Your support helped fund some incredible projects. We thought you should know about this one!
Yuri's Night is produced in LA and the Space Coast by a non-profit organization. Your support at these events help to fund other charitable projects and scholarships. This year, a majority of the funds went to our Cosmic Odyssey Scholarship. Read below to find out how you helped families affected by pediatric cancer!
Your support sent 10 Families Affected by Pediatric Cancer to US Space Camp!
The Cosmic Odyssey Scholarship sent ten families on all-expenses-paid trips to Space Camp at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, to attend Family Camp for a weekend! Everyone had a great time learning together, meeting other pediatric cancer families, and bonding as a team at Space Camp.
For all of the scholarship recipients, it was a chance to reconnect with their families outside of their everyday experience of life, hospitals, and treatments. Every participant received a flight suit, Space Camp graduation certificate, and wings to show the world that they have "The Right Stuff" to make their dreams come true!
THANK YOU for making this possible!!
Suited Up and Ready
Families worked together as a group throughout the weekends to successfully complete training and missions. The crew participated in activities and simulators including fighter jets and moon walks!
Mission: Success
Every participating member of the scholarship families (adults and kids!) was a part of the weekend mission, changing up typical family dynamics as parents reported science results to their kids or flew against them in simulated dog fights!
Postcards to SPACE!
Thanks to the support of Blue Origin's Club for the Future and Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Michelle Christensen, each participant was able to create their own artwork on a postcard. These will be flown to space on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket and returned to each person to keep!
Special Guests
Each weekend included a special visit from a Space Camp alum that has battled cancer. Scholarship founder Niko Blanks shared his cancer experience at the first weekend. Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee and Bronze Star recipient Josh Whitfield spoke to the families on the second weekend.
Inspiration4 astronaut and new Space Camp Hall of Fame inductee Chris Sembroski also met with families and helped with graduation on the second weekend. He shared some of what it was like to spend three days in space last October! These incredibly personal experiences are unique to the Cosmic Odyssey Scholarship program.
Reducing the Load on Scholarship Families
Every family faced different obstacles, ranging from fresh treatment wounds that needed care to unexpected travel delays. Our volunteer team worked hard to provide everything they might need for the weekend, from snacks to sunscreen, to help them leap into the weekend.
An Incredible Team Effort
In this second year of the Scholarship, we nearly doubled the amount of participants (40!) across two weekends and three total sessions of Family Camp.
Total costs for the program were around $1,200 per participant (including travel, food, lodging, Camp, and flight suits). All of the admin support, special guests, and program management for the program was provided as volunteer time.
Nonprofit fiscal management and oversight was provided free of charge through Yuri's Night. Special thanks to the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer for providing a photographer, support staff, and swag for the participants!
Thank you to all of our donors and supporters that have made this scholarship possible! Funding for this program included:
Founded in 2020 by Niko Blanks during his SpaceKind Training course, the Cosmic Odyssey Scholarship sends families affected by pediatric cancer to programs at US Space Camp in Huntsville, AL. Niko wanted to give another pediatric cancer survivor the same opportunity he had to find a support community at Space Camp. With the support of Yuri's Night, the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer, and some incredible volunteers from the Space Camp Alumni Association, the scholarship was born! In 2021, we sent 24 people from seven families on all-expenses-paid trips to US Space Camp for special Family Camp Weekends. In 2022, the program expanded to 40 people in 10 families!
Want more Yuri's Night?
Join us in Paris during the International Astronautical Congress at YN@IAC 2022 on 21 Sept!
