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'It Really Is Fantastic' | Casey Cares, 'Urban Pirates' Partners Up To Give Critically Ill Kids Day Of Fun

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Baltimore foundation which has been helping critically ill children and their families for two decades took some kids on a pirate cruise Tuesday morning.

The "Urban Pirates" ship sailed from South Baltimore, as the Casey Cares Foundation partnered with the ship "Fearless".

"The pirate ship is awesome. They get to shoot water cannons, they're looking for buried treasure," said Casey Cares Deputy Associate Director Erin Ritter. "They sing songs, they do dancing, they get tattooed, they get to dress up in pirate gear, Urban Pirate goes all out for our families. It's really a fun, fun day, and its a great break for them to have some positive memories and some positive family time,"

More than one hundred children and their parents attended the two-hour cruise including Christa Binns from Westminster and her sons Oliver and Eli.

"So Oliver was diagnosed with leukemia in November, so we've been part of Casey Cares for a few months now. Our social worker at Sinai let us know about it, it's been awesome, we really appreciate the opportunities that Casey Cares allows us to go on, things that we might not do otherwise," Binns said.

Some of the older children from Casey Cares got to sail with the downtown sailing center. Both the center and Urban Pirates provided the day on the water free of charge to the Casey Cares families.

"It really is fantastic for us to come out here and be able to give these kids an experience, especially since some of them are struggling with health issues. It's just really nice to put a smile on those kids faces, and get out here and do what we love to do," said Matt Timmons, first mate on the Urban Pirates ship.

Tuesday's cruise lasted about two hours, a break for the kids and their families.

"Our kids spend a lot of time in the hospitals they spend a lot of time going through painful treatment, so to have a day like this where they get to just be a family and get to meet other families who are going through similar situations, it's huge," Ritter said.

The activities started and concluded at the Baltimore Museum of Industry on Key Highway, Casey Cares was founded in 2001.

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