Donate Please Click here for Cartridge Recycling Program Details Website sponsored by Sarita Haberlein, a Community Volunteer KWCF still has openings for board members, and is looking for experienced corporate management-level people to be on our board. This is a volunteer position, providing great satisfaction in knowing that your support will make many special kids happy! Immediate Needs: Sponsorship for our upcoming Card Making Parties and Website. Also need programmers and web/graphic designers ASAP. Volunteer Opportunities Available Administrative, Community Relations, Marketing, Special Events, Fund Raising, Media Relations, Medical Correspondent, Graphic Designer, Social Worker Liaison, Volunteer Recruiter, Writer. Reminder:Donations are always appreciated, and since KWCF is run by volunteers and donations, please remember that you can donate as little as $5 / month, to bring a smile to a child in the hospital.   Monthly Announcements and Updates KWCF is launching a new service to our friends in the hospital. We are putting together a special "Smile Pack" for our friends in the hospital by request. One child will be chosen each month for a Smile Pack. The easiest way would be to donate one item from your Birthday/Christmas presents to a child (newborn to 18 yrs) in the hospital. We need your help in helping us collect the items for the pack. We have also put together a special entertainment group to cheer up children with medical conditions. If you have a special talent that you would like to share, please contact us. June 2009 Various summer volunteer projects available customized to meet your interest and your need! Call us today to start your project! A great Summer Project: Grant writing is a great asset to learn for school and jobs. Grant writers usually earn about $80 and hour! Each grant takes about 10-15 minutes to a few hours. If you became good at it, you can earn a part time job writing grants while going to school! These skills also help you with applying for scholarships and for your job/businesses. You will practice writing grants for Kids Who Care after attending this workshop. Open to 12 years of age and older. You also get community service hours for Kids Who Care. May 2009 Millions of Young People CHANGED THE WORLD ON NATIONAL & GLOBAL YOUTH SERVICE DAY! Kids Who Care Foundation's (KWCF) youth volunteers did exactly that on April 25th and 26th. On April 25th, Kids Who Care partnered up with United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) to cheer up UCP's Super Saturday club children. KWCF's Northwood high school club put together a puppet show and other KWCF volunteers danced, sang songs and donated gifts to bring smiles to these pre- school age children. Northwood High students did a fantastic job in putting the puppet show togather to cheer up more than 12 children! Rhea and Jennifer entertained the children by performing an Indian Dance. Roshani, Jennifer, Risha and Rhea, sang silly songs and made everyone smile! On April 26th, in honor of Global Youth Service Day, over 150 volunteers put together "Smile Packs" for children in the hospital nationally and internationally. The Smile Packs consisted of card quilts made by volunteers, as well as books, DVDs and toys to bring a smile to 28 children 1- 17 years of age who are suffering from illnesses such as cancer, heart and kidney problems, and other serious medical conditions. These Smile Packs were sent to children from Kuwait, Peru, Illinois, New York, MN, Ohio, Texas, New Jersey and many more places. Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang and the Anderson family were special guests for this event. Mayor Sukhee Kang recited an impressive poem that he wrote just for Kids Who Care! All the youths were inspired and motivated by the Mayor's attendance. The Anderson family shared their son Raymond's struggle of being in and out of hospitals. Melissa Jones from the OC Chapter of United Cerebral Palsy, shared her story about her daughter's struggles, and twelve year old Risha, the co-founder of Kids Who Care, also talked about her story and the achievements of KWCF in the last 5 years. Kids Who Care has been able to successfully honor Global Youth Service Day for the last 4 years with the help of community groups from UCI, CSUF, YAT, KWCF high school clubs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. The local businesses have been kind enough