Heart House Austin
September/October 2008

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:

• Heart House Launches Leadership Circle

• Red Carpet Rollout - The End-Of-Summer Celebration

• Open House at Heart House on October 16 -- You're Invited!

• Upcoming Volunteer Orientations at Heart House

• What We're Studying This Month

• Read Along with Heart House

• Donor Spotlight

• Student Spotlights

• Photo Scrapbook -- Our Favorites from the Summer

Red Carpet Rollout!

Both Heart Houses are pleased to report that the Red Carpet Rollout was a great success! Heart House North students traveled to our South center for day of fun and glamour to celebrate the end of our summer theme, “Lights, Camera, Action!”

Students began the day by walking the red carpet which was manned with our very own paparazzi! Then, all students and staff were treated to the premiere of two filmed newscasts produced by our Mixed Media classes, a dance presentation choreographed by the North Music and Dance class, a performance of “How A Kid…” by the North On The Stage class, a performance of “Chicken Little” by the South On The Stage class and Heart House Idol Grand Finale! (Congratulations to both of our winners: Nene and The Soulja Boyz on a job well done!) Our Summer Awards Ceremony (our version of the “Oscars”) followed, as we honored the most outstanding students of the summer. Finally, students got to mix and mingle as they explored various activities together. Students chose from dress-up in the Costume Room, dance and photos in the Dance Party Room, “Making Musical Instruments” in the Art Room or Sports and Games outside.

Miss Monica can’t contain her urge to sing some Alicia Keys to the kids!

We are especially thankful for the time and hard work of all of the volunteers who made this event possible. We got to celebrate an amazing summer, make some wonderful memories and meet lots of new friends!

We had such a spectacular group of special guests over the summer and would like to thank them for sharing their time and talents with us:

Heart House North Guests:
Greg-Green Screen Demo
Donise Hardy-Casting Audition Workshop
Notre Dame Alumni Group-Creative Writing Workshop
Rackspace Team-Heart House Idol Judges
Travis County Health Services-Underage Drinking Prevention 
Lainie Frasier-Voice Acting
Deddrick Porter from Teens in Action-Heart House Idol Judge
Jeff Schans-Stunts!
Meredith Johns-Costume Make-Up 
Bill and Chris - Gorilla Productions

Heart House South Guests:
Paul Haygood & Co-Juggling demonstration & instruction
LifeWorks presented “Tobacco and Minors” for older students and “Playful Parenting” workshop for families
Austin Slam Poetry Team Member Tony Jackson- Mini-Poetry Slam
Rehman Bhalesha taught Salsa to all classes combined
Master Eye Associates provided free eye exam pre-screenings to all students 
Angela Aja-Chefin’ with the Chef Marshmallow Cook-Out

And a HUGE thanks to those who made it out to both sites!
A-Town Productions-Music Video Shoot & Production
4-H-Hula-hoop activities and donated free decorated ones for National Hula-Hoop Day!
Fermin Navar - Founder, Maison de Navar, Inc.
Notre Dame Alumni Group –- creative writing workshop
Luke McClory --  scriptwriting!
Students of the Holy Cross High School 

OPEN HOUSE AT HEART HOUSE! 

The children are preparing and hosting a wonderful OPEN HOUSE at Heart House especially for our friends, supporters, former and current board members and volunteers on this occasion. Please feel free to bring friends, family, and supervised children with you. 

Thursday, October 16, 2008
6:30 pm - 7:45 pm
Heart House North
Map: http://www.hearthouse.org/locations.htm 

At this open house, you’ll:

• View artwork and other completed projects displayed

• Get a book autographed by recently published young authors

• See demonstrations of activities typical to a Heart House day

• Meet Heart House children, families, donors, volunteers and staff

Student docents will be your guides, and you'll be able to network with past and current Heart House friends. Those interested will be able to learn more about our HALOS leadership circle.

For more information or to RSVP, please go to:

http://www.evite.com/r?iid=JLIYYPKLJLXOLNSCUJBF 
   

Volunteers are the key to ongoing well-being of Heart House.  Their time and life experiences bring vital energy into the lives of Heart House kids. 

Volunteering at Heart House is a fun and uplifting experience, and all it takes is a few hours a month.   Getting involved in community life demonstrates responsible citizenship and combined with the efforts of many others, makes our community a better place to live.

Upcoming orientations at Heart House are listed below.  You may attend either location for an orientation, regardless of which Heart House you will volunteer at.

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 our Volunteer Coordinator, 512-929-8187.
      

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to a select number of volunteers who created and taught weekly classes out at our centers this summer! These individuals dedicated their time, energy, and hard work to make our summer a dynamic program!

• Joanna Ruley-Garza: “Fashion Club”

• Jessica Robertson & Jolyn Janis: “On Stage”

• Kendra Kaderka & Janelle Guillory: “Mad Science”

• Sonie Sunny & Sheela Gavvala: “Amazing Anatomy”

• Katherine Javier & Andrew Delgado: “Health Rocks!”

• Haley Byrd-Marshall: “Yoga”

• Rosie Dugger: “Art”

• Alexa Wagner: “EnviroKids”

• Yuri Hattori: “Japanese Culture”

• Clay Worley: Self-Defense”

And...

Heart House South would like to extend special thanks to 4-H of Travis County for their donation of hand-made hula hoops to our students! Heart House kids love to take them outside, get moving and invent new hoop moves!        

Wonderful Heart House friend Jay Rogers has shot a moving video of our program. We are so grateful for his immense talent and his dedication to Heart House.  Thank you so much, Jay!

