Children
Cincinnati Kids Can Apply For Grants To Nonprofits
I love the whole concept of Bake Me Home – two sisters who share a love for helping others and a mom who believes in encouraging their dreams reaching out to brighten the days of families struggling day-by-day. (To read my blog story about them, please click here.)
Bake Me Home is also encouraging other kids to get involved and give back.
Through the Bake Me Home’s Bake It Forward Program, kids entering 2nd through 9th grade who have made a difference in the lives of children can apply for a $100 grant to the nonprofit of their choice from Bake Me Home. Along with the grant money to benefit their chosen charity, winners will receive a Bake It Forward t-shirt, jar of Bake Me Home cookie mix, and will be invited to a celebration at the Duke Energy Children’s Museum on October 14th, 2012.
Deadline for submissions is September 6, 2012.
Walnut Hills Kids Growing Vegetables This Summer
This summer, children in Walnut Hills are learning to appreciate and enjoy vegetables at Camp Walnut Hills at the Melrose YMCA.
In the center of a grassy lot across the street from the branch, youth have been working side-by-side with YMCA staff building and nurturing a vegetable garden…even making colorful signage. It is important work – planting, weeding, and making sure the plants are watered so that in the fall they will have lots of colorful nourishment to try for themselves and share with older adults in their neighborhood.
It is all part of the Let’s Move It! program partnership between the YMCA and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital aimed at encouraging youth throughout Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky students to lead healthier lifestyles. The Programs goals are to encourage kids to strive daily to eat FIVE servings of fruits and vegetables; aim for less than TWO hours of screen time; engage in ONE hour of physical activity; and have ZERO sugary drinks. In addition, the program focuses on water consumption and making physical activity fun.
“Exposing children to healthy eating and social responsibility is an important focus for us at the YMCA,” said Sara Lewis, Director of Out-of-School Time Programs. “Through creating the garden and participating in its cultivation at every step of the way, youth learned the importance of giving back to their
communities and gained a true appreciation of vegetables and the farm to table journey.”
In the fall the students will be sampling their produce, sharing it with community members, and preparing healthy meals for their families.
Cincinnati Camp For Homeless Kids Needs Your Help
It is so difficult to imagine young children already knowing what it is like to be homeless, but sadly there are so many in our area. Faces without Places is a wonderful nonprofit organization that keeps such young victims of poverty connected to education. It offers them hope and laughter.
And this week, it will be offering them the experience of summer camp. Two buses will be transporting kid (ages 5 to 12) from shelters, motels and neighborhoods to an inviting place where they will work on their reading and math skills, learn about team work and character values, and leave a more enriched child with optimism for the new school year.
What a beautiful gift to give to an impressionable young mind!
Faces Without Places needs your help. In the past it has partnered with other organizations to offer this opportunity. This is the first summer for its very own Yellow Bus camp and it needs supplies. Below is a list. If you can help, please contact Beth Griffith-Niemann, MA, at 513-389-0805 or 513-389-3583.
• Deep Freeze
• Refrigerators
• Microwaves
• New swim suits for boys and girls (one pieces or modest tankinis) aged 5-12
• New flip flops for boys and girls aged 5-12
• New beach towels
• individually wrapped snacks
• juice boxes
• Cheerios cereal
• copy paper
• construction paper
• crayons
• markers
• pencils
• electric pencil sharpeners
• staplers & staples
• Epson 125 ink (black, cyan, magenta, & yellow)
• packing tape
• extension cords
• surge protectors
• New or gently used outdoor recreation equipment (basket balls, soccer balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, etc.)
• New or gently used board games
• Sunscreen
• Box fans
• Tissues
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Paper plates
• Disposable cups
• Plastic silverware
• Large bottles of hand sanitizer
• New or gently used books for students aged 5-12
• Gift cards to Target and Wal-Mart to purchase clothing and swim suits
• Gift certificates to Kroger or Sam’s Club to purchase perishable goods
The Value Of Mentoring – One Volunteer’s Story
Note: this is a guest post written by Nora Cordrey
As young people around the Tri-State and across the nation prepare for the rite of passage known as high school graduation, take a moment to think about the ones who had to overcome incredible odds to get there. In many families, going to college is a given. Other teens have never known an adult who finished high school and chose to continue their education. To many, that sends a less than positive message about the value of education.
As a volunteer with Big Brother Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati, I’ve spent years mentoring Jamaysha. We met when she was 9—wide-eyed and full of spirit, but also a victim of a world she didn’t create. Her father died before she was born, she seldom sees her mother, her guardian passed away when Jamaysha was 14, and she’s been enrolled in five school districts because of constantly having to move.
Through it all, as her “Big Sister,” I have encouraged her to stay focused on her school and to take advantage of every opportunity. My husband and I learned of the Upward Bound program which assists first generation college-bound students with tutoring, enrichment activities and developing leadership skills. Once she was accepted into Upward Bound, Jamaysha committed to and has participated in the program for the last four years. This involvement, and her hard work, has helped prepare her for college. In the Fall, she will attend Cincinnati State, studying culinary arts.
My “Little Sister” is graduating from high school, one of the few members of her family to do so. She ranks 34th in a class of 220 with a grade point average of 3.13. She’s an inspiration. Not content to sit on the sidelines, and overcoming transportation issues, she found a way to participate in several extra-curricular activities and hold a job. She has learned the value and pleasure of giving back to the community and we have volunteered together at charity events. I believe Jamaysha will someday be an incredible mentor herself.
I am not Jamaysha’s only mentor and join teachers past and present, our Big Brothers Big Sisters case manager, the director of Upward Bound, Jamaysha’s family and others in congratulating her and all the other young people who are overcoming circumstances to find success.
As adults, we have a responsibility to the young people in our community. There are many more Tri-State children who need mentors, who need guides as they head into the future. The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati is to help children become successful in school and in life. Surely that’s what we all want and, surely, what all children deserve.
Consider becoming a mentor today.
20 Foster Children Attend Cincinnati Reds Thanks To One Simple Wish
In Trenton, New Jersey there is a very special organization that is quietly making simple wishes happen for foster children and vulnerable families. One Simple Wish recently made a trip to Greater Cincinnati to take 20 foster kids of Lighthouse Youth Services to a Cincinnati Reds game. What a wonderful gift that no doubt has given some children with lots of potential, a lasting memory.
