“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

– John F. Kennedy

Everything boils down to education. When we teach our children to value themselves, they learn to value others.  Teaching kids to care is the greatest gift that we can bestow upon them.  It helps them understand how to balance their own needs with the needs of those around them – family, friends, and teachers.

There is nothing more gratifying than seeing kids helping kids: our young fifth graders, the All-Star Givers, at Washington Heights-based P.S. 152 raised over $1100 from spare change as part of Common Cents Penny Harvest, the largest child philanthropy program in the US. Our Teen Action Club collected almost 1,000 cans of food for local food pantries, winning them free airline tickets, which they used to fly to Las Vegas, not for a part to help another nonprofit clean up graffiti and clear our parking lots! They understand firsthand that they can make a difference when they work together.

At The Children’s Aid Society , we strongly encourage our youth to engage in philanthropic efforts, through community school programs and teen initiatives, like our Bronx Youth Council, where middle and high school students actively participate in neighborhood issues that directly affect them.  Issues such as gang violence, mental health, education and hunger are some of the problems they face in their community.  Each student chooses a specific issue, makes it his or her own personal cause and, at the end of each year presents a recommended plan of action to peers, teachers and government officials alike.

“You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

– Kahlil Gibran

Philanthropy and community involvement builds character, fosters a strong sense of compassion, and transforms young people into just and benevolent leaders. And – it simply feels good to help others!  But our kids have already figured that one out!

image courtesy of www.sayandplayfamily.com

Stephanie spoke about the benefits of eliminating habits that encourage poor oral motor skills (e.g., sippy cups, bottles, pacifiers) and the importance of encouraging language skills through the right level of modeling for each child.   She discussed the importance of not only reading to children every day, but how important it is to choose books that will encourage speech and language skills.  Stephanie pointed out how crucial it is for babies, toddlers and even school age children to be read to face-to-face so that they can observe facial expressions.  Our faces, and especially our mouths should always be visible to children in conversation.

Staff left the training excited and referred to the workshop as “eye opening.”  Many of the participants, who are parents themselves, spoke about how they would immediately begin to incorporate Stephanie’s tips into their work with children at home and at school.

Stephanie Sigal MA CCC-SLP offers speech, language and oral motor therapy for babies, toddlers and school age children in Manhattan.  She specializes in assessing and treating articulation disorders from an oral motor perspective.  Stephanie’s methods improve speech clarity and resolve problems such as tongue thrusting and drooling.  Stephanie also has family-friendly language programs to help young children maximize language skills.

You can learn more about Stephanie and her Manhattan-based speech therapy company Say and Play, at: http://www.sayandplayfamily.com/

But what if your wishes could make a REAL difference, not just in your own home, but in the lives of children who need a lot more than just a new toy?   If you had that kind of magic at your fingertips… What would YOU wish for?

Well, now you have that magic.

Join us for the Miracle on Madison on December 6, 2009 from 12-5 pm to fulfill your wish list and ours.  The Children’s Aid Society will receive 20% of the day’s proceeds from all participating stores, and that money will provide vital health services to the underserved children in NYC!

Plus, before December 6, make a comment here and let us know what your REAL holiday wish list would look like.  Because we all love new shoes, sweaters, games and toys — but some wishes on our list can’t fit in a gift box.

This holiday season, help your gifts go just a little farther.  Save the Date and Save a Child.

Felicia Fields, center, and her family. Clockwise from top left, Johnathon, Jasmyn, Barron Smith, Tichina, Christopher and Justin.

The Fields household is jam-packed.

Pots and pans are stacked atop the kitchen table. The refrigerator is close to overflowing. Crates of clothes cram the living room, and there are not enough beds for the family of seven living in the tiny two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in a housing project in gritty Morrisania in the Bronx.

“It’s overcrowded,” admitted Felicia Fields, 38, the head of the family. “But we don’t stress on it as long as we have love.”

The sudden death of Ms. Fields’s sister, Carol, from septicemia in June 2008 brought two more children into a space that already included Ms. Fields’s children — Justin, 10; Jasmyn, 14; and Johnathon, 19 — and her fiancé, Barron Smith. The fathers of Tichina Fields, 17, and Christopher Fields, 8, declined to take an active parenting role after Carol Fields’s death, so Felicia Fields moved them from their apartment in Riverdale, and was eventually granted full guardianship.

“I’m just grateful to keep them together, because I couldn’t imagine a world without them,” Ms. Fields said. “I couldn’t let them go to foster care.”

Tichina, a straight-A student and a fledgling writer who became afflicted with cerebral palsy after suffering from bleeding in her brain after her premature birth, and Christopher, a train and bridge buff who has autism and attention deficit disorder, refused to eat for a while after the move. Christopher told a school counselor he wanted to go to heaven with his mother. But eventually they became enmeshed in the family fabric, wordlessly tapping away on their Game Boys alongside their cousins and swapping computer time for the completion of their chores.

