3rd Annual Celebration of Life a Success

Children enjoy one of the outdoor activities, a fishing pond, as part of the 3rd annual Celebration of Life event.

The third annual Celebration of Life event was held Sunday, September 14 at Discovery Playhouse in Cape Girardeau. This event is held to celebrate the short life of Levi Stephen Collom, who passed away at 3 ½ years old from unknown causes, and is held on or near his birthday every year.

The free event featured outdoor games for children, crafts booths, face painting by artist Aaron Horrell, outdoor exhibits and encompassed both the inside of Discovery Playhouse as well as the lot behind the building.

The Cape Kiwanis donated and cooked over 300 hotdogs, and there were approximately 260 people in attendance throughout the day. Last year, there were 175 attendees.

There was also popcorn, provided by Alliance Bank, frozen yogurt from Simply Swirled, snow cones from Sonic and S'More snack bags provided by Walmart.

Gift bags were given to all of the children as they left, and contained coloring pages, free kids meal coupons from Chik-Fil-A and Texas Roadhouse, among other prizes. Texas Roadhouse's mascot, Andy the Armadillo and the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation mascot, Play-Mo were in attendance to entertain the kids.

The Gamma Sigma Sigma service sorority from Southeast Missouri State University provided volunteer workers for the entire event.

Laura Adkisson with American Family Insurance and Brock Alspaugh with Innovative Financial Solutions sponsored the attendance costs for the event.

A new addition this year was a full-sized tee-pee, provided by Willie Sandlin of Sandlin Engineering in Jackson, MO, and it was a big hit with young and old.

The outside lot used for the event is the future site of Levi's Adventure Trail, an outdoor exhibit being constructed in memory of Levi to provide an outdoor adventure area for all children who visit Discovery Playhouse.

For more information on Levi's Adventure Trail and the ongoing effort to make this dream come true, visit www.levischildrenscharity.com and www.facebook.com/levischildrenscharity.