Joy and Sorrow All Year Round
Posted:Dec 13, 2024 12:29 pmAt Crescent Cove, we reflect on the joys and sorrows of living with children with shortened life expectancies. The holiday season is no exception.
We held our annual Holiday Drive-Thru for families earlier this month where we welcomed 38 families and about 70 children to our Home. Cars moved slowly along our driveway, greeted by smiling volunteers and generous sponsors who showered families with gifts at every stop.
One dedicated volunteer, Jennifer, has handed out hot chocolate at this even
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Connecting Families through Trunk or Treat...and shared experiences
Posted:Nov 14, 2024 8:14 amThis post is written by Katie Lindenfelser, Crescent Cove's founder, who enjoyed being a part of this year's Trunk or Treat event.
What a gift it is to walk up the driveway of Crescent Cove and see smiling faces and loads of happy children in costume, and lots of happy adults as well!
For several years, we have been fortunate to have a Trunk or Treat event hosted by Holly M.,an incredible teacher now at Forest Lake schools who inspires her high school students to participate. Traditionally
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The Gift of Serenity: A New Waterfall at Crescent Cove
Posted:Sep 30, 2024 8:56 amAt Crescent Cove, the dream of creating a peaceful and calming space for our families has been a long-standing goal of the Garden Committee. A water feature—something serene that would invite reflection and tranquility—was always part of the vision. Last year, this dream started to take shape when the committee put together a landscaping plan for the front of the Home, with hopes of incorporating a new, improved water fountain. But like many large projects, the challenge of funding seemed da
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Kindness makes a teen’s stay at Crescent Cove the ‘Best Stay Ever’
Posted:Aug 29, 2024 3:02 pm“People are marvelous in their generosity, if they just know the cause is there.”— Will Rogers
One of the highlights of a child’s respite stay at Crescent Cove is our large, luxurious bathtub. Children with complex medical conditions often need support to bathe, and, as they grow, cannot be lifted into a standard household tub without a mechanical lift. For many, a bubble bath in a tub with music, lights, and toys, is an absolute delight.
In order to accommodate the many children of va
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Celebrating Abilities and Connections at Back-to-School Event
Posted:Aug 29, 2024 2:23 amOur back-to-school event is an opportunity for families to connect —with families like theirs, and with our staff who care for their children. And we were shown — as we often are — how children living with disabilities are capable of so much more than what is expected of them.
This year, we had a band from the School of Rock in Plymouth provide entertainment and they blew everyone away with their incredible talent and performance. Two of the kids who were enjoying a respite stay at Cresce
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Summer Magic at Sibling Camp
Posted:Jul 1, 2024 12:54 pmA Haven of Joy, Connection, and Adventure for All
Sibling Camp is one of the highlights of summer for not only the campers who attend, but also the staff, volunteers, and students who put the camp on.
At 3:00 on the appointed day the kids arrived carload by carload, returning campers excitedly greeting staff and volunteers who they knew from previous years. New campers were a little less exuberant, but within the first hour began to know their fellow campers and counselors.
“Sibling camp
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Spring Fling Connects Families
Posted:May 30, 2024 2:02 amIt’s only natural that after 6 years of caring for children with shortened life expectancies that we serve a lot of families whose children have passed. Every Crescent Cove family is welcome to return to any of our events, to visit our Home and to remember their child with love.
It was wonderful to reconnect with many of them at our 2024 Spring Fling, which took place at Crescent Cove this May. We welcome the family of an infant who passed away at Crescent Cove in February of this year, sayin
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A Life Changed in a Moment
Posted:May 7, 2024 11:41 amThis month is the 6th anniversary of when Crescent Cove opened its doors. We went from hosting our very first respite stay that year, to serving more than 380 families today.
Around the time we were opening, there was a family living not far from our Home who had no idea that one day, their son would qualify for Crescent Cove’s services. Jennie and Shane’s second son, Brady, was a typical 12-year-old boy at the time. He was on his school’s basketball team, loved reading, riding his bike,
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A Parent, an Employee...and a Fundraiser
Posted:Apr 30, 2024 2:59 amWhen Crescent Cove was selected to be the benefiting charity of Mustaches for Kids Twin Cities this year, we sent out a call for people to participate in growing mustaches to raise money for Crescent Cove. One of the people who answered that call was Mark M, a nursing assistant at Crescent Cove.
“Working at Crescent Cove is not just a job for me, it’s a personal mission,” says Mark. Mark joined our team nearly five years ago and was inspired by his son, Isaac.
Isaac was born in 2008 wi
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A Farewell for Now
Posted:Mar 26, 2024 12:48 pmThere are so many milestones in life, and at Crescent Cove we celebrate them all. We recently had the opportunity to celebrate the retirement of Karla V., who was our second employee and has worked at Crescent Cove for more than 8 years.
Karla answered the call for an office manager/administrative position in 2015. She met with our founder, Katie Lindenfelser, in a storage closet converted into an office in St. Louis Park. This windowless, mismatched space did not impress Karla, but Katie’s p
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