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Courtesy Photo
MaryMargaret O'Neill, 10, receives an award on Kids Are Heroes Day in September at the FSK Mall in appreciation of her efforts. Colleen McCarrick, right, presented the award on behalf of the FSK Mall. |
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KidsAreHeroes.com, a website run by the local father-daughter team of Gabe and MaryMargaret O'Neill, is on to yet another project that will positively impact young people.Gabe O'Neill created KidsAreHeroes.com in March, with the help of 10-year-old MaryMargaret. Their goal was to recognize kids who make extraordinary contributions to the community through charitable work. In June, MaryMargaret and two of her friends held a lemonade stand in front of Flights of Fancy store in downtown Frederick to benefit children with cancer. They raised just more than $600 — money they used to buy enough Webkinz for 80 kids in one of the camps at Camp Friendship. This year, the father-daughter team has a much more ambitious project on their plate: they want to provide all 160 kids at both camps with MP3 players. Camp Friendship aims to improve the quality of life for children with cancer and their families throughout Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia, by providing year round recreational and support programs free of charge. "The spark that triggered this effort was actually generated by what all the other kids featured on Kids Are Heroes are doing," Gabe O'Neill said. "This was MaryMargaret's idea, which I thought was outstanding because music for most people can be therapeutic. We estimate the cost to be somewhere north of $12,000." MaryMargaret has dubbed her new venture, "Music for Life." "I thought it was a neat idea because most young people want to have an MP3 player," MaryMargaret said. Several fundraisers are planned. The Flights of Fancy store on East Street is partnering with MaryMargaret to collect donations to coincide with downtown Frederick 's First Saturday Gallery Walk theme of "Frederick Gives Back." A Feb. 20 "Music for Life" event will be sponsored by the Holly Hills Country Club. MaryMargaret's dad and a couple of his friends will be guest bartending for tips. There also will be live music and food served. On March 22, Holly Hills will also sponsor a "Music for Life Brunch." There will be three seatings at 10:30, 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Live music will be provided by the South Mountain String Quartet, as well as live performances by some of the heroes on the Kids Are Heroes website. MaryMargaret and her father have also created a channel on You Tube at www.youtube.com/kidsareheroes. "It's a comic-relief-type thing to promote what we are doing," Gabe O'Neill said. Updates can be seen at www.kidsareheroes.com.
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