Simon ‘family project’ spreads joy to children with disabilities
Mikaila Adams
Associate Editor – OGFJ
Christopher J. Simon is a very busy man. I initially contacted him about this column in April. When I finally had the chance to speak to him in July, it all made sense. First off, Simon is a managing director at Tristone Capital. When he isn’t offering energy-focused expertise to E&P companies, Simon is graciously offering his time to non-profits, namely The Periwinkle Foundation and West University Little League.
Simon has been a part of The Periwinkle Foundation, now in its 25th year, for more than a decade, serving most of that time as a member of the board, and as the board president from 2002-2004. Periwinkle develops and provides camping, recreational and artistic programs for children, young adults and families who are challenged by cancer and other life threatening diseases and are cared for at Texas Children’s Hospital.
He initially got involved through his wife, Judy. Her father, Dr. Donald Fernbach, a retired Texas Children’s pediatric oncologist, and the founder of the Cancer Center, was a founding board member of Periwinkle. Judy started out as a camp counselor and eventually took a seat on the board. When Simon’s own family began to grow, he took over many of her duties on the board and has served as a camp counselor. And, while his children are too young to be counselors, the time will come when they will have the opportunity to become involved as well. “It’s become sort of a family project,” he said.
Periwinkle’s flagship camp, Camp Periwinkle, takes roughly 180 children, ages 7 to 15, to a one-week camp each summer. Ten years ago Periwinkle expanded its programs to also include a twice a year weekend camp for teenagers. The camp was named by the campers as Camp YOLO (You Only Live Once). The fact that there is now a camp for teenage patients is a testament to the strides being made in pediatric oncology.
In addition to the camps, Periwinkle also gets children involved through a program called “Making A Mark®.” This program is a partnership between Texas Children’s Hospital and The Periwinkle Foundation and provides opportunities for children touched by cancer and blood disorders to express themselves through art and writing with the help of professional artists and writers. In September, the patients’ art is showcased in a month-long opening exhibit at Texas Children’s Hospital that then travels to destinations throughout the country and in some cases overseas.
Simon has also been involved in another program, the Challenger Program at West University Little League, that, in 2005, he developed and modeled after a successful program on the west side of town. West University Little League’s Challenger Program primarily serves the inner city but also draws from all of Harris and some surrounding counties. “We have had a tremendous outpouring of volunteers, both children and adults that have supported this program,” he said. “Our first year we had approximately 47 players join the league, now in its fourth year, it has 90 players and more than 100 volunteers,” he beamed.
In Challenger games, junior high and high school aged volunteers or “Baseball Buddies”, help their challenged partners by acting as guides for blind children or pushing wheelchair-bound children around the base paths.
“To top off our first season we were invited to bring one of our Challenger teams to the White House lawn and play in front of the President. This year, we have been invited to take a Challenger team to play an exhibition game at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
While Simon helped start up the Challenger program at West University, he has taken more of a back seat role as of late. “The goal was always to get the parents of the participating kids more involved in the leadership, and let them run the program as they see fit,” he said.
I have a feeling this won’t slow him down.