Everyday Heroes

Thank you to Ms. Roxanne Greenberg and her team from Rondout School for choosing Busy Bee Children’s Center for their service project. Children in grades 3 – 8 came and read to our children and presented the children with pajama donations. They collected 125 pairs of pajamas in various sizes from 6 months to size 14. The children and staff at our Waukegan child care center appreciate your generosity and partnering with us in educating children.

On a typical Saturday, the parking lot and street in front of Bridgeport Child Development Centers I and II, programs of One Hope United, are empty—void of the normal hubbub of weekday with parents dropping of their children at the neighborhood early learning center. But on this particular Saturday in January, one would stumble on three buses full of adult volunteers over flowing the child care centers to participate in Chicago Cares‘ 2011 Celebration of Service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of service to others and volunteerism.

“This was the first year One Hope United partnered with Chicago Cares,” said Jenaeth Markaj, development associate for One Hope United. “We were absolutely thrilled and humbled by the number of volunteers that showed up so early on a Saturday morning to help us spruce up the early education centers for the day.”

One Hope United welcomed more than 100 volunteers from all over Chicagoland, and even as far as Wisconsin, at the two child development centers in the Bridgeport neighborhood. The day was organized by the Chicago Cares organization with people that participated from volunteer groups including USG, Target, Bogan High School and Bowan High School.

Chicago Cares is a nonprofit organization that matches individuals, businesses, and other groups with one-time and ongoing volunteer opportunities that address the city’s most compelling human service, educational and environmental needs. Through its partnerships with local nonprofit agencies, Chicago Cares seeks to promote a sense of community and foster an ethic of volunteerism within the city of Chicago.

Chicago Cares volunteers repainted all of the classrooms in the Bridgeport Child Development Center II location. At Bridgeport Child Development Center I, the teams created four murals: one healthy living mural painted on the wall of the cafeteria, a multi-cultural family tree for the building lobby, a mosaic tile mural and an active living mural for the gym. Volunteers also constructed benches and banner stands, built cubby holes and reorganized the resource room.

Watch this cute video of some children at the Bridgeport Child Development Center I viewing a mural by the Chicago Cares volunteers for the first time:

Bridgeport Child Development Center I children are jumping, hopping and shaking thanks to Enid Chesler from Head Start Body Start, who visited the Chicago child care center to meet staff and demonstrate some activities to do with bean bags. Bridgeport I was awarded the Head Start Body Start Grant to improve their outdoor play space. The $5,000 grant will be used to add materials and resurface the rooftop play area. Along with materials, the center staff will receive targeted training and technical assistance through site visits by a Physical Activity Consultant (PA). The PA consultant will observe, model and discuss strategies regarding physical activity and outdoor play as a part of their consultation. They will make recommendations regarding how newly acquired resources can be maximized to incorporate more movement activities outdoors.

In addition online courses and webinars will be offered to grant participants. This is a great opportunity for staff to discover the benefits of outdoor play across developmental domains, learn about the features of high quality outdoor play spaces and promote movement opportunities for children of all ability levels.

For at least the past ten years, Joy! Lutheran Church in Gurnee, Illinois, has partnered with One Hope United during the holiday season providing gifts for at least 100 children in the nonprofit’s care. In past years, Joy! Lutheran has provided gifts for as many as 300 children as well as 15 new bikes. In recognition of the church’s dedication to helping the children in the care of One Hope United, the agency has recognized Joy! Lutheran with the 2010 Faithful Friend award.

Mary Reiling has organized the gift drive at Joy! Lutheran benefiting One Hope United for the last five years.

“Joy! Lutheran Church’s participation in the holiday giving program was started by member Sandy Slusser,” said Reiling. “Sandy was the driving force behind Joy’s partcipating in the program until her death. Sandy’s incredible generosity is our inspiration to continue the program annually. It is truly a team effort by the congregation that allows us to reach out to the youth and families served by One Hope United through holiday giving.”

For the past three years, the church has sponsored 225 children during the holidays. Throughout 2010, the church even donated new books, pajamas and socks for each child that attends One Hope United’s Busy Bee Children’s Center in Waukegan, Illinois.

“We hope to continue this partnership to share the joy of the holidays for many years to come,” said Reiling.

Mary Reiling, left, looks at holiday wishes from One Hope United children on Joy! Lutheran’s giving tree with other members of the congregation.

The halls were decked at Elgin Child & Family Resource Center on Dec. 16, 2010. Each classroom studied a country and talked about the activities their chosen country did for their holidays culminating in the International Holiday Celebration. The halls were lined with tables of food, pictures of the children doing activities and examples of the children’s work. The gym had activity centers set up for parents to do international studies with their children. There was even a space for families to do a Bulgarian polka. Some of the countries on the list were Mexico, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and Spain.

There was a lot of excitement as families toured the halls, visiting all the countries.

Children were excited to show their families what they had taken part in.

Of course, the food that was presented created a fabulous festive time.

Staff members were so excited about this evening that they brought their family members as well.

Comments from the parents included:
“Thank you for doing this!”
“This is so special, we not only get to see what our children are learning but we get to spend time with other families too.”
“Something like this has never been done before, thank you. It is so special.”

The Elgin day care center is making up a little cookbook to have available for families. It will include the recipes that we had at the celebration night.