Vanguard Guys Take Over Warehouse!

BIG thank you to Andy and Phil from Vanguard in Scottsdale!! These guys worked hard in our warehouse to organize our pantry shelves and clean out the back room.



                                    TEAM WORK!

Thank you to Andy and Phil and thank you to Vanguard for supporting volunteer time for employees!

Gingerbread Literacy Nights With Thrive to Five

Thrive to Five presented the first annual Gingerbread Literacy Nights at Kyrene de los Lagos Elementary and Kyrene Family Resource Centers.

This event was for children five years old or younger and their siblings.  Each child received a gingerbread man cookie to decorate and left with a brand new book to encourage reading to your child at home.

Santa visited Lagos for pictures!

Many works of art were created!

Tempe Library provided storytime at KFRC



KFRC ready and waiting for the kids!

 Thanks to Joseph's Bakery in Tempe for the  special order of yummy cookies!

Thank you to Changing Hands in Tempe for the discount on books!

Thanks to Community in Schools of Tempe and Kyrene for support!

Thank you to Arizona's First Things First for support!

We hope you all enjoyed it, we sure did!

Winter Wonderland 2011

Winter Wonderland.... I don't even know where to begin. 

It was amazing, beautiful and inspiring.  It was the culmination of so many peoples dedication and hard work..... People in THIS community, people in Kyrene. 

Kyrene came together and gave and the results were impressive.

Winter Wonderland a success in serving over 800 children.

On December 10, the Board Room at the Ben Furlong Center was turned into a Winter Wonderland. The room was filled with gifts of toys and Christmas stockings donated and prepared to provide joy for nearly 250 local needy families.  That morning as families arrived, volunteers became personal shoppers as they assisted families in choosing toys.

Over 1600 gifts were expertly wrapped and labeled by another team of volunteers while parents relaxed in our lounge with donated refreshments and live entertainment provided by the Desert Vista High School Orchestra ensemble and Pueblo's Show Choir.

We are so thankful for the many employees and community volunteers who joined in and helped us address the ever-increasing needs of our Kyrene Community.

View a picture slide show of the event.

 

Connecting to Serve Creates Holiday Photo Opportunity for KFRC Families!

What a treat!  Connecting to Serve did what it does best and connected people for a great project.  Kim Krejca donated this beautiful candyland Christmas tree complete with beautiful handmade ornaments and bows.  The tree is ours to keep.  Thank you Kim!




Kim and her helpers assemble the tree at KFRC.


Also arranged by Connecting to Serve was an opportunity for families to come in and get holiday photos taken by a professional photographer (shown below) and recieve a printed and framed copy!  As you can see the set up was AMAZING and the pictures turned out beautiful.  Thank you to our friends at   

Say cheese Santa!

Girl Scout Project!

Two local Girl Scouts, Annika and Zoey, passed these adorable fliers attached to bags around their neighborhood and collected food for Thanksgiving for families in need in Kyrene.

Thank you Annika and Zoey for all of your hard work!!!
YOU are making a difference!



Rotary Club of Ahwatukee Foothills Brings "Treats" to KFRC!

Another great neighborhood effort to help out our families in need in Kyrene!  The Rotary Club of Ahwatukee Foothills printed up these cute bags, distributed them on Halloween eve and then collected the goods the next morning!

Check out the goods!!!

What a great SUCCESS!!  Thank you Rotary Club! 

 ...by the way... we kept all those cute orange bags if you want them back to do this again next year

 :) hint hint.

Thanksgiving Drive

On Tuesday, November 23 the Kyrene District Office parking lot turned into a loading area for Thanksgiving meals from The Real Gift Foundation. Kyrene homeless families received invitations to either pick up boxes or have them delivered to their homes by Kyrene Prevention Staff.

Thanks to the generosity of our community each family also received a hygiene bag containing six basic items which cannot be purchased with food stamps.

Thank you to all the Friends of the Foundation, volunteers, and Kyrene Schools who assisted with making this holiday possible for those in need.

One of the parents who received a Thanksgiving Food Box wrote:

“There are no words to express my appreciation for the assistance received, many thanks for the food they gave me for my family to have Thanksgiving dinner. God bless you.”

Free Workshop Series for Relative Caregivers!

Relatives as Parents Class

This class is open to the public, anyone may attend for FREE.

