Allie’s Angels celebrate children

 

By Rebecca Jones

C & G Staff Writer

     BIRMINGHAM — Due to perfect sunshine, there weren’t any rainbows in the sky on Sept. 26 when Allie’s Angels met for their third annual outing.

     However, plenty of rainbows decorated children’s and volunteers’ T-shirts and the artwork boys and girls prepared for other children who have to brave an illness, just like Allie Cibulas did.

     The Birmingham girl fought brain cancer with a great attitude, her parents said, but she succumbed to it in 2001, just after starting kindergarten. Now, her family invites other families to share in the joy of childhood with events like the Allie’s Angels Day at Booth Park.

     The event used to be held in Troy but was brought back to Booth Park for the first time this year. 

     “We’re very happy to be here,” said Allie’s father, Steve Cibulas. “Allie loved to come to Booth Park.”    

     Games like halo toss — a twist on ring toss — and hula-hoop contests were the order of the day. Children also organized art kits for very sick children. They include colored paper, pencils, markers and other supplies inside a clipboard container. A drawing from one child to another is included on the top.

     “Everyone’s drawing happy stuff because it will make the kids feel better,” said 14-year-old Ali Giancarlo of Birmingham, a volunteer and a friend of Allie’s family.

     Ashton Roth, 10, and Kendall drew multi-colored, smiling stars and moons for the children.

     “We want to make them happy,” 6-year-old Kendall said.

     “Because they’re lonely,” her sister added.

     Giancarlo knew Allie as “a very fun-loving little girl.”

     “She always had a smile on her face,” Giancarlo said. “Her favorite movie was ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ She liked Dorothy and the red slippers.”

     Allie’s family — including Steve; mom, Sandy; and her sisters, Megan and Caroline  — has a lot of friends who turned out to make Allie’s Angels Day memorable. The Seaholm High School tennis and swim teams helped set up and run the events.

     Three-year-old Sadie Kirshner enjoyed the magic show with her dad, Jeffrey. Sadie’s mom, Jamie, is co-owner of Imelda’s Closet, one of the Birmingham businesses that helped sponsor the event.

     Hope, 8, of Southfield, was one of several guests of honor. She arrived in a pink wheelchair, sporting a pink hat and newly pierced ears. Hope has spina bifida and is paralyzed from the waist down. She has had many serious operations, said her mother, Nancy Sovran.

     Allie’s Angels personally invites children who are undergoing cancer treatments at local hospitals to participate in its events, Steve Cibulas said.  “We want them to come here and have a fun day, and to let them know people are pulling for them.”

     The Allie’s Angels nonprofit organization is run by a board of directors and Junior Board, made up of Allie’s sisters, cousins and young friends. They are dedicated to bringing smiles to children with life-threatening illness and to finding a cure for pediatric brain cancer.

     The organization’s theme is children helping children, said board member Laura Rosin.

     Through the Mini Wishes program, children can pledge money to help purchase $500 gifts for children who are suffering from an extended illness or relapse.

     For example, one boy wants a PlayStation system. A girl wants her bedroom redone. Another boy would like a BMX bike.

     “We ask the kids to have lemonade sales or penny drives,” said board member Molly DeFrancesco. “It’s a way to get the kids doing something for other kids.”

      This year’s drive runs through Oct. 31. More information is available on the Allie’s Angels Web site, www.alliesangels.org.

     Children also dabbled in paint, helping to fill in the outline that Birmingham artist Kathleen McInerney created of a young Allie with a bow in her hair reaching out to touch a rainbow, surrounded by as many flowers as kids could paint.  “It’s kind of like a giant coloring page,” she said. All the contributing artists signed the back of the mural, which will be hung in the children’s wing of a local hospital.

     Allie’s Angels also provides an annual day of beauty and pampering. Allie was fond of bows, long eyelashes and dress-up, her family said. The Allie’s Angels logo shows a little girl with long eyelashes, wings and a halo, with the trademark bow in her hair.

     You can reach Rebecca Jones at rjones@candgnews.com