In this edition:
- The Proms!
- Children served
- Volunteer training schedule
- New program rollout
- Haircuts
- Upcoming events
- May is Clean Out Your Closets Month (School clothes and other stuff needed!)
- Fence Install and Shed fix-up days
- Garage Sale
- Christmas Angels
- Thanks-giving
Hello everyone!
Close your eyes for a moment and remember back to being a teenager (that's a LONG time ago for some of us!) and the most special event in your life ...then multiply it by about a bazillion...and you'll have some idea of the way our 15 Cinderellas and Cinderfellas from Sumner and White River High Schools felt on Saturday April 25th when they prepared to attend their proms. Most said they thought they'd never be able to go because of their family's circumstances; one young lady said she'd been dreaming of her prom since she was four years old and saw her older cousin dressed up for hers. And our young tomboy who on Primping Day was was so adamant about hating dresses, couldn't stop twirling in front of the mirrors when she put on her ballgown and saw how exquisite she looked. There wasn't a dry eye in the house!
It was, as it always is, a remarkable experience to watch these kids who have dealt with some of the most difficult challenges imaginable (and even a few too horrible to imagine), absolutely bloom right in front of your eyes. The Orting prom is next Saturday, May 9th and Bonney Lake's is Friday, May 29th.
Sincere and deepest thanks to:
- Cedar Ridge Retirement and Senior Living Center for allowing us to take over a suite, the Hospitality Room and grounds
to prepare and photograph the kids!
- The staff advisors at each of our high schools who coordinated with the appropriate students and referred them to us:
Nicole Bortle at Sumner, Dasha Berry at Bonney Lake, Patti Harjehausen at White River, Renee Globe at Collins
and Leon Matz at Orting
- The high schools for either reducing the cost of the tickets or finding funds to provide tickets to us at no
charge. What a HUGE help! Thank you!!
- Donors of funds, dresses, accessories and all sorts of related goodies who have made it possible for us to
enable kids to attend this important landmark event
- Fairy godmothers and godfathers: Natasha Moffitt, Ramona Jirak, Samantha Brendible, Dana Williams, Iona Catonio, Marv,
Jessica, Ivan and Allison from The Hair Lounge in Federal Way for hair and makeup services, Cheryl Fried, Heather Laurin,
Linda Morris, Juli Bell, Jen Espinoza, Melinda Blevins, and April Young
- Quality Cleaners in Sumner for donating the cleaning all of our gowns, Windmill Florist in Sumner for discounts on the purchase
of our corsages and boutonnieres
- For ALL of the responses received to our request for an experienced seamstress to alter a dress for one of our Cinderellas!
WOW!! Thank you for your interest in assisting either by doing the work or by referring someone you know: Brenda Sowell,
Yvonne Simmermon, Elizabeth Lindenmuth, Sue Hilberg, Marcia Madsen, Sherry Creson, Rebecca DeLine, Judy Halone,
Heather Meier, Jessie Thompson, Phil DeLeo, Shirley Lewis, Linda Budinich, Larry Cassity, Rebecca Alvarez and Patty
Tanner. Brenda Howick was among the first referred and interviewed and is doing the work, but if I may keep your names
available there may be other opportunities in the future. Thank you again!!
Children served:
In April 2009 we had 224 visits, compared to 117 in 2008 and 53 in 2007. Since September 2008 we have had 1572 visits, compared to 1648 for all of the previous school year.
Volunteer training:
Our next volunteer training is Wednesday, May 13th at 7 p.m. at the clothing bank; June training is Wednesday June 10th, July is Wednesday, July 15th, same time, same place. No pre-registration is necessary. We're done by 8:30 and there is no obligation to join us once you've been to a training session. (Volunteers are subject to a Washington State Patrol background check.)
We are especially looking for individuals who will keep our yard mowed and trimmed and weeds in the beds eradicated in the summer and fall months. These tasks lend themselves well to a team approach. It takes less than 30 minutes to mow both the front and back lawns each week.
New programs and person to assist:
Thanks to Brad Hand who has agreed to assist with the development and rollout of two new Lions 4 Kids programs: College 4 Kids and Kudos 4 Kids!
College 4 Kids will focus on making our clients in 7th and 8th grades and their parents aware of the Washington State "College Bound" program that provides a four-year full-ride college scholarship to kids living in poverty as long as they maintain their grades and do not commit a felony between the time they register in the program and high school graduation. (The felony part is sort of a "duh" to most of us, but for some of these kids who live in some very difficult environments, it can be a huge challenge.) Millions of dollars in grant money is left unused every year because kids don't apply with their school counselors, so we're putting together a program that will not only bring the program to the attention of the families, but will encourage the kids to apply and we would like to provide mentors who will cheer the kids on periodically via telephone or written note.
Kudos 4 Kids will recognize kids who improve their grades and/or attendance from report card to report card. They'll be listed on our Wall of Fame and also receive some sort of incentive from our goody grab box such as fast-food coupons, movie tickets, etc. Kelly Jo Patterson of Jumping Jack & Jill was one of the first to offer incentives...thanks Kelly Jo!
Please stay tuned for more information!
