Camp Boggy Creek, Austin Hatcher Foundation Among Several Others from Paddock
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On Tuesday, December 2, GivingTuesday will follow several other immediate post-Thanksgiving days as a newer holiday for charitable efforts to take place. IMSA again has multiple ways and places to give, including its two proud charities, Camp Boggy Creek and Austin Hatcher Foundation.
Camp Boggy Creek approaches three decades of service since its 1996 founding, and in that time has supported more than 75,000 children and their family members. The organization focuses on making a lasting impact on children with life-threatening and chronic illnesses by giving them an opportunity to simply be a child and feel normal. Donations for Camp Boggy Creek support all program activities, including 24/7 medical care, meals and lodging.
Thanks to the generosity and support of the IMSA community, among many others, Camp Boggy Creek is a year-round, therapeutic medical camp for children diagnosed in one of 15 different life-threatening and chronic illness groups including cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, sickle cell, spina bifida and others. Summer sessions run from June through August, with family retreats between September and April.
The Florida-based organization, co-founded by legendary late racer/actor/philanthropist Paul Newman and General Norman H. Schwarzkopf, brings together the campers with staff that includes dedicated, experienced and enthusiastic doctors, nurses and counselors. By engaging with others who face the same challenges, campers and family members attain a positive, sustainable outlook as well as a sense of strength, courage, and confidence that lasts well beyond their stay at camp.
The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer has served as a proud charity of IMSA for more than 10 years, and also has a near 20-year pedigree of service. It’s a national 501(c)3 public charity founded by Dr. Jim Osborn and wife Amy Osborn after they lost their infant son, Austin Hatcher Osborn, to an aggressive form of pediatric cancer in autumn 2006.
The foundation’s mission is to erase the effects of pediatric cancer on young patients and their families, and it’s had an active presence at circuits that host IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge events with a number of family-friendly fundraising activities. It’s provided programs and services to more than 70,000 children and their families in 38 hospitals across 28 states.
Both charities were featured prominently as part of the new IMSA Resilient Racers program, which premiered at this year’s TireRack.com Battle On The Bricks in Indianapolis.
Here are some other highlighted charitable causes and organizations teams in the IMSA paddock support:
- Team TGM: JKTG Foundation
- Turner Motorsport: Team IMPACT
- Spark Performance: Big Oak Ranch
- Winward Racing: Heaven’s 27 Fund, via San Antonio Area Foundation
- Team Penske: Paralyzed Veterans of America
- Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing): Michael J. Fox Foundation
- JDC-Miller MotorSports: Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Heart of Racing Team: Seattle Children’s
- Bryan Herta Autosport: Hyundai Hope on Wheels
- Kellymoss: Racing for Children’s
- Stephen Cameron Racing: Racing to End Alzheimer’s