Steve Meneely’s e-mail to the paper gave a link to the National Maple Syrup Festival and while doing my research I felt that, within the story of the festival, there was a bigger story. The festival, in its fifth year, is not just a fun weekend of tree-tapping and maple syrup-and-sugar making. It is an annual fundraiser for the Heads Up!!! Foundation, which supports programs that benefit children with craniofacial anomalies. The Heads Up!!! Foundation is the brainchild of Ken and Kelly Turner. I called and made arrangements to interview Kelly Turner at Burton’s Maplewood Farm. In my initial telephone conversation with Kelly, she spoke of the annual affair being “a family thing,” and everyone being “one big family.” I found that those statements were not figurative, but literal.
I was early to my meeting with Kelly at Burton’s Maplewood Farm, and Tim Burton gave me a history of the farm, maple sugar and syrup production and his passage from the IT world to maple farmer over coffee. I told Tim that I thought that he was making a big commitment to the Heads Up!! Foundation, and asked how he knew the Turners.
“Kelly is my sister.”
Kelly Turner bustled through the farmhouse doorway and settled into a chair across the table from me. She told me that about fifteen years ago, she felt as if she were “standing on a beach,” as a “big tidal wave” washed over her. Her daughter, Katelyn, was born with a craniofacial anomaly: a cleft lip and palette. She’d had no prior knowledge of this and was overwhelmed. But two years after Katelyn’s birth, she and her husband, Ken, established the Heads Up!!! Foundation.
Children with craniofacial anomalies face both physical and emotional challenges. The Heads Up!!! Foundation was established to help Katelyn and others with craniofacial anomalies find a way to keep their heads up. Proceeds from the National Maple Syrup Festival are targeted for the Heads Up!!! Foundation, then earmarked for Camp About Face.
Camp About Face was established in 1988, to benefit youth ages 8-18 with craniofacial anomalies. Typical camping activities are offered to these young people, who spend a week each summer at Bradford Woods in Martinsville, Indiana. The camp is affiliated with and promoted by the Craniofacial Program at Riley Hospital For Children in Indianapolis.
As Kelly recounted for me her family’s journey through the challenges of Katelyn’s craniofacial anomaly, she seemed to have been at once determined and overwhelmed: determined to provide for her daughter’s physical and emotional well-being, and overwhelmed by the help and support she has received from so many sources. Kelly was a “proud, stay-at-home mom” when her two sons, Sean and Forrest, were joined by Katelyn. Katelyn inspired her to become a nurse, a labor of love she now pursues at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Indiana. “The journey wasn’t easy,” she said,“ but very fulfilling.”
Kelly was careful to deflect credit away from herself and toward the many volunteers and professional medical people who have provided her family with support and encouragement. I asked Kelly that if she could step outside of her reticence, if there was a message that she wanted to convey. She wants to credit “a core group of people who share the passion” to “inspire people to (help) others.”
“This, more than anything.”
The National Maple Syrup Festival is staffed by volunteers, including some from Walmart in Seymour, Indiana. Family is well-represented by Mary Jane and Pat Burton, Tim’s parents; Greg Turner, Tim and Angie’s son worked the sugar house, and Ken Turner was in and out of the house when I visited on Friday, March 1st. I also met the Burton’s son Greg and the Turner’s son Forrest.
One of the attendees on Saturday made a special effort to corral me and stress the importance of the objective of the festival: “to bring a smile.” Charlene Ellis, who attended the festival with Don Guthrie, is a dental assistant at the Oral Health Research Institute at IU School of Dentistry.
This, more than anything, is a festival worth seeing. Make a road trip to attend and enjoy on Saturday, March 9th, and Sunday, March 10th.