THANK
YOU HOUSTON FOR MAKING THE 2009 BUDDY WALK THE BIGGEST
DOWN SYNDROME CELEBRATION IN TEXAS!

Our
Houston 2009 Buddy Walk was a HUGE Success
that couldn’t’ have happened without your
participation and commitment. Jones Plaza was filled
with our blue Buddy Walk shirts showing support to our
Down syndrome community, our volunteers with yellow
shirts were enthusiastic and so encouraging to all of
our families and friends; but the stars of it all were
our kids with Down syndrome, who were wearing the red
shirts! To all of our friends, families and supporters,
we THANK YOU for making the 9th Annual
Houston Buddy Walk truly a Texas-sized event!
We
also want to extend great appreciation for our superlative
sponsors who have also excelled our ability to create
a better future for those with Down syndrome in a much
needed way. The following are our Corporate,
Community, and Partner Sponsors:
American
Association of Drilling Engineers - $5,000
Statoil Hydro - $4,500
Bp - $2,000
Downtown Aquarium - $2,000
Mary and Norman Smith - $2,000
Best Buy - $1,000
Bostelmann and Eliaz Family - $1,000
Don and Sue Wade - $1,000
Enterprise Rent – A- Car - $1,000
Redman Communications - $1,000
Lions Club Manvel - $1,000
JD Rush Corp. - $1,000
Merck - $1,000
Walmart - $1,000
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And
our PATRON Sponsors – we couldn’t
have done it without their support and donation
of $500.00:
Adam
Goodman
Advanced Fertility Center of Texas
Alberto Harambour
All Texas Plumbing
Anthony Pegg Sr.
Brock
Chuck Hoopingarner
Cole Therapy Center
Ellen Cody
Eleno Lopez
Grainger,
International Brotherhood of Electrical W
John Morris
Kenneth Fredeman
Keo Lukefahr
Meredith Martin
Michael McGinnis
Michael & Jennie Hedger
NAPCO Chemical,
Perrylee,
Pyramid GOM,
Skeeter’s Auto Service,
Sterling Bank
TGS - Nopec
Washington Sereatan, MD
World Fuel Service |
To
all of our In-Kind Donors, those who provided
items or a service free of charge, we also give
you a HUGE THANK YOU! Our community is grateful
to see that individuals and companies like your’s,
are able to provide the support very much needed
to make this event happen.
H.E.A.R.T. VENDING
BJ’S RESTAURANTS
CiCi’s Pizza
Cheerful Clown Alley
Chirivizko Power
DJ Fuzion
Julie Howell Facepainting
Dario Veles ~Caribe Web Design
Nelson Vanegas and Jessica Bolaños ~ Evident
Empire
Javier Martinez, Jose Flores, Gustavo Flores ~
Balloon Decor
John Evans Company
Northwest Communications
Texas Tents and Events
Urban Abstrakto
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Only with
our outstanding sponsors and so many other individual
and group donations were we able to surpass our goal
of 150,000.00 by 3% for this year’s 9th Annual
Houston Buddy Walk!!!!!
To
our 2009 BuddyWalk Committee:
Our 2009 Buddy Walk was such a huge success thanks to
the hundreds of volunteer hours from our 2009 Buddy
Walk Committee. Thank you to each of you who made this
dream become a reality, and who stepped up to make the
2009 Buddy Walk our biggest walk ever in DSAH history.
Special thanks goes out to Cindi, Ginny, and Lindsay
who headed the “Imagine the PossABILITIES”
Tent – a new and interactive way to showcase our
kids and Down syndrome. We can only hope that out ITP
tent keeps growing and growing as the years pass. To
our Committee – we say THANK YOU!

Cindi
Condron |
Cindi
Condron |
Belinda
Gaddis |
Ginny
Groth |
Lindsay
Groth |
Tamara
Ishee |
Ali
Lima |
Kileen
McDonald |
Kristin
Miller |
Alex
Morris |
Keisha
Morris |
Ben
Thomas |
Kennetha
Thomas |
Rachel
Toole |
Stephanie
Wisnoski |
To
our Volunteers:
You are a magnificent part of our ability to create
a better future for those with Down syndrome. To express
our gratitude, we want to not only acknowledge the below
groups and individuals but also give them awards and
certificates for their wonderful gift of time and their
spectacular skills. The following volunteered
for more than seventy-five hours for the year of 2009:

Girl Scout Troop 17043, Rita Zuniga as troop leader
Mariann Gonzalez and The Panther Pack
Kathleen Westfall
Grace Villanueva
A big Thank
you goes to Cici’s Pizza District Manager, Jason
Bolton for providing us with more pizza than we could
imagine obtaining! Three days before the Buddy Walk,
we found that we would be short on our amount of food
for volunteers, due to an enormous volunteer response.
Just like his incredible pizza, Mr. Bolton rose to satisfy
the hunger of our volunteers with his decision to donate
an additional forty pizzas. We are very grateful for
a total donation of 80 pizzas from Cici’s Pizza!
Another
huge thank you goes out to our Buddy Walk Alumni. Buddy
Walk Alumni members are our dedicated groups
who show up year after year to aide in the operation
of certain areas at the Buddy walk. Year after Year
these areas are smooth, well run, and trusted developments
as a result of these groups’ common knowledge
and special skills:
Civitan:
Registration – 4 years
Reliant Energy: Volunteers – 2 years
League City Intermediate – Advanced Theater Arts
Class: Volunteers – 3 years
DSAH
Buddy Walk 2009 through the eyes of Jennifer
Garza, of
Jennifer Garza Photography
I was so blessed to be asked to photograph the
DSAH Buddy Walk last Saturday. The Down Syndrome
Association of Houston had over 3500 amazing
people who made this event a success! So many
families are helped with the participation and
donations of family and friends! As I spoke
with some of the families on Saturday I could
see the amazing bond that brought them all together.
Thank you so much for inviting me to photograph
your event. I met so many neat families and
the children were truly amazing. Here is a little
peek of some of the great shots I was able to
get on Saturday. The rest can be seen on Facebook
and more on Shutterfly: http://dsahbuddywalk2009.shutterfly.com/pictures
ENJOY!
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We
would also like to thank the noble and magnanimous Officers
from the Houston Police Department who volunteered
to award medals to individuals with Down syndrome for
their amazing accomplishments and abilities. Many of
the officers are a part of crisis intervention teams,
a component of HPD and the Nation’s largest. While
all officers receive training for the best response
to persons with special needs and mental illnesses,
Crisis Intervention Team Officers respond to these types
of circumstances for the best outcome of all individuals.
We are so thankful of the following volunteer Officers
whom awarded our children with special honors:

Senior
Officer Frank Webb,
Lieutenant Mike Lee,
Officer Nick Baines,
Officer Eric Chimney,
Officer David Fausek,
Officer Hector Gonzales,
Officer Caroleta Johnson,
Officer Brian Lumpkin,
Officer Steve Marino,
Officer Nhatthien Nguyen, |
Officer
Cindy Ong,
Officer Connie Park,
Officer Priscilla Rayon,
Officer Chris Staggs,
Officer Mike Waterwall,
Officer Manny Zamora,
Officer Linda Zamora – Ramos,
Officer Kyle Woodrome and Anika Isaac. |
To
all of you who made a difference in the lives of our
kids and adults with Down syndrome in the Houston and
surrounding areas – We THANK YOU and hope to see
you at the 10th Annual Houston Buddy Walk in 2010!
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