Read more…

To learn how you can make a difference for this family and many others, please link over to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund or contact:

The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund
230 West 41st Street
Suite 1300
New York, NY 10036
(800) 381-0075

Photo courtesy of Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times

The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund begins its 2009-2010 campaign today. The tradition of helping those who are struggling to provide for themselves and their families began 98 years ago, after Adolph S. Ochs, then the publisher of The New York Times, encountered a shabbily dressed man who was out of work and down on his luck. Their exchange inspired Mr. Ochs to begin printing profiles about the city’s worst-off citizens in The New York Times. Since then, readers have responded to the articles printed every holiday season by sending in contributions by mail and, more recently, online at nycharties.org. All told, the Fund has raised over $244 million.

Below, the seven agencies supported by the Neediest Cases Fund describe how readers’ donations bring stability to people’s lives in times of crisis.

Children’s Aid Society

A child walks to school without a coat in winter and does not want to worry his jobless mother about it. A widowed father chooses to use his reduced wages to put food on the family table, but doesn’t know where to turn when he receives a utility shut-off notice. These are family situations that come to The Children’s Aid Society on a daily basis.

Read full article…

To learn how you can make a difference, please link over to The New York Times Needist Cases Fund or contact:

The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund
230 West 41st Street
Suite 1300
New York, NY 10036
(800) 381-0075

The classes, held every Friday, pool together a variety of CAS resources – the Early Childhood Department, the Milbank Center, East Harlem Head Start staff, and one enthusiastic lifeguard.  Each preschooler is accompanied by one, or sometimes both, of their parents.

The program is designed so that both the child and the parent build up their confidence and learn how to swim.  Each lesson allows for the parents and children to really connect with one another, to feel proud of what they accomplish, and, most importantly, to have fun!  Stay tuned, the group will be swimming laps in no time!

]]> http://blogs.childrensaidsociety.org/childrensaid/2009/11/11/swimming-lessons-east-harlem-center/feed/ 0 http://blogs.childrensaidsociety.org/childrensaid/2009/11/10/shop-miracle-madison-avenue-event-good/ http://blogs.childrensaidsociety.org/childrensaid/2009/11/10/shop-miracle-madison-avenue-event-good/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:00:59 +0000 Emily http://blogs.childrensaidsociety.org/childrensaid/?p=1928 Mark your calendars for Sunday, December 6^th from noon to 5:00 pm for the 23^rd Annual Miracle on Madison Avenue!

On Miracle Sunday, over 75 participating retailers along New York City’s famed Madison Avenue between 57^th and 86^th Streets will donate 20% of the day’s sales to The Children’s Aid Society’s health services.

Children’s Aid’s health services include: acute and preventive treatment, medical, dental or mental health care, counseling by a health educator, ophthalmology/optometry and more.

Miracle is the perfect opportunity to start holiday shopping and help children in need.  Purchasing a handbag could help provide a nebulizer for a child with asthma. Your scarf could help provide an eye exam for a child struggling to see the black board.

Join thousands of caring New Yorkers as they shop on Madison Avenue. Law & Order: SVU’s Tamara Tunie, the Chair of Miracle on Madison Avenue, will be on hand at noon for the opening ceremony at Madison Avenue and 69^th Street.

See you on the Avenue on December 6^th! And remember to use #shopmiracle when mentioning this event online.

Many of our neighborhood friends came to visit:  representatives from State Senator Serrano’s office, el Museo del Barrio, the Mexican Consulate, the 100th Street Bus Depot, and the New York Police Department (23rd Precinct, Manhattan North, and the New Immigrant Outreach Unit).

The children especially loved seeing all the police officers in their ‘costumes.’  The big highlights were decorating creepy cupcakes, a very competitive game of musical chairs, showing off creative costumes, and, of course, the candy distribution!

Thanks to all our friends that came to share the day with us!

It could be a newsletter containing information about new programs, or a request to contribute toward a donor-match program. Or it could simply be a profile of someone whose life was improved because of the financial support of people like you.

This is because now more than ever, nonprofits need to focus on marketing and outreach. If your own company is going through difficult financial times, your sales force is the last place you look for savings. Cutting your sales department would be mortgaging your future. The same thing applies to non profits. The last place we reduce spending is in the areas that help us add to our coffers: public relations, donor communications, and marketing.

Like most charities, The Children’s Aid Society needs to make every effort to keep our supporters up to date on our activities and impact. That means we need to……

To read the full article, link here

C. Warren Moses, Former CEO

It has been said that music soothes the mind, but writing heals the soul.  Whether through journal writing or poetry, short stories or plays, or even that first novel – writing is the art which has the power to fuel our need for self-expression, creativity and empowerment.  Everyone, young or old, has a story or two to tell and the creative writing programs offered by The Children’s Aid Society provide a wonderful opportunity for young people to tell their story, express grief/frustration, foster creativity – all through the written word.

Creative writing is also an excellent rehabilitative tool.  The Children’s Aid Society’s after school programs provide students with many writing and reading opportunities:  book clubs, play- and screen-writing, drama clubs and performance poetry. Children’s Aid also has partnered with Voices Unbroken, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing underserved youths aged 14-21 (the “unheard voices”) with tools and opportunities for creative self-expression.  Through this partnership, South Bronx foster care youths at The Children’s Aid Society’s Next Generation Center (NGC) have access to experienced teachers and writers. Students attend local poetry readings, share their own creative work with peers and have exposure to new forms of literature.   Minds are opened. Souls are unburdened. And, every so often, a real artist is born.