Please join us for a Kick-Off Bowling Event for Youth Ages 6-18 (There will be a special “Teens Only” Section too!). The event is open to Members and Non-Kids Korps Members, so bring your Friends! Members can register on our project calendar. Non-members need to RSVP to amber@kidskorps.org.

WHEN: Sunday, February 12th from 1-3:30pm
WHERE: Surf Bowl  (1401 South Coast Highway  Oceanside, CA )
COST: $10.00 per student Includes bowling, shoes, lunch & entertainment! Scholarships available!

RSVP: RSVP to Amber@kidskorps.org or 760-452-2676 by Feb. 5^th. Ask about scholarships when RSVP’ing.

Kids Korps members routinely give of themselves to help their community and those in need. Inspired by Julien Hug, Hugs 4 Kids empowers our younger generation to give to themselves, focusing inward to build a strong foundation of self leadership, character, and health and wellness.

DE-STRESS, UNWIND, HAVE FUN, AND LEARN ABOUT OUR NEW PROGRAM!!

Please visit our website to learn more about our new program: www.hugs4kids.info

“He Inspired us in Words, but he Led us in DEEDS. To honor him, let’s do the same!”

What are you doing for MLK Day of Service? Monday, January 16^th, Kids Korps Challenges YOU to Make it a Day ON, not a day off.

Visit our Online Project Calendar to find service projects throughout the holiday weekend, including projects on Monday, January 16^th when the kids are out of school: http://www.kidskorps.org/member-center/project-calendar/

To learn more about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy of service, visit: http://mlkday.gov/

Martin Luther King Day Volunteer Opportunities

Fri. Jan. 13:
(3 – 4:30) Lux Art Institute, Encinitas
(5:30 – 7:30pm) Bread of Life Rescue Mission, Oceanside

Sat. Jan. 14:
(8am – 12pm) Walk for Somalia, Mission Beach
(8:30am – 12pm) Partners Therapeutic Riding, Lakeside
(9am – 11pm) San Diego Coast Keepers, San Diego
(9am – 11am) Friends of Dog Beach, San Diego
(9am – 11:30am) Meals on Wheels, Oceanside
(9am – 11:30am) San Diego Food Bank, San Diego
(9am – 12pm) I Love A Clean San Diego, San Diego
(10am – 12pm) North County Community Garden, Oceanside
(5:30- 7:30pm) Bread of Life Rescue Mission, Oceanside

Sun. Jan. 15:
(8am – 10am) San Diego River Garden, San Diego
(9am – 11am) Pt. Loma Garden, San Diego
(2 – 3:30pm) Helen Woodward Animal Center,  Rancho Santa Fe
(5:30 – 7:30pm) Bread of Life Rescue Mission, Oceanside

Mon. Jan. 16:
(9am – 11am) North County Community Garden, Oceanside
(9am – 12pm) Batiquitos Lagoon, Carlsbad
(5:30 – 7:30pm) Bread of Life Rescue Mission, Oceanside

Kids Korps USA/Teen Korps recently completed a large-scale, county-wide food drive in partnership with Starbucks Coffee Company and Feeding America San Diego. 14 Task Force members (ages 12-18) helped to coordinate the food drive through local Starbucks stores collecting thousands of pounds of food for local families in need.

On Saturday, December 10^th, more than 100 volunteers (from 5 years and up) arrived at Feeding America San Diego’s warehouse to help sort food, bag beans, and pack up nutritious donations for the BackPack program, which benefits children in the local school system receiving free-and-reduced lunches. The bags go home with school children over the weekend to keep them nourished with healthy food!

More than 100 Kids Korps & Teen Korps Volunteers gathered for the 2011 Feed-a-Family Project on December 10^th, 2011

Volunteers accomplished a ton during our 3 hour project including: delivering 1,084 pounds of food donations, loading 1,672 BackPack Bags for distribution to local schools, and bagging & labeling 2,800 pounds of pinto beans!!

Along with helping to recruit volunteers and coordinate the packing stations at Saturday’s Feeding America event, the 14 Teen Korps Task Force members worked for two months to lead and implement the larger Feed-a-Family project. Students worked directly with Starbucks store managers and Feeding America Partner recipients to organize the logistics of the food drives, set up donations within their own schools, and utilize their marketing skills by designing posters, writing articles, and promoting the program through social media.

