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.”