Nine Thousand, Five Hundred and Twenty-Five

9,525

There are 9,525 kids on free and reduced lunch in Clover Park School District, this does not include our kids in Steilacoom and University Place.

Caring for Kids works every day to provide coats, shoes, clothes, emergency food, school supplies, hygiene products, air beds, blankets, pillows, $5 McDonald’s Gift Cards for homeless families and kids, new books and alarm clocks to our kids in need. We work with the local food banks to provide resources, we hold the back to school fairs at Clover Park High School, Springbrook Park and Tillicum Community Center helping over 2,400 kids, and help over 650 families for Christmas. In addition for the Holidays we collect and distribute over a thousand color books and crayons so more of our kids receive some small gift.

Our Growing Up is Fun bags and bags of baby clothes are delivered to the Lakewood WIC. The Springbrook neighborhood is very important to us so we support the Springbrook Connection by purchasing the turkeys and hams for the Thanksgiving dinner, toys, etc. for the Christmas give-away and we hold a chili feed and gift give-away at the Food Connection truck the Saturday before Christmas.

Caring for Kids also provides opportunities for volunteer hours for high school kids.

Caring For Kids is all-volunteer with no paid staff!

Oktoberfest Fundraiser

Come and Join the Fun!

Great Food!    Great Friends!     Great Fun!

Oktoberfest

Caring for Kids presents its annual Ram takeover fundraiser. A percentage of the proceeds from this event will go to support our kids in need by purchasing shoes, holiday gifts and food for our emergency food packs.

Where:                  Ram Bighorn Brewing    10019 59^th Avenue S.W. / Lakewood

 When:                   Thursday, October 6, 2016

Time:                              4:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

Great Raffle Prizes!

Bring your friends, family and co-workers.  Caring for Kids spends an average of $15,000 a month during the year to support our programs. Help us help our kids in need!

Diane Formoso 253-279-9777 or carekids@comcast.net

Caring for Kids helped 2,450+ kids in need with backpacks, school supplies and hygiene products in August.  By September 17^th  we have received 114 clothing bank orders, 60 emergency food orders, plus 392 school supply bank orders. Since January we have now distributed 218 air beds to kids sleeping on the floor.

We are an all-volunteer organization and we need your support!

Latest News – July

We netted over $54,000 at our Happy Hearts Auction

Along with our everyday work we gave out:

• 5,463 new books (1,128 to CISL after school programs)
• 16580ir beds for kids sleeping on the floor
• 161 McDonalds $5 Gift Cards for homeless kids and kids in need.

We purchased $350 worth of new girls’ underwear for the nurses at the Middle and High schools for emergencies.

So far we collected 115 formals plus purses and shoes for the Clover Park High School Event.

At the Springbrook Easter egg hunt with the Lions Club we furnished buckets, egg dye, gift card prizes, color books and crayons and toothbrush kits for everyone.

We gave the same supplies for the Easter egg hunt at Four Heroes for the thirty-five McKinney-Vento students.

We received over 1,000 new summer shoes and slippers. We have processed and they are being distributed.

We just received a book grant from the Molina Foundation for 898 books and a grant from First Books for 400 books.

In the last two weeks we distributed 1,650 backpacks to the schools to distribute for the rest of this year and the beginning of next year.

We bought 330 pairs of wool socks for $ .50 each for next winter.

Our relationship with Walmart is great! We just purchased about $35,000 worth of winter wear for under $500. Not all of it is for our kids but it can be distributed through the food banks.

We also bought 500 baby clothes and baby socks for $1 apiece. They said they have a pallet of socks will be going on clearance.

What’s Happening?

We netted over $54,000 at our Happy Hearts Auction

 

Along with our everyday work we gave out:

3,694 new books (1,128 to CISL after school programs)

120 air beds for kids sleeping on the floor

119 McDonalds $5 Gift Cards for homeless kids and kids in need.

 

We purchased $350 worth of new girls’ underwear for the nurses at the Middle and High schools for emergencies.

 

So far we collected 115 formals plus purses and shoes for the Clover Park High School Event.

 

At the Springbrook Easter egg hunt with the Lions Club we furnished buckets, egg dye, gift card prizes, color books and crayons and toothbrush kits for everyone.

 

We gave the same supplies for the Easter egg hunt at Four Heroes for the thirty-five McKinney-Vento students.

 

We received over 1,000 new summer shoes and slippers. We have processed and they are ready for distribution.

Just received a book grant from the Molina Foundation for 898 books.

