Tikkun Olam Projects for Families with Children Six and Under (Siblings are Welcome!)Tikkun Olam Projects for Families with Children Six and Under (Siblings are Welcome!)On Sunday, March 20, our Kids Care Club families visited the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington to share dessert, homemade crafts, and conversation with the residents. To learn more about the Hebrew Home go to www.hebrew-home.org.
On Friday, December 24, 18 children from eleven Adat Shalom families baked holiday cookies for homeless families at the Stepping Stones Shelter in Rockville. The kids had a lot of fun decorating and baking over 600 cookies! Thank you to all the families that participated and donated cookie dough and decorations. To learn more about Stepping Stones Shelter, visit www.steppingstonesshelter.org.
In refugee camps, hospitals, and villages around the world, gifts of
Lutheran World Relief (LWR) layettes convey a warm welcome to newborns and their mothers. This project
was organized so that young children could help sort, assemble, and pack the
items. This was a great learning opportunity for the children.—October, 2004.
In July, 2004, about 30 Russian and Colombian orphans visited the DC area under the auspices of Kidsave International. The kids came to the United States to experience life in a family. Kids Care assembled items for the backpacks including disposable cameras, photo albums, pens, and notebooks. We also decorated a cover page for the albums and made welcoming cards or pictures to include in the backpack. Kidsave was delighted with our response to the need. To learn more about Kidsave visit www.kidsave.org. Thanks to Beth Sperber Richie and Lynne Sacks for coordinating this event! Also, a big thank you to Jodi Jacobson who arranged for space at the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 910, Takoma Park, MD.
We received a thank you note from the family of Erin, a patient at Duke University's Pediatric Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Unit. The Unit received decorated photo frames for our Kids Care Club (our March activity). Beth Davidson and Madeleine Levin coordinated this activity.—June, 2004
Dear Kids,
Many thanks for the terrific photo frames that you made for our kids. What great work you did. Our kids loved the frames. Enclosed is a photo of Erin with her frame. It is her thank you for thinking of her and the other kids. Have a great summer!
Take care, Jane
In January, 2004, four of our families made a large,
colorful collage for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. The
collage was displayed for three weeks in the lobby of the Springvale
Terrace Retirement Community in Silver Spring. Reactions to the collage
were positive and it stirred up a lot of curiosity.
Also in January, 2004, Valentine-card-making kits were assembled and
delivered to Stepping Stones Shelter so that the children could make handmade Valentines for parents and loved ones.
Stepping Stones Shelter is one of the few Montgomery County Shelters that provides services to entire families.
If you would like to help in brainstorming and organizing upcoming events, please e-mail Cathy Gruber. Two families working together makes Kids Care Club events easy to organize and execute! If your family would like to have a "Kids Care East" activity in Silver Spring, E-mail Madeleine Levin.
Kids Care Clubs is an initiative of Points of Light Foundation. The Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization devoted to promoting volunteerism. Since 1991, Kids Care Clubs has been providing meaningful opportunities for children to develop compassion and the spirit of service and philanthropy by helping others in their local, national and global communities. There are now more than 1,400 Kids Care Clubs in the U.S. and overseas. Go to www.kidscare.org for more information.
Kids Care is a joint project of Family Programs, Community Life and the Social Action Committees.