Kristina Kotlus’ Silver Sparkles Family Fun Day held Saturday to benefit brain cancer research was a success.
Kotlus, who runs the popular Prince William family website PWC Moms, said the event raised approximately $3,000 for the cause which was “pretty good for its first year.” But the event was a success by other measures as well.
The event, held at the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center in Manassas, brought the community together, proved a boon for locally owned and run kid-friendly businesses and provided a fun experience for families.
“I had no clue what to expect, but all of the vendors are telling us it’s great- one of the best turnouts [of any vendor event they’ve attended],” Kotlus said.
Kotlus was diagnosed with a rare and serious form of brain cancer last year called ependymoma. Ultimately, she survived and decided to celebrate with a community event that would raise money to cure brain cancer.
Because her website is dedicated to find fun and educational activities for children and families in Prince William, she decided to celebrate by hosting that kind of family-focused event.
As she intended, the event was rife with activities for children from a parkour course from Urban Evolution in Manassas to face painting, play time, games and snacks. Parents also had an opportunity to learn more about Prince William Camps, preschools, private schools and children’s extra curricular activities.
Folks from Bristow Montessori School, which provides day care and schooling for infants through second grade according to the Montessori philosophy, not only set up a booth but helped to fund the community event with a generous donation.
“We’ve worked with Kristina for a while, and I’ve been involved with her for events before. She’s done a lot with families of Prince William County, so we wanted to come out and give her some of the support that she gives us,” said Rebecca Maguire of Bristow Montessori.
The Prince William Academy in Lake Ridge, which runs a day care and traditional school up to eight grade, was also a premiere sponsor.
“Basically came to support the function,” said a representative from the school, “and to let people know about our school,” which includes small class sizes and world language lessons.
Imagination Station of Northern Virginia gave families a sample of the kinds of hands-on, creative and kinesthetic activities they plan for children ages 3-6 in their classes.
Kristen Federmeier and Mandy Viles of Imagination Station said they wanted to introduce themselves to the community since they will begin offering Energetic Expressions and Masterpiece Music classes at Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt in Bristow in March.
Prince William Parks & Recreations’ Dianna Cabot was in attendance to introduce the various camps and summer activities offered through the Parks Department. On the western end of the county, these include Camp Snyder in Haymarket and Splash Down Water Park in Manassas.
Tabatha Mitchell of Nokesville ran a snack table with “Eme’s Army,” to contribute to The Curing Retinal Blindness Foundation, which raises money for research to cure rare forms of congenital blindness like the one her seven-year-old daughter, Emerie “Eme” Mitchell Butler suffers from.
Mitchell explains that Feb. 28 is Rare Disease Day; she is beginning to educate Kotlus about how various organizations dedicated to find a cure for rare diseases can ban together to build awareness and raise money for research as well.
Kotlus explains that she is lucky to be alive because of the rare form of cancer she had, which is typically found in children, not adults. While she is celebrating her 30th birthday this month, and her site’s fourth anniversary, she is really celebrating the gift of life that she has been fortunate enough to reach those milestones.
“I’m so blessed to come out of relatively unscathed. Other people are not that lucky,” said Kotlus, explaining why this benefit was so important to her.
“I have to thank the community,” she said for making the event possible.
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