Category: We Are Creed

Volunteer Spotlight: Deborah

Deborah has been a wonderful friend and volunteer to our organization. Every time we send a newsletter, she writes back with encouraging words, which we like to hear, and she always reminds me of us the good work we’re doing!

Further, she signs up for creating notecards and has hers back in a timely manner — like all good former teachers do! While she claims her handwriting isn’t the best, she always looks for inventive ways to help. In fact, she even found positive stickers that she attached to the note cards. With such encouraging words, we had enough to give to the GirlForward Mentoring program, because we loved the gesture and thought so much!

We appreciate Deborah’s generosity and support in Creating Remarkable Effects Every Day!

For information on creating postcards for children, please go to: www.wearecreed.org/volunteer

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Leave a comment

Our model shows off the Teacher Appreciation bags we dropped off this week!

A couple of weeks ago, a small group of donors, wishing to remain anonymous, paid for the items, including a gift certificate for The Highland Queen Drive-In (yum!).🍦All we had to do was help make this happen, use our logo, and coordinate the delivery to 100 teachers…so we said yes!

When asked why they were giving these gifts to teachers, one responded, “This is a tough year for everyone involved. As friends of teachers, we’re seeing the hours of planning, learning new technology, changes in schedules/courses/students happen regularly, and more. Whether in-person, hybrid, or online, classrooms have been forced to change and hope that technology does what it’s supposed to for all students and teachers all the time. It’s going to be rough, but we hope teachers know how much we appreciate them!”

Books head to Michigan!

Leave a comment

When we receive gently used book donations, we look for opportunities to get these in the hands of kids. Yesterday this took us to Michigan.

Miss Q will be using about 10 boxes of our gently used items to help her K-8 high poverty charter school students in Flint, Michigan. She is working to convert this van to a mobile library so students and their families can enjoy these books…and keep them!

Books at her school are often old, have ripped covers, etc. and the teachers are predominantly funding these resources so we are excited to share our good fortunes with Miss Q and her school community.

#Teachershelpingteachers#Booksforkids#educationmatters#literacymatters

Volunteer Spotlight: Barb

Leave a comment

Offering assistance in Arizona, Barb made notecards for Barb’s Buddies program. (She is not the namesake, but they were good friends).

Not only did Barb remind us (possibly more than once) that she had offered to make them, but the drawings are fantastic and will be treasured by children in foster care in Arizona. Plus we heard she might be willing to make more!! 🙂

For information on creating postcards to children, which we always need, please go to: https://www.wearecreed.org/volunteer/

Update: Barb’s Buddies

Leave a comment

Update on Barb’s Buddies:

Wisconsin: On Monday, 50 kits were delivered to Dane County Foster Care. Children in Wisconsin received their $25 gift card, a We Are Creed mug, and candy in their bag. Big thanks to Kristen for running this program!!!

Illinois: This coming Monday, 130 gift cards and notes will be delivered to Our Children’s Homestead for children throughout Northern Illinois. (For safety reasons, other trinkets or candy will not be included this year.)

Arizona: Eventually, our AZ group will help take 50 kids to the bookstore when they feel it’s safe. Since the children live in group homes and COVID rates are high, this adventure has been postponed. Luckily, several boxes of gently used books from IL made their way to Sunshine Residential Homes in February.

This means in 2020, a total of 230 children in foster care will be/have been offered the opportunity to experience a bookstore where they can choose their own books and enjoy some summer reading. For some, this starts the journey to be lifelong readers.On behalf of We Are Creed, thank you to our organizers, donors, note writers, and everyone making this possible!!

We think Barb Dabrowski is smiling down on us as we continue to be Creating Remarkable Effects Every Day.

Volunteer Spotlight: Jennifer

Leave a comment

When we expand our programs to other states, we need a volunteer to see the program from beginning to end. In South Carolina, this person is Jennifer, who is in her second year of coordinating the South Carolina Book Flood program.

When the idea for this organization came around, Jennifer was supportive and offered her assistance immediately. Last year she arranged for books to go to 2 different schools in South Carolina. When we revamped the program this year, she has been working with the SC Book Flood teachers to create and make their Wish Lists and will coordinate their delivery.

We are truly grateful to work with another teacher who is Creating Remarkable Effects Every Day.

March Volunteer Spotlight: Kristen Bernards

Leave a comment

March’s Volunteer Spotlight is on Kristen Bernards!

In late February, Kristen sent us a request to expand Barb’s Buddies into Wisconsin — complete with a plan of action! The Board unanimously approved her request and within days of publishing the post, she reached her fundraising goal!

As a result of Kristen’s desire to honor her Aunt Barb, 50 children in Dane County Foster Care will receive a gift card to Barnes & Noble to celebrate National Foster Care Month. By giving these children the opportunity to find books they want and books they’re interested in reading, we hope to be creating lifelong readers.

We are so thankful that Barb led Kristen to be Creating Remarkable Effects Every Day!

#VolunteerSpotlight #DaneCountyFosterCare #FosterCareKids #NationalFosterCareMonth #Volunteer #Nonprofit

Book Drive Benefits We Are Creed!

Leave a comment

Yesterday, we received boxes of donated books from Cotney Construction Law all the way from Florida! (Only some are pictured; there were so many!)

Cotney Construction Law held a donation drive in their office and sent us a great selection of books. Some of these books will find happy homes in classrooms or in a child’s hands while others may be included in next summer’s book sale.

Thank you so much for sharing the joys of reading!! We are so fortunate to have support from the roofing industry!

Challenged Accepted…and Surpassed!

Leave a comment

Earlier this week, We Are Creed was challenged to raise $250 and an anonymous donor would give $500 through Facebook.

Not only did we achieve this goal in about 15 hours, but the donations keep coming in! I didn’t even have time to post on the website!

This means we have officially funded our Good Night, Sleep Tight Gift Cards for the children at Our Children’s Homestead. We are so excited to give Barnes & Noble gift cards to 130 children to celebrate National Foster Care Month in May.

Stay tuned for information on volunteering. We’re definitely going to need some help writing notes to the children and putting our kits together.

Thank you, friends!

Our Next Project

Leave a comment

Today we announce our latest project!

In May, we will help the young adults at Our Children’s Homestead celebrate Foster Care Month by providing them gift cards to a bookstore!

Our Children’s Homestead is a specialized foster care agency focused on supporting children with high trauma or special needs in Naperville, IL and Rockford, IL. As a result, most of these young adults don’t have a lot of opportunities to make their own choices.

After talking with the agency, We Are Creed has offered to donate gift cards from a bookstore for all 130 youth. Gift cards will allow these children to make their own choice in what they read. Books that are of high interest to them that they were able to choose means they’re more apt to read them, which is what we all want!

Past donations will be used to support this endeavor, but we are also looking for more support from family, friends, and the community. If you are interested in helping us achieve this goal, please email info@wearecreed.org. To make a donation, please go to: https://www.wearecreed.org/donate/.

If you are interested in learning more about Our Children’s Homestead, go to: https://www.ourchildrenshomestead.org/.

As always, we greatly appreciate your generosity as We Are Creed looks to expand in creating remarkable effects every day!