mentor a few weeks ago. Greg Hicks mentor Leroy “the Wood” Bougard, passed away from a heart attack on September 4, 2010. Mr. Bougard was the principle of Kettering high school, and has been working to keep the school open for years. He was a mentor, father figure, and coach to all of his students at Kettering. Greg will be putting on a memorial in honor of him within the next few weeks so I will keep you posted on that.


Hope everyone has had a safe summer, and is enjoying the cooler weather that we have been having.
Have a great day and thanks for reading!!
Mariel

This week started out with the Paul W. Smith Golf Classic tournament which went off beautifully. Everybody had a great time and the weather was perfect for such an event. Since everybody was at the event on Monday, everybody seems to be doing catch up for the rest of the week. Meetings were held, emails had to be read, and all had to get done fast because today in the office we are having a potluck. Our very own Laurel Whalen is leaving us this week. She has been offered a teaching job at Wayne State University this coming fall. Laurel will not be leaving all of us for good though, which we are very appreciative for that, she just will not be in the office as much as she has been. All of us at Think Detroit PAL would like to wish Laurel the best and congratulations.

Besides the Golf Classic, nothing huge has happened this week. There isn't any camps that are going on this week so that gives some of our officers some time get some other work done. It all has to get done because next week starts the set up for soccer camp. : ) Which will run the week of Aug. 30.

Thank you everyone, and good luck Laurel!!

Have a great day!
Mariel

Here a couple campers pose for a picture

We love smiling faces here at Think Detroit PAL

Here are the boys playing lacrosse after lunch

This week was the lacrosse camp for Think Detroit PAL. I was very excited to see so many kids sign up for this sport that has been recently new to the state of Michigan. Warrior lacrosse helped out the camp by donating not only boys lacrosse sticks, but the girls field hockey sticks also, to which the campers get to take home and use for years to come. They also donated enough lacrosse balls and the jerseys for every camper, and gave away equipment and t-shirts as prizes. It was really cool to see such a big company caring so much about the youth. To help teach the camp, a couple coaches from the surrounding area schools came along with a couple of their players. The coach from Brother Rice high school, the coach from U of D Jesuit, and players from Eastern Michigan, Grand Valley, Farris and Michigan State all came to help out. As well as a bunch of other players who play for their club teams. Like I said before, it was great to see so many people care for the kids. I know that some of the kids don't realize it yet, but sports are very important, and to have people there at those levels teaching them is such a great honor.

It was my first experience seeing a camp being put on, to where I didn't have to coach it, and it was a great experience. There is so much preparation that goes into these camps. Every day each kid received lunch, to which had to be picked up and put out for the kids to receive, tables needed to be washed, water jugs had to be filled, water bottles had to be given out, registration was still going on, and at the end of the day, EVERYTHING needed to be cleaned up and prepared to do it all over again the next day. I have a lot of respect for the people running the camps and the directors. Think Detroit PAL does a great job of having great people to work all of these. The last week in August is the soccer camp and I’m hoping to be part of the planning action for that.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the day and a great weekend.
Thanks
Mariel

Sports and Work

Hey everybody,

Today I was thinking about how sports have affected my everyday life, where I would be if I didn't play sports, and what I have learned by playing sports.

For me, playing sports started at a very young age, I did gymnastics I believe when I was 4 and I have played some sort of sport ever since then. I have learned a great deal not only about the sports world but about my self and what it takes to be a team mate. I also learned how to stay calm in situations and make sure you always do what you are capable of doing to help people, no matter what the outcome.

An example of this would have to be this past Friday. The St. Hedwig ribbon cutting ceremony was taking place. Everything was going smoothly, I brought a friend of mine and my brother to help set some things up as well as be there for the ceremony, and they did a great job in doing everything they could. They were always there asking what needed to be done and just doing it. It was a great sense of team work between them and everyone from Think Detroit PAL that was there, Kristen, Chris, Ken and Greg, as well as myself. Everything looked great! Chairs were set up, balloons were put on the fences, the ribbon was done, redone, and done again, until it looked perfect. All the little details were done way ahead of schedule, and everything looked perfect when people started showing up.

People were enjoying themselves, camera crews were there getting interviews, PAWS from the Tigers foundation was there to take pictures, like I said, everything was great, until the rain came!

As soon as the ceremony started, George Guzman was addressing the crowd, getting things going, when all of the sudden the down pour of the season came through. It was pouring!!!! Again, as a team, we sprinted into action getting everything covered up, microphones taken down, pictures put under the tent. It all happened smoothly and fast. Once it was all covered and put away, it stopped raining. We got everything back out and set up and within 5 minutes we were ready to go again. George Guzman started speaking again, and without warning, water started pouring from the sky again. Harder and faster then the last time. It poured like that for a good hour and a half as we cleaned everything up and put it all away. The event was cancelled. No Magglio, no ribbon cutting, no baseball game on the brand new beautiful field.

It just goes to show that no matter how well things are going or how prepared you are, the outcome of the game may never be what you are expecting.

Even though the event didn't take place, it was great to see how well people work together for the same cause, and even in the rain, fans are always going to be there for the favorite player.

Thanks everyone,

Mariel

40 for 40

Hey everyone,

One of the campaigns that I am working on for Think Detroit PAL is the 40 for 40 campaign. We are asking for donations of $40 for the 40 years that we have been helping the youth of Detroit. If you have any intrest in donating or would like to check out our progress please take a look.