 

Still collecting:

$5 McDonalds Gift Cards

$1 Coloring books

New Socks and Underwear

Formals

 

For more information carekids@comcast.net or 253-279-9777

Diane Updates Lakewood City Council

What’s Happening Caring for Kids!

This has been a very busy year for our all-volunteer organization! With help from our volunteers and the community we continue to grow and support our kids in need.

 

 Since the first day of school we have delivered 443 clothing bank orders, 1,123 school supply bank orders and 260 emergency food orders. We have supplied the Early Learning Program with almost 500 toothbrush kits.

 Our Holiday Fair, plus last minutes emergencies, helped 664 families in need. In Clover Park School District alone 74% of the kids are on free and reduced lunch.

 Springbrook has been a targeted area for us. We work with Springbrook Connect to support them and their community events. At the Food Connection food truck on theSaturday before Christmas, we provided chili and gifts for everyone. Food truck support goes on year round.

 Caring for Kids works directly with the schools in Clover Park, Steilacoom and University Place School Districts, but most of the work is in Clover Park. On a daily basis we provide basic needs which are delivered directly to the schools.

 Caring for Kids supports the Lakewood WIC, Greater Lakes Mental Health, LASA, Fish Food Banks, Tillicum Community Center, Springbrook Connect, Communities and Schools after school programs, the Methodist Church Friday dinners with everything from clothes to school supplies, hygiene products, emergency food, new books and color books and crayons.

 We are gearing up for our major fundraiser the“Happy Hearts” Dinner Auction on February 6, 2016 at the Clover Park Technical College McGavick Center. We are looking for Live Auction Donations. Please come and bring your friends and family!

 Question? carekids@comcast.net or 253-279-9777

Help at Holiday Fair

Caring for Kids Needs Help 12-11 and 12/12

We need your help!

Following is a list of tasks and the starting time that we need volunteers to help us with:

Friday, December 11: 

Setup Team – Arrive at Hudtloff Middle School at 1:30 p.m. Hudtloff is located at 8102 Phillips Road SW, Lakewood, WA, 98498. Help is needed to set up the tables.

Loading Team– Arrive at Spare Space Storage at 2:00 p.m. We need trucks, large vehicles, and people to load. The trucks will take the Holiday Fair items to Hudtloff.Spare Space is located at 3030 – 68^th Avenue West. Entrance is on 69^th Ave. West on 27^th Ave West across from the post office. Go straight, through the gate and we are the second right turn #C18. For more detailed directions carekids@comcast.net.

Display Team – Arrive at Hudtloff Middle School at 3:00 p.m. Help is needed to place the items on the tables in a neat and orderly manner to make it easy for the shoppers when they arrive on Saturday. This includes separating items by gender and size.

Saturday, December 12:

1. Shoppers – Arrive at Hudtloff Middle School at 7:30 a.m. You will receive a list with the children’s name, gender, age, and sizes on it to use to select items for their Christmas. You will also receive a sheet with instructions on how many and what types of items to select for each child. You will place these items in a plastic bag and carry it to the checkers.
2. Sorters/Runners – Arrive at Hudtloff Middle School at 7:30 a.m. Help is needed to take the bags full of toys and clothes to the hallways for pickup by the families, and to retrieve them when the families arrive at 11:00 a.m.
3. Loading Team – Arrive at Hudtloff Middle School at 1:00 p.m. We need trucks, large vehicles, and people to load the leftover items and take them to the Caring for Kids Center or Spare Space Storage and unload.

Video – Volunteers at the Stuff the Bus Event

Stuff the Bus is this Saturday

Stuff the Bus for Kids!

Caring for Kids is holding its annual “Stuff the Bus” event at Clover Park High School and along Gravelly Lake Drive on Saturday, November 7^th  from 9:00 A.M. – 3:00 P. M. We will be collecting new toys and cash donations for the Caring for Kids Holiday Fair in December. Rain or shine we will be out with volunteers from all the middle schools and high schools.

Caring for Kids helps over 2,000 kids in need in our community with clothing, gifts and food at the Fair. Even though the Holiday Fair is the focus, you can also drop off color books and crayons for the food bank distribution in December. Our goal is to collect 3,000 color books to be distributed at our local food bank, so all of our kids in need receive something for the holidays.  This will be the fifth year of the color book distribution. Questions email carekids@comcast.net or Diane at 253-279-9777.

Caring for Kids is an all-volunteer organization, so please help us help kids!