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Heart House Austin
Winter 2009
Note: If you have problems viewing the graphics included in this
email, a copy of this
e-newsletter can be seen online at
http://www.hearthouse.org/newsletter.htm
In this issue:
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The ACTIVE Life Challenge
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Volunteering
at Heart House
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What
We're Studying
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Donor
Spotlight: Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
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Amazing
Support in December and January -- THANK YOU!!
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Student
Spotlight
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Photo
Scrapbook
 
The
ACTIVE Life Challenge
This month, Heart House is excited to announce a new collaboration with ACTIVE Life! As part of
the ACTIVE Life Challenge, students will participate in a free, 8-week, fun, incentive-based health and fitness program for
our sites, students, staff and their families. Heart House students will form teams with their families and complete weekly health and fitness challenges, which bring the team members together as they explore new physical activities and nutrition topics.
The ACTIVE Life Rewards Card gives
our children VIP access at the ACTIVE Life Tour event which will be coming to
our area in Spring 2009. We look forward to a challenging spring full of exciting, healthy activities for our students and families!
In addition to receiving the rewards that come from a healthy, ACTIVE lifestyle, teams who complete the challenge will receive an ACTIVE Life Rewards Card at the completion of the ACTIVE Life Challenge Program.
The ACTIVE Life Rewards Card gives our children special discounts on healthy, fun products and services at local businesses including:
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Daily Juice
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1379 Athletic Wear
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Blazer Tag
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Zen Japanese Fast Food
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Teacher Heaven
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Kerbey Lane Café
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RunTex
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There is a glow about
Kate Monzo that tells so much about her. She’s a combination of warmth and practicality that is an amazing asset to the Heart House Volunteer family and to the children we serve. Kate started with HH just this fall, but has been a superstar the entire time, putting together projects, pitching ideas for improvement (with a smile), and always willing to do a little extra and stay a little longer.
“My favorite little moment with the HH kids keeps happening over and over. I love it when I see the kids go through a problem rationally and solve the problem together."
about Miss
Kate
and other Heart House
Volunteers.
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You
may also set up a one-on-one volunteer orientation if none of these
scheduled times work for you.
For
more information on volunteering at Heart House Austin, contact
Shelly-Marie Rios, our Volunteer
Coordinator, at 512-929-8187.
Join
the Heart House
Volunteers
Facebook Group!
Recently
we have been busy bees investigating fact versus fiction for our “Myth Busters” theme. These activities were focused on scientific investigation in order to create well-informed hypotheses, observations, and conclusions. Some of the topics we explored were common misconceptions about insects and animals, fruits and plants, and life beyond Earth! We wrapped up our unit with our own spin on a popular kids’ game show, which we renamed “Are You Smarter Than a Heart House Kid?: Myth Busters edition". The kids beat the socks off of the Heart House staff!
Special
Guests
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Kelly
and Alex Freeman brought in worm bin to explore the benefits of worms in
our environment.
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Katie
Kizziar and Kate Monzo conducted a scientific investigation of how to
build flying objects other than airplanes.
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Bat
Conservation International discussed common misconceptions about bats
and brought in several types of real live bats for kids to see!
Keep
up with weekly posts on our investigations, field trips, and more at the
What
We're Studying posts on the Heart House blog.
Michael
and Susan Dell Foundation
The
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation was one of Heart House's first funders.
They took a leap of faith with us, granting us significant funds before
Heart House had even opened! Fast forward six years, and the foundation
remains one of Heart House's biggest supporters. While MSDF continues to
support Heart House's day-to-day operations and the afterschool program
itself, the foundation has made some legacy gifts to Heart House that will
help us to build capacity and better serve our children for years to come.
A
recent example of MSDF's generous, engaged philanthropy was when our
wonderful Program Officer, Nichole Aston, approached Heart House and asked
us where we could best use new funds and what our challenges were. We told
the foundation that Heart House needed a more efficient, web-based database
for tracking data on children, volunteers and our program. Additionally, we
wanted to grow our pool of loyal private donors. MSDF issued a grant
allowing Heart House to develop an efficient new database and challenging us
to raise more private donor funds, rewarding us with a matching grant to
maximize the impact of the donations from other Heart House supporters.
Heart
House was honored to nominate MSDF for the Central Texas Afterschool
Network's 2008 "Donor of the Year" award. Nichole Aston
accepted this award at the recent Breakfast of Champions, celebrating
achievement and support of out-of-school-time programs in Central
Texas.
