Being the Change

Once upon a time, in a town closer than you might think, a princess is getting ready for her fundraising event. She pulls her long, golden hair into a neat bun and places her crown gently in front of it. The smile she wears on her face warms hearts and her blue gown rustles as she moves toward the door.

Madison Stephens, Oklahoma 4-H Leadership Council president, started her Once Upon A Time Princess Parties when she was 13 years old, and the 18-year-old has continued to fundraise by dressing up as Disney princesses since then. Madison said she started raising money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation because her friend and her friend’s brother received treatment from there after getting in a head-on collision.

“All of the money we raise goes to the Children’s Hospital,” Madison said.

The money is for the Change for Change fundraiser which is collected at the Oklahoma State 4-H Roundup, the state’s yearly 4-H conference, held in July, Madison said.

At the princess parties, Madison said she tries to have two princesses and sometimes a prince, attend. Madison coordinates with parents to decide which princesses will attend the party. She said they will play with the kids, take pictures, read stories and even teach the kids a lesson in manners.

Madison’s princess business currently contains eight princess characters, and five prince characters, played by 20 Oklahoma youth. She also has 15 royal helpers who attend with the characters to help with the party setup, crowd control, and anything else the characters can’t do while in costume, Madison said.

Maintaining character integrity is important, Madison said. Past Disney World employees who worked as characters came in and hosted a boot camp when Madison was first getting started, she said. Madison has continued to host her own boot camps when she has new members come in so she can pass down what she’s learned about “keeping it real” for the kids.

Madison is one of the many Oklahoma 4-H’ers raising money this year for Change for Change.

Cathleen Taylor, 4-H youth development assistant extension specialist for leadership and civic engagement, said the Oklahoma 4-H Leadership Council members, and 4-H’ers throughout the state, have raised money to donate to Change for Change for at least six years.

Taylor said the council members’ goal for the year is $20,000. Last year, they were able to raise $22,000, which was $2,000 more than the goal. The goal was set to the same amount this year to keep it manageable, Taylor said.

This year, they are more than halfway to their goal; the council has raised $10,413.23, and was further along their goal than last year, Taylor said.

“When I came on board three years ago, I had the Children’s Hospital Foundation come and talk to the state council members about what their money was doing, and at that point, I gave them the option to change the focus of Change for Change,” Taylor said.

The CHF and the 4-H program both have the same statewide impact, Taylor said. The CHF supports programs that serve Oklahoma youth just like the 4-H program does, Taylor said.

“They decided at that point they’d like to stick with the Children’s Hospital Foundation to benefit as many 4-H members and children across Oklahoma as possible,” Taylor said.

We have several 4-H members who have been patients at the hospital, Taylor said.

The foundation members distributed funds for the 4-H’ers into general foundation dollars. Those funds are split among multiple charities, Taylor said. The Ronald McDonald House and the Cavett Kids Foundation both receive funds from the CHF, she added.

Erin Slagell, Oklahoma 4-H Leadership Council reporter, said the funds are also used to help offset the costs for patients at the Children’s Hospital.

The majority of the CHF funds go into advancing research for the future, Taylor said.

“I love the creative ideas that kids are coming up with to raise money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation,” Taylor said. “Even simple things like passing a bucket and putting your spare change in it, raises money for kids who need it.”

Lilyana Sestak, Oklahoma 4-H Leadership Council northeast representative, said she loves the input from across Oklahoma. The 16-year-old said the council could get their jobs done because they had a strong bond they’ve built by spending time together.

Taylor said her main goal is to empower the council to reach their goals. On Feb. 29, the council hosted the first 4-H Winter Formal, where more than $1,000 was raised. Taylor said the only thing she had to do was pay the one bill the council had of $20; the council members did the rest.

Last year, the council hosted monthly challenges, Erin said. The high school senior’s challenge was to dress as a chicken at Chick-Fil-A or eat a box full of BeanBoozled jellybeans when the first county reached $100, she said. The winning county chose to see her dressed as a chicken in Chick-Fil-A, she said.

This year, the council is not doing the monthly challenges but instead hosts events such as the 4-H Winter Formal, Erin said. She explained each event works in its own way and every bit counts, but the statewide events work a little better.

One of Erin’s personal fundraising projects is to sell her homemade cinnamon rolls on Facebook.

Erin said this year the council has focused more on communication than previously. Everyone on the council has their own talents to bring to the table, she added.

“I like to think I bring creativity to the table, helping plan events, that’s kind of what I like to do,” Erin said.

Erin said Madison was great at getting everyone on the same page and ready to reach the council’s goal.

“We couldn’t do it without Cathleen, because she’s the one who’s the glue that keeps us all together,” Erin said.

Lilyana said when she raises money for somebody it’s rewarding. Helping fundraise gave her more confidence because she realized not everyone helps and she was happy she was someone who did, Lilyana said.

“It makes the families you’re helping feel special, that they know somebody outside of the hospital, outside of their family, outside of their general circle, does care about them and wants them to get better and be treated,” Lilyana said.

Madison said the Children’s Hospital had the princesses and princes come to see the patients and parents a few times. She said the hospital often paid for events like this, but Madison’s team visited the children free of charge.

“They love it and we love going there,” Madison said.

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Meeting Cinderella

Photo by Madison Stephens