Teen Korps strives to build leadership skills through hands-on service and leadership projects. The Task Force projects empower our students to REALIZE and UTILIZE their talents, while providing them with the tools and guidance to become active community change makers. “Students shouldn’t have to wait until they are adults to make a difference,” says Community Outreach Coordinator, Amber Johnston. “They have so much talent and passion to offer right now—and Teen Korps provides the structure and guidance for them to begin their journey!”

A special “Thank You” to our partners: Starbucks Foundation and Feeding America San Diego!

Teen Korps and Kids Korps Members join their families to sort and pack food for local families this holiday season.

Our kids make a difference in the lives of others, and their own, through volunteerism! For more information about our Teen Korps programs, please visit: http://www.kidskorps.org/member-center/teen-korps-page/

This is just one of many volunteer packing days at the Feeding America San Diego warehouse, and the operation is still in need of more contributors in order to meet the holiday demands. Feeding America is constantly searching for ways to collect more food which they can send out into the community. It is with this cause in mind that Kids Korps USA has launched the Feed-a-Family Project, a large-scale food drive for families throughout San Diego County. Kids Korps USA has partnered with Starbucks, as well as Feeding America San Diego to put such an important operation into action. However, this project will not succeed unless the community participates in supplying donations!

That’s where you come in. Your job is simple- collect non-perishable, sealed, and labeled food items you’ve got stocked up in your pantry (peanut butter, canned/boxed soup, cereal, bagged rice, pasta, canned vegetables) and locate a participating Starbucks store where you can drop off the food in the designated drop-off bin. The Food Drive will run from Saturday, November 19th-Saturday, December 10th, 2011. All donations will be coordinated by our Teen Korps members and distributed through Feeding America partners to families in our community. The project, completely organized and run by teen volunteers (ages 12-18) will help educate the community about hunger issues and benefit families throughout San Diego during this holiday season

After the community has supplied all the food, the project will culminate with a large Packing Day at the Feeding America Warehouse on Saturday, December 10th, 2011. This packing day will very closely resemble the one on October 15th (as described above). Kids Korps USA invites everyone from the community to come to Feeding America on December 10th (please visit our website to register: (www.kidskorps.org)  to help package holiday baskets of food for local families.         

Experience the joy and satisfaction of helping others! Grab some nonperishable food items, donate at a participating Starbucks store, and join us at Feeding America to prepare hundreds of holiday baskets for local families!

On Sunday, October, 2, 128 Kids Korps members and their families gathered at Ponto Beach in Carlsbad to recognize and celebrate their outstanding achievements over the past year through the presentation of the annual Kids Korps and Student Presidential Awards.

Before the awards were presented, these dedicated young people and their families participated in a beach clean-up sponsored by San Diego Coast Keepers. Volunteers picked up trash, tallying it for statistical purposes.  After sharing the results of their efforts, volunteers reported that plastic and cigarette butts were the most common culprits found on the beach. We all learned that one cigarette butt can take 1 – 5 years to degrade and a plastic bag takes 10 – 1000 years. A glass bottle or a polystyrene foam cup may NEVER decompose.
Marine debris is human-related trash and litter that has deliberately or accidentally made its way to coastlines and beaches where it can eventually enter the ocean, bays, lakes, or waterways. It is one of the worst pollution problems facing the world’s oceans today. The problem with marine debris is that most of it is in the form of plastic, which is highly toxic and does not degrade naturally in the environment.

Once the trash was collected and accounted for, members gathered around the Kids Korps tent to hear their names called for different levels of achievement.  All youth volunteers who earned 25 hours or more received the Kids Korps Volunteer Award. Teens, ages 15+, earning 50 hours or more received the Teen Korps Award. Volunteers up to the age of 14, earning 50 hours or more received the Presidential Award for Youth and teens, ages 15+ earning 100 hours or more received the Teen/Adult Presidential Award.

All in all, it was a fun-filled day for so many Kids Korps families – making a difference in their communities, and receiving well-deserved recognition for their commitment to community service.