Click here to watch this moving video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J7zLZ706VM
   

This month we welcome newcomers and returning kids to Heart House for our 2008-2009 school year! We will begin the year with a special theme called “Heart House & The Community We Live In”, focused on learning more about each other, Heart House, and our neighborhood. Special topics include teambuilding, storytelling, family heritage, community helpers, and giving back to our community through service. We are excited to open our doors this month for a new school year and a chance to make this year even better than the last!

		I Got Community by Melrose Cooper Several young narrators deliver various rhyming stanzas ("I got a best friend, helps me loyal./ We got a thing no fight can spoil"; "I got a sitter, helps me safe,/ Pulls on my gloves so my hands don't chafe"). Illustrating these are Gottlieb's bright, simple paintings, rendered in gestural outlines and brushed-in areas of undiluted color, and depicting a multiracial crew.
		In My Family/En mi familia by Carmen Lomas Garza Lomas Garza uses her narrative paintings to relate her memories of growing up in Kingsville, Texas, near the Mexican border, and to reflect her pride in her Mexican American heritage. The artist portrays everyday events as well as special moments of family history in crisply colorful, vibrantly peopled paintings and provides brief, bilingual background stories for each of the 13 paintings.

This month, Heart House honors the exceptional generosity of those who supported our "Angels on the Runway" charity fashion show with their time, talent and resources.

We are grateful to EVERYONE who purchased either General Admission or VIP tickets.  We would especially like to thank our table hosts, who, in addition to supporting the event financially in a significant way, introduced new people (their guests!) to Heart House.  We were thrilled by how many new friends we made that night.  Here is a list of our table hosts:

• Circle F Media

• Judy Chavis and Friends

• Karen Cook & Friends

• Hilda Cox

• Max Dean/Ameriprise Financial

• John Floyd

• KOJO Energy

• Greg & Karen Murray

• T. Page & Associates

• Michael & Ann Parr

• Sunil & Mita Patel

• Prime Outlets of San Marcos

• Marion and Gerald Ruley

• Steve & Michelle Schlabs

• Jennifer Wright

We remain extremely grateful to our sponsors: George & Catherine Lindahl; Keepers; 42BELOW; Austin Monthly; Mix94.7; News8, and in-kind donors:
AlphaGraphics; Austin Wedding Planners; BuildASign; The Chocolate Cup; Classic Catering; The Driskill; DMX; Exquisite Petals; Ilios Lighting; Mad About Shoes; James Speer; Premiere Tents & Events.

And, the donors to our silent and live auction generated some wonderful revenue for Heart House on the night of the event.  The list of donors to our auction can be found here: http://hearthouse.org/angels/auction.htm

We couldn't have been successful without these individuals/organizations -- THANK YOU!

Anonymous
Andrew Bowen
Marcus Davis
Cybele Diamandopoulos
Giovanni Farris
Shannon Fohn
John & Lysa Hoelscher
Jennifer Jackson
Jack Land
Kevin LeMay
Emeka Obianwu
Karen Parker
Katy Gallagher Parker
Sunil Patel
CeCe Ridder
Jay Rogers
Teri Sanchez
Kathie Schafer
Amy Wilson

Pedro was a spectacular summer camper! Pedro was a newcomer this summer, but wasn’t afraid to jump right into activities—whether it was “boogeying” on down in freeze dance, blogging news and media for Computer Wizards, getting his hands dirty in Mad Science, or participating in our Crazy Clothing week with funky costumes! Pedro is incredibly inquisitive, insightful, and creative and brightened our summer with his smile, positive attitude, and pleasant personality! This professional headshot of him was taken from his acting class which was part of “Lights, Camera, Action!” theme. We were sad to say goodbye to him, but are excited that he will be back next summer!

Aden participates in every class activity with enthusiasm and cheer. He is polite, thoughtful and tons of fun. Most importantly, Aden is a kind friend to all of his classmates. Below, Aden poses as “Superman” during a Lights, Camera, Action! lesson about costumes.

Gabriel shines as a leader in the Heart House family. He is quick to lend a helping hand whenever it is needed, he shows respect to everyone around him and he always keeps up laughing with his keen sense of humor. Gabriel is awesome! Pictured below, Gabriel is seen participating in our hula hoop tournament during the last day of our summer program.

Miss Paloma presents an award at the Red-Carpet Roll-Out  Mr. Derek presents award Celebrity staff! Dance Party Room! Miss Monica & Miss Meredith are Director Divas! Heart House Idol Contestant Winners—it’s a tie!  Soulja Boys and Nene Making Musical Instruments Room

Our friends from Rackspace judge the Heart House Idol final round!     Sheela & Sonie, “Amazing Anatomy” Activity Leaders Alexa, “EnviroKids”, Activity Leader Clay, “Self-Defense”, Activity Leader Katherine, “Health Rocks!”, Activity Leader Yuri, “Japanese Culture”, Activity Leader Janelle- “Mad Science”, Activity Leader Volunteers play an important role in helping kids with their reading and writing skills Art Activity!

Heart House Program Sponsors and Diamond Sponsors provide core support for our mission. Please join us in recognizing and thanking them for making Heart House possible.

Program Heart Sponsors

Diamond Heart Sponsors

  
The Heart House Herald is an online publication of Heart House, a free afterschool program dedicated to providing a safe haven and academic support to low-income children and encouraging them to become good citizens.  

www.hearthouse.org