Relatives As Parents —

A 3‐part parenting class for caregivers raising a relative child.  This class provides an opportunity to discuss the unique situation in a supportive environment to improve emotional management and realize that you are not alone. In addition to support, caregivers will learn the latest parenting information and special topics may include: grief and loss; boundaries and dealing with adult children; discipline; caregiver stress management; legal options, etc. The class allows for time for discussion and resource sharing.

·         Dates             Wednesdays—11/23, 11/30, 12/7  

·         Time:             8:30—10:00 am

·         Location:      Kyrene Family Resource Center  

1330 E. Dava Drive Tempe, 85284

Space is limited. FREE child care for children 2 years and older is provided with RSVP.

To register for this class please contact Amanda Nosbisch, at the Kyrene Family Resource Center at anosbisch@kyrene.org or (480) 783‐4177.

Kyrene del Norte Student Council Hygiene Drive!

THANK YOU Kyrene del Norte Cougars for over 150 full size deodorants and other hygiene items!! We appreciate your support here at Kyrene Family Resource Center.

Thank you Kyrene de los Ninos!

Just when our pantry shelves were looking pretty bare... Kyrene de los Ninos saves the day with around 500 pounds of food!

The student council and Mrs. Tatiana Ward worked together to inform the entire school of our need over at the Kyrene Family Resource Center. Yesterday we recieved the donation of dried rice, dried beans, mac & cheese, canned goods, pasta and more!!

Thanks to the generosity of Kyrene de los Ninos students and staff we will be able to make somewhere around 75 food boxes for our Kyrene families.

Thank you Ninos!!

Ahwatukee Community Service KickOFF Event

Did you see us this weekend?

Kyrene Family Resource Center and Thrive to Five were at the Ahwatukee Community Service KickOff Event on Saturday Nov, 5.  We had a great time meeting many new friends and gave away some really fun stuff!










Many of you asked about volunteering or helping with donations.  We NEED your help to make all of our events successful for our Kyrene Families!!

Here are a few ways you can be involved:

1: Volunteer:  We can always use help sorting and processing donations and preparing for and staffing our events.  You can contact us at kfvolunteer@cox.net to schedule a time to come in. We really like large groups of 5-15 people to come in for our Kyrene Gives Days.

2: Host a drive:  Host a drive with your neighborhood, HOA, office, club, child's classroom or any other group!!  Even "small" drives really make a difference for us.  If you are interested in hosting a drive you can contact Amanda Hamm at ahamm@kyrene.org

Here is an example of what we really need right now:

• Hygiene Drive.  We will give out 300 complete hygiene bags at our Thanksgiving event in November and we need hygiene items to stuff the bags ...and then again to replenish our stock here at the center!  Hygiene bags contain 6 items: shampoo, conditioner, soap, tooth brush, tooth paste and deodorant.

• Protein Drive: We always need protein items for our food boxes.  Things like canned tuna, canned chicken, canned chili or other meats and peanut butter are simple proteins that can help fill a child's tummy so they are ready to learn in school!

• New Toy Drive:  We will serve around 900 children through our Winter Wonderland event where we have families come (parents only!) and "shop" for holiday gifts for their children.  It is a beautiful event!  Each family chooses two gifts per child and gets them gift wrapped.  Providing two gifts for 900 children means we need A LOT of toys.  Any new toy drive is GREATLY APPRECIATED!  We will have children of all ages since we serve ALL the children in the family but normally our greatest need is the pre-teen to young teen age items.

Thank you for all the interest in supporting the Kyrene Foundation and Kyrene Family Resource Center!! 

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Kyrene de la Paloma Girl Scout Troop 121 Volunteers at KFRC!

Thank you Kyrene de la Paloma 4th grade Girl Scouts who came to help out today!  The girls worked hard at organizing our clothing cabinets, folding clothes, stocking hygiene items and processing donations. They also brought great donations to our center including soap, deodorant, shampoo and more!!

Thank you! We appreciate you!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Left to right: Sadie, Kara, Renee, Ashanti, Breanne, Cassidy, Morgan, Madison


Front to back: Morgan, Cassidy, Brianne, Ashanti, Mrs.Carmody


Front to back: Cassidy, Madison, Ashanti, Kara

Thank You Desert Dentistry!

A big sparkly smile goes out to our friends at Desert Dentistry for an awesome donation of kids toothbrushes and toothpaste! 

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4