{"id":21948,"date":"2018-10-17T16:40:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-17T20:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=21948"},"modified":"2018-10-17T16:40:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T20:40:57","slug":"dancing-with-the-stars-crosses-250k-fundraising-mark-to-easter-seals-kids-to-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/dancing-with-the-stars-crosses-250k-fundraising-mark-to-easter-seals-kids-to-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Dancing with the Stars crosses $250k fundraising mark to Easter Seals kids to camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local celebrities burned up the dance floor to make dreams come true for Easter Seals Kids this month, in the fourth annual Dancing with the Stars Newmarket-Aurora.
\nIncluding money raised this time around, Dancing with the Stars Newmarket-Aurora has now raised over a quarter of a million dollars to help kids with disabilities and mobility challenges have the times of their lives at summer camps across the Province \u2013 kids like Casey, who were on hand at the Royal Venetian on Industrial Parkway South, to drive home this message.
\n\u201cDid you know kids with disabilities have zero or only one close friend, or are avoided at school and are often alone?\u201d said Casey, taking over the microphone between dancing rounds. \u201cWell, at camp this never happens. Easter Seals Ontario owns and operates two fully-accessible camps: Camp Woodeden in London and Camp Merrywood in Perth. When people first look at us, they don\u2019t think we\u2019re able to play basketball, hockey, go kayaking or rock climbing. Well, all of this happens at camp.
\n\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Easter Seals and you, summer camp would only be a dream and everyone deserves their dreams to come true. Let me tell you that over the past eleven years, I have had a blast. I remember my first year at camp: most kids cry when parents drop them off, but I actually cried when they picked me up!\u201d
\nAmong the activities that Casey highlighted were swimming and a high rope course, the latter of which, he said, caused him to lose his lunch, but there were no regrets from his perspective.
\n\u201cCamp is a place where I can just be myself and forget I have a disability; so much so I even wore my boxers to the banquet and home the next day. You should have seen my mom\u2019s face when she picked me up!\u201d he continued. \u201cThis summer at Camp Merrywood, I got to try white water rafting, something I never thought I would experience. I kept my shorts on this time, but I was wearing sparkly purple nail polish. My parents might be a bit worried!\u201d
\nCasey received a huge ovation from the packed banquet hall as dance contestants hit the floor for round two, partnered with professional dancers from Artistica Ballroom Dance Studios Anastasia Trutneva, Kelly Stacey and Patrick Derry.
\nThis year\u2019s dancing hopefuls included Maria Ciarlandini of Vince\u2019s Markets, community volunteer Shannon Clark, property manager Michael Feherty, Aurora Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sandra Ferri, former York Regional Police Deputy Chief Bruce Herridge, martial arts champ Brad Jones, Sheryl Thomas of Marquee Theatrical Productions, and outgoing Newmarket Mayor Tony Van Bynen.
\nEach contestant was judged on performance, choreography, costume and partner chemistry by judges Paul Dutton, Jimmy Brennan, Andrea Peterson, and Nikki Pett.
\n\u201cA lot of people in this room have certainly participated or have had the opportunity to work with these amazing folks,\u201d said event emcee Steve Hinder. \u201cThey have poured their heart and soul into making this event such an amazing night.\u201d
\nIn the end, Michael Feherty took home Judge\u2019s Choice, but nobody left the floor empty handed. Mayor Van Bynen was awarded the Fred & Ginger Award, while Ms. Clark was named \u201cMost Sassy\u201d, Ms. Ferri \u201cDancer with the Most Style\u201d, Mr. Jones \u201cEntertainer of the Night\u201d, Ms. Thomas \u201cMost Energy\u201d, \u201cMs. Ciarlandini \u201cMost Passionate\u201d, and Mr. Herridge \u201cBest Technique.\u201d
\nMs. Clark, who suffered an injury steps into her second dance before coming back onto the floor to complete it a few minutes later was awarded \u201cThe Spirit Award.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is for the person that evolves this whole Dancing with the Stars and goes above and beyond looking for donations to support our kids and tries to dance with her heart,\u201d said Charlene Myke of Easter Seals Ontario. \u201cShannon, you totally get what we do.\u201d <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local celebrities burned up the dance floor to make dreams come true for Easter Seals Kids this month, in the fourth annual Dancing with the Stars Newmarket-Aurora.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5I0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-22 06:52:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/2018-10-18-03.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}