Update: Barb’s Buddies

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

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

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!

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!

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

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!

Why Create We Are Creed?

It’s been three and a half years since I left the education world, but it hasn’t stopped me from remembering what support my students needed.

You see, I taught English/Language Arts and Social Studies in a high poverty, rural community in South Carolina. While there are plenty of research statistics that explain how students of poverty face more obstacles than what they’re studying in school, this research didn’t touch my heart as much as seeing my students facing these challenges.

I can tell you about the student that didn’t know how to get home after school, because he didn’t really know where his family was staying for the night.

I can tell you about the students that came in my classroom thrilled that they could have my apple or my crackers. I can tell you about the grumbles from the athletes I coached, who didn’t like bringing team snacks, but it was necessary to know that every one of them had something in their belly before a game, which wasn’t a definite otherwise.

I can tell you about asking the students to count how many books they had in their home only to have them ask if magazines and cookbooks counted then seeing that the number they wrote down the next day could be counted on two hands.

I can tell you about my homeroom one year where most of students had little money at home, but they collected their coins from couch cushions and tabletops to bring canned goods in for the food drive to help the community’s less fortunate.

I can tell you about this great classroom activity called the Butterfly Project where students connected to literature and history for the first time in my class as they experienced empathy in the truest form as we learned about hate, something I hope will always stay with them.

I can also tell you about each kid that I wanted to adopt so they could escape from their world.

After growing up in a very different house in a very different community, I wanted every student I worked with to become lifelong readers. It wasn’t because these children and their families were “my problem”, but because reading is an outlet when you want or need to block out your world. It’s a skill that can change your future, regardless of the type of challenges you may face. Plus it’s lot of fun to exercise your imagination and creativity! I created this organization to give the gift of imagination and the love of reading to all kids, regardless of background, life experience, or situation. Everyone should have the experience of these feelings before becoming an adult, because this skill, this outlet, this world will impact their lives and create remarkable effects every day.

This is why We Are Creed was formed.