Santa “Cause” Village – A Holiday Success

By Dana Knees, Rancho Santa Fe Chapter Leader

On Sunday, December 12, Kids Korps USA presented a Santa “Cause Village” event at the Flower Hill Mall in Del Mar.  Members of Kids Korps and children who were shopping with their parents were invited to volunteer their time to helping others.  They participated in projects such as learning to  build modular houses for individuals and organizations working to bring affordable housing to low income families,  blanket making for foster children, smart meter project designed to bring awareness towards energy conservation, letters to the military, ornaments for the needy, etc…..  the kids had a wonderful time doing for others!!

Children also took advantage of the holiday crowd by doing some fundraising for their Kids Korps chapters by selling festive baked goods, Christmas centerpieces, holiday syrups and honey, bath sachets, and much more!!!

Retailers helped to support the event by donating items to be auctioned off with proceeds donated to Kids Korps, and hosting drives.  Book Works was accepting gently used or new books, Geppetto’s toy drive encouraged people to donate a new unwrapped toy and they would match with another, and Spa Gregorie’s was accepting women’s and children’s clothing.  Kids Korps also partnered with Computers2kids who accepted electronics, computers, stereo’s, etc…all to be donated to the underprivileged this holiday season.

As always, the Kids Korps mission for encouraging our youth, K-12^th grade to volunteer their time and talents to helping others was both inspiring and encouraging as we all push for a bright and prosperous future!!

Carmel Valley Middle School Teens Korps Spotlight

By Lisa Aryan, Chapter Leader at Carmel Valley Middle School

Our Teen Korps chapter at Carmel Valley Middle School is one of the newest Kids Korps chapters this year. We got off to a great start in October, when we began meeting each Monday at Carmel Valley Middle School. Our chapter is also operating as a school lunch club, which has been wonderful as it allows us to meet regularly and get to know one another better. We meet in the school auditorium, as none of the classrooms were big enough to accommodate all of us! Our teen members come together each week to eat lunch, plan and organize future projects, reflect on past projects, and have a little fun with one another. To date, our chapter has helped make blankets for the military with Soldier’s Angels, has supported and cheered on walkers at the Susan G Komen 3Day Breast Cancer walk (in pouring rain!), and created and sold ornaments from recycled Christmas cards at the recent Kids Korps Santa “Cause” event. Upcoming events that are being planned include service projects at our school, such as volunteering to help the staff as teachers’ assistants and cleaning up several trees that are covered with chewing gum.

Ernst & Young LLP & Kids Korps USA Present Hope for the Holidays

With a Build a Bike for the Armed Services YMCA

Kids Korps designed “Party for Purpose” as a year round social enterprise that combines our expertise in volunteer event planning with the desire of companies to engage their employees in community service.  The result is a wide variety of volunteer-based events that can be sponsored by a company or organization.

For just over 10 years, Kids Korps USA has been building bicycles for children in under-resourced communities.  Just as many of the hundreds of themed Kids Korps’ signature service programs, Build-A-Bike is an ideal way for companies to support the community while at the same time engaging in an unforgettable team-building event.

On Friday, December 10^th, more than 50 members of Ernst & Young LLP built bicycles for children.  Employees teamed up to construct 25 bicycles and personalized gift cards for youth selected through an essay process coordinated by the Armed Services YMCA.

It was wonderful to see a sea of yellow shirted Ernst & Young LLP employees, working together, sharing their expertise and artistic talents.  There were plenty of smiles and tears shared as each team presented their bike to their young new owners. The youth receiving bicycles have one or more parents at or below the E6 level in the armed services, most have income levels just above poverty.

For more information about how your company can sponsor a “Party for Purpose” visit http://www.kidskorps.org/proud-sponsors/sponsorships/ or call 760-452-2676.  We have needs and themes to fit most any time of year or event.

Teen Korps Youth Leader Council Create a Successful First Time SmART Meter Event…

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Members of Teen Korps’ Youth Leadership Council got off to a great start this past Sunday as they created the first Kids Korps USA smART meter project presented by SDG&E.  While the Santa “Cause” Village event turned Flower Hill red and green for the Holiday, members of the Youth Leadership Council, underwritten by Starbucks, worked with volunteer members and event visitors to repurpose old power meters into works of art that will soon be distributed to a variety of non-profit organizations for display to educate about the need for recycling and energy efficiency.

The smART meter program is underwritten by SDG&E and is designed to teach youth about the importance and inter-relatedness of recycling and energy conservation. If you are an organization that reaches and serves children and youth and would like to display smART meters and help convey our message of energy conservation through the recycled art of youth, or if you would like to plan a smART meter project, please contact Brian@kidskorps.org.