Friday, October 26, 2012

Strive To Thrive with Blueskies - Part 1


Our founder - Belen Godwin (left) with volunteer, Cecilia Moreno

As many of you know, October is Bullying Awareness month. This past Friday, October 19th, we held our Strive to Thrive Expo at the Greater Lawrence Technical School. Over 150 families flooded into the school cafeteria to help support the end to the bullying epidemic. Personally, I was so pleased to see so many families come out and join us in the fight to end bullying. It was wonderful to see the community come together to help stop bullying.
Miss Massachsettes Latina U.S. 2011 and 4th runner up Miss Dominican Republic U.S. 2012 Maria Cristina Payano
Miss Massachusetts 2012














The event was hosted by Maria Cristina Payano, Miss Massachusetts Latina U.S. 2011 and 4th runner up Miss Dominican Republic U.S. 2012. Miss Massachusetts 2012, Taylor Kinzler, was another special guest that evening. The Lowell Spinners Mascot, Canaligator, was also there to greet the guests. All three of these special guests did a phenomenal job Friday evening! I enjoyed seeing Maria Cristina Payano and Taylor Kinzler take photographs with our guests and sign autographs. The girls were so happy to see these wonderful role models!

Canaligator was very popular that night! 





Music was provided by DJ Reddy and JAM’N 94.5 DJ Sammy Smoove. They both did a fabulous job providing the latest tunes for the evening. Dancers from the Center for Performing Arts took the dance floor to show off some moves! 





I don't think I've ever seen such young kids break dance this well! 











Other spectacular performances that evening were contributed by Canal St. Gym, Master Shin’s, and Acting Out! I really enjoyed the boxers from Canal St. Gym, as they demonstrated strength and power to their viewers. Children at Master Shin’s demonstrated the same qualities after breaking chunks of wood with their hands and feet. The actors and actresses of Acting Out had me chuckling at their comical skit that successfully delivered an important message to the audience about bullying.



Master Shin's students were awe inspiring! 
Master Shin's Martial Arts School showed what they've learned.




They were amazing!








We were wowed and wowed again by these skilled young kids from the Center for Performing Arts


                                                           
                                                       
Many vendors were present at the event including Orange Leaf, Neighborhood Health Plan, Cambridge College, Head Start, St. John’s Prep, Lincoln Technical Institute, and many more!


Miss Massachusetts 2012 - Taylor Kinzler led us all in an anti-bullying pledge. 
Before the night was over, Miss Massachusetts 2012, Taylor Kinzler led all of us in an anti-bullying pledge. 

We would like to thank everyone that came out and contributed to the event. We hope to have many other events in the future to help support this cause!

Stay tuned for a few more highlights from the evening! 

Lauren Delaney
Case Manager
Blueskies Wellness, Inc.
45 Osgood St. 
Methuen, MA
978-655-1823
Blueskieswellnessinc@gmail.com