Coming soon: Dentists 4 Kids!! Like our volunteer haircutting, we hope to find a rotating group of local dentists who will do monthly basic dental checkups for Our Kids and then refer them for no- or low-cost dental care. It's been proven that good oral health is critical to good overall physical health and since we have the kids in-house, being able to do basic checkups and then refer them for care may catch some early oral health issues early. If you would like to consider being a coordinator for this outreach, please let me know!
Haircuts: Jen Shears is our coordinator for the tidiness haircuts provided on the last Wednesday of each month. Jen contacts salons requesting professional haircutters either on a one-time or rotating basis. After four months, this program has proven very popular and welcome with our young clients. Our three stylists cut hair for about 30 kids each session.
For April our cutters were Tammy Vance of Salon Bella Dea in Auburn and Trish and Becky, co-owners of Tangles Salon in Bonney Lake (this is their second time cutting for us!) Thank you ALL!
Upcoming events:
May is Closet-Clean-Out Month!!
As you prepare for the summer months, may we respectfully suggest that Lions 4 Kids House would LOVE to take used clothing of all sizes, and especially items that are suitable for school wear! Remember, we take adult-size clothing as well because we have some really big kids.
As we think ahead to August and Back to School, we'd like to have an ample supply of clothing in our inventory. Last August we saw 333 children, a 300% increase over the previous year. If our projections are correct, the number of kids we see this August will shatter all records. Thanks to you, we've never had to turn a child away because we didn't have the resources to help them, and we'd love to keep that record in tact.
Also just a reminder: even if stuff if not suitable for wearing and/or you have other textile (cloth) items such as sheets, towels, blankets, coats, sewing scraps, etc., or used socks and underwear, we do take those items as well (we respectfully request that they be clean). Items we are not able to use we donate to Northwest Center who either uses them in their outreach or sends scraps overseas to be recycled into rugs, etc. YOU still get the tax receipt from us, and WE get seven cents per pound of donated textiles from Northwest Center which helps us purchase personal care items, socks, underwear and school supplies for Our Kids. Socks and underwear that is used but still in good condition is donated to a local battered women's shelter.
Other items we gratefully accept: shoes (we are desperate for BOY'S shoes right now!!); belts, handbags, books, small toys, puzzles and games (with all their pieces please), stuffed animals, new socks and underwear, personal care items of all kinds.
We continue to actively solicit prom attire including dresses, shoes, handbags, wraps, "bling" and underpinnings; however, we do take these items all year 'round.
We are unable to accept any furniture or household items.
Fence and shed fix-up days, assistance requested:
On Saturday May 30th starting at 9:30 a.m. we would appreciate a crew of a half-dozen or so who will install our cyclone fence posts for us. There will be approximately 22 posts that need to be installed in cement. Most of the holes are already dug...we just need to pop the posts in the ground, mix up the cement and set 'em straight.
The following Saturday, June 6th starting at 9:30, we would appreciate a couple crews: one to stretch and secure the fencing material and the other to help insulate our storage shed. The storage shed project will also require moving stuff out of the shed so we can access the walls...pray for dry weather!
Garage Sale:
On Friday July 24th from 10-6 we are holding a garage and bake sale to benefit Lions 4 Kids House. A venue will be announced soon. We would be delighted to have donations to sell; however we have nowhere to store anything at this time. If you have items you'd like to donate please hold onto them and we'll advise where and when to deliver them.
Many thanks to those who so very generously supported our "Primp the Prom" garage sale several weeks ago with donations and day-of-sale support! The proceeds from this event helped immensely as we supported all of our prom kids.
Thinking about Christmas already??
Well, sorta. Since we're talking about collecting things and cleaning out closets, during December our "Christmas Angels" program allows our young clients to select a special gift for their parent(s) or significant adult and have it wrapped by volunteers so it's a holiday surprise. All year long, we set aside items like unopened men's and women's colognes, lotions and potions in pretty containers, nice jewelry, gloves, calculators, and related items that Our Kids can give with pride. If you have any of this kind of stuff taking up room at your house that you might like to regift, we'd be delighted to have it. Donation receipts gladly provided, of course!
More thanks!!
George and Thian Brown of Thian Thai have pledged FOUR no-cost meals per month for four of our families! This is an amazing offer, George and Thian, and the first family we have spoken with is SO excited to partake of their meal. Can you imagine how it will feel for some of Our Kids to be able to treat their families to a meal out? This is very, very cool!
It is the incredible generosity of so many like George and Thian who make it possible for Lions 4 Kids House to do what we do. We absolutely LOVE our new building, created with the time, energy, funds and kindness of so many.
If you haven't seen it yet, please let me know...we love to show it off! Our kid-friendly Serenity Garden is in coming into glorious bloom! The heirloom 40+ year old lilacs are really scenting the yard! 75% of the work on the creation of this garden was done by young people: Boy Scouts, middle schoolers, little kids, LDS elders far from home; senior project kids. All those young gardners are part of our Kids 4 Kids program now -- they're kids making a difference for other kids.
If you haven't noticed, we are about so much more than just putting clothes on kids. We are about providing those resources in an environment that makes the kids happy and makes them feel valued; we are about volunteers and donors who give from the heart and share their time, talent and resources with joy; we are about communities coming together to give kids in poverty a chance to succeed in school and ultimately in life. We KNOW we couldn't do what we do without your support in innumerable ways. THANK YOU so much.
With a deeply grateful and humble heart, Carol
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