Giant Cupcake Day
MDA Camp/Chicago
A Report on the Evening
Note: With a grant from The Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation and proceeds from the Walter Johnson Seize Life Fashion Show -- put on to benefit our Foundation -- we were able to send nine campers to MDA Camp/Chicago, as well as sponsor the Giant Cupcake Day.
Cupcakes, Doughnuts, and a Pastry Chef named Kate
By Lou Weeks (Stone’s and Holt’s first cousin)
We met in downtown Chicago at the very chic restaurant, Bistro 110. We were quite an array of do-gooders: Kate Sigel (a former Muscular Dystrophy, Association counselor, turned chef), her mom Nancy, their friend Barbara, former Muscular Dystrophy counselors Joe and Jen, John Gurdian—a friend of Stone and Holt’s from DC, and your humble writer.
Our mission was two-fold: to honor the lives and legacies of Stone Weeks and
Holt Weeks, and to deliver 20 giant cupcakes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association camp near the Wisconsin border.
Stone had volunteered as a counselor at this Chicago MDA camp, and many of us who know Stone remember that it was a powerful experience for him. I remember a family reunion where Stone talked about what he had learned from taking care of another human being,”his camper.” I also remember Holt talking about feeding homeless people in DC, which brings me back to the food.
Our first task was to load the cupcakes. Kate had worked as the pastry chef at Bistro 110 until her promotion to Sous Chef, but she obviously still remembered how to bake. The “cupcakes” she made weren’t just beautiful, they were enormous. Even the restaurant’s famous chef decorated one, which Kate somewhat dismissively described as a stegosaurus.
Soon we were ready for the journey . We had bracelets for the Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation, we had copies of the Story of Stone and Holt, we had some poetry, and we had all these giant cupcakes to maneuver through bumper-to-bumper traffic in 85-degree weather. Nancy turned up the AC in her car to arctic levels, the folks riding in that car put on sweaters, and off we went.
We arrived at the camp at 6 pm, just as dinner was hitting the table. Campers and counselors greeted Kate, Jen, Joe and Nancy with shouts and hugs. Feeding that many kids was quite a production, but the counselors made quick work of it, maybe because they had spotted the cupcakes. Megan Burns, the camp director, introduced campers to those of us who were new to camp, and surfed the chaos like a pro.
Some of the younger kids were walking around, many of the preteens were in wheelchairs, and the older campers were mostly in electric chairs— the method of locomotion the different kids used clearly charted the gradual decline of the children’s health as they age. But this was not a sad place—this was clearly a very happy place—and also very silly.
The counselors had something to do with that. Many were dressed as various types of monsters-- a snake, a cavewoman, a fashion model. Between helping the kids with dinner, cleaning the tables, and flirting with one another, counselors performed the Chicken Dance (accompanied by alumni Kate, Joe and Jen), and an unintelligible but very loud song called “The Gray Squirrel.”
After dinner, we talked about Stone and Holt, and the Foundation. Megan introduced us by saying “Special thanks to The Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation, because its one of the reasons we afford to have camp this year.” I told a story about how we were having a rough family trip in Japan, because our kids didn’t like particular types of food there. Luckily, we had brought Stone along (age 15). We noticed at one meal that the kids were telling their cousins, “Wow, that looks amazing.” and then all the kids would avoid that dish. We discovered that Stone had taught the kids to use a code word for food they thought was disgusting. This allowed them to avoid acting bratty, and saved face for their parents and our hosts.
John Gurdian spoke of how self-less Stone and Holt were. He said Stone’s work at the MDA camp inspired John to work at a camp for kids whose parents had HIV-Aids. He also told a story about how after swimming in a lake in the country, Stone had ignored the large leech on his own neck to make sure that John was leech-free. John is an aspiring actor, and his baritone voice held the room captive until everyone started saying “yuck.” He also spoke movingly about the work of the Foundation and how he wanted to spread the word.
As we passed out bracelets, Megan said “Sorry some of the food was late. Who wants some “amazing” chicken nuggets?”
Mostly the campers and counselors passed—maybe because of the Japan story—more likely because they were still eyeing the cupcakes. And so we all plunged into these baked works of art and ate like crazy.
After dinner, now loaded with sugar, some of the kids were racing their wheelchairs on high speed outside the dining hall, slamming on the breaks at the last minute, and doing “doughnuts” in the gravel path. You could see by the marks around the camp that doughnuts were common. I asked one camper who looked a lot like my own children, “So what happens if you do the doughnut too tight and you tip over.” He gave me a shrug, a grin, and said “Well, then you have to get yourself back in the chair and if you can’t then you have to yell.” What a great place where you can race around, risk spilling, but know that there are folks to help who are only a yell away.
As we got back in our cars and hit the road I was struck for about the millionth time how much we all lost when we lost Stone and Holt, but this time I was comforted because I actually saw that their energy is still alive in the world through all of the great people I had met that day.