CTAN
Master of Ceremonies, Herman Whitney, CTAN President, Tameka Thomas, and
Nichole Aston from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.
Heart
House values its partnership with MSDF, and we consider ourselves so lucky
to be funded by a foundation with such integrity and high standards. Thank
you, MSDF, for making such an amazing impact at Heart House over the past
six years, and for all that you do everywhere to "transform the lives
of children living in urban poverty through better health and
education."
Heart House was truly blessed in December and January. We are so
grateful for the generosity shown to us during the holiday season.
Thank you so much -- you've all truly made a difference in the lives of
these deserving children, and working together, Heart House will be able to
continue its important work. WE APPRECIATE YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Recent
and Recurring Donors:
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Amy Wilson
Andy Land
Anonymous Donor
Austin Hospitality Association
Austin Junior Forum
Barbara Hopson
Barbara Watson and Paula Knippa
Burt Family Foundation
Carolyn Estes
CeCe Ridder
David Feuerstein
Emeka Obianwu
Erin Markey
Foundation Communities
Gary & Sandra Morris
Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
IBM
Jason Norman
Jay Rogers
Jessica & Sam Sacheck
Joan Osleeb
John Floyd
John Rosacker
Kaite Wallace
Katharine Howard
KDK-Harman Foundation
Keepers |
Kyung
Yi Kelly
Larry Knippa
Lindsey Johnson
Lyndon & Winnie Knippa
Marcus MacNeill
Mark Leach
Mary Ann Frishman
Mary Wachsmuth
Mason Schoolfield
NCS Pearson
Patricia Hopson
Patrick Dunn
Ron and Cindy Clements
Scott Studer
Sean & Julie Murray
SourcePulse L.L.C.
Spaw Maxwell
Stacy Ehrlich
Stuart Hobbie
Sunil Patel
Susan Moore
Teri Sanchez
Terry Knippa
Teresa Howard
Thom Singer
Ticom Geomatics, Inc
WaterStreet Foundation |
You can securely enter your online donation using your credit card
through our partnership with Groundspring.org. You may choose to
give a one-time donation or a recurring monthly or annual donation.
Your information is kept private and secure, and will not be shared nor
sold.
If you'd rather donate via mail or fax, simply download one of the forms
below.
Donation
to Heart House Austin (PDF Document)
Donation to
Heart House Austin (Word Document)
Look for Heart House Austin under the America's Charities listing on
your giving campaign form. America's Charities is Heart House Austin's
partner in the workplace, with inclusion in hundreds of state and local
government, public sector, and corporate employee campaigns. You can
designate Heart House Austin as the beneficiary of your payroll
deductions or choose to make a one-time gift.
These
are just some of the wonderful children you help support with your gifts
of time and funding. THANK YOU for making a difference for these
future citizens!
This
is Juana’s first year at Heart House, but it feels like she has been a part of our group forever! Her program leader describes her as incredibly helpful, cheerful, and hard-working. She takes great care of her two younger brothers who also attend Heart House and also watches over kids in the program. We look forward to spending even more time with her in the Spring!
Besides ALWAYS being on task,
Emily goes out of her way to help her classmates. She has a great sense of humor and is constantly smiling and laughing. She also has quite a curious streak. Emily is full of questions about the world around her, which we love to see at Heart House!
Gabriel
has come a long way over this course of this semester. He has a wonderful attitude and carries himself with great decorum. Gabriel continues to impress us more and more everyday as his thoughtful behavior
grows.
Adrian is one of the most respectful students we have come across. He shows great personal discipline and is always one of the first students to offer a helping
hand.
Read
more Student
Spotlight posts on the Heart House blog.
“They help you with homework. They make sure you’re not just guessing. And also, I’ve made better grades at
school.” — Jamar, after being asked why Heart House is important to him
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The
children learn about how all animals and environment are
connected as we begin our new theme
Kids
make snowflakes and enjoy hot chocolate for one of their student-made
holidays called “Snow Day”
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Building a “Junk Creature” from recyclable materials at
Heart House
Heart
House friends decorate the bulletin board for “Myth
Busters”
Above
and : Kids and teachers challenge each other to a dance
off as part of a student-made holiday called “Teachers vs.
Kids Day.” Here they perform break dancing and The
Robot.
See
more photos from our scrapbook.
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