to donate food for all our events. The 2009 Global Youth Service event was hosted by Alpha Phi Omega - Rho Rho chapter. The volunteers not only helped on April 26th but also raised cash donation for KWCF. Alpha Phi Omega has been a key supporter of Kids Who Care for many years, especially with an amazing effort by Mark and Casey for this year's event. Our volunteer Mary, a med student from UCI, did an outstanding job in obtaining donations from grocery stores, to feed all the volunteers. The Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints donated their brand new facility to Kids Who Care for their event. Beth Vance from this church has supported KWCF for the last few years and we are very appreciative of her ongoing help. Local Irvine stores such as Trader Joe's and Ralphs donated food for the volunteers along with Albertson's and Smart & Final from Anaheim. This was truly a community event where all of Orange County youths as young as 4 years old got involved to make a difference on Global Youth Service Day! Here is who we brought smile to: Sara Braiden, age 1, genetics, Minneapolis Matt, age 18, cancer, Minneapolis Dalal, age 14, GI, Kuwait Jayce, age 6, cancer, North Dakota Chloe, age 8, cancer, Illinois Ashjan, age 16, epilepsy, Kuwait Amanda, age 9, kidney transplant, South Dakota Alison, age 15, kidney, Iowa Mauro, age 3, tumor, Peru Ali, age 2, urology, Somalia Joe, age 17, cardiac, Indiana Dacoda, age 2, cancer, Minneapolis Joud, age 2, cancer, Kuwait Jonnah, age 9, CF, Ohio Nicole, gastric paresis, New Jersey Emily, age 9, Mitochondrial Disorder, Texas Logan, age 14, Lymphoma, Texas Davyn, age 4, Histiocytosis, Tennessee h, age 14, heart problems, Indiana April 2009 Upcoming KWCF events Apri 01 Ronald McDonald House event hosted by KWCF Northwood High School Club April 25 KWCF partners up with United Cerebral Palsy. KWCF NW High Club will be presenting a puppet show to cheer up some kids April 26 In honor of National Global Youth Service Day, KWCF will be hosting a card making/smile pack event with the help of UCI students from 3-5pm. Event is open to all age. March 2009 OCSHA studenst Adriane, Lauren and Jackie created a 30 second commercial for KWCF. Thank you for doing such a fanstastic job! Also, thank you to all other volunteers who came to help make smile packs for the commercial. A card quilt and smile pack was sent to 3 month old Mihika from Singapore who had a liver surgery. Thank you to Anaheim Arsenhal basketball team for donating 50 tickets to KWCF. KWCF was able to buy 25 laser fingers to send to 25 children in the hospitals from the donation received. Thank you to Omega Sigma Pledge parents for making cards quilts and sending Smile packs to the following 3 kids: Julianne from MA suffering from sever brain/spinal cord/GI problems, Olivia from FL, suffering from Leukemia, and Emerson with pancreas transplant and other conditions. February 2009 The Kids Who Care Foundation and Vitale Spa has partnered up during February so that you can treat yourself and a loved ones including children to some relaxation for a FREE 30 minute foot detox by just mentioning Kids Who Care. No purchase necessary. *********************************************** Volunteers: We are looking for volunteers all over the country to arrange events for the upcoming National Global Youth Service Day in April. Please contact us if you would like to arrange an event in your area. **************************************************** Kids Who Care Foundation - KWCF has partnered up with GoodSearch and GoodShop! We need your help in using GoodSearch and spread the word. * GoodSearch.com - The search engine with a unique social mission. It's powered by Yahoo!, so you get great search results, and each time you search, GoodSearch makes a donation to our cause! DON NOT FORGET TO MENTION: Kids Who Care Foundation under "who do you search for" in order for us to get 1 cent donation every time your search! * GoodShop.com - The new online marketplace that donates a percentage of your purchase to the nonprofit or school of your choice. You can choose from hundreds of popular merchants and the experience of shopping through GoodShop is exactly the same as going to the retailer's websites directly. Some things to do right away to get the word out to your supporters include: * Sending out an e-mail asking them to start using GoodSearch and GoodShop * Putting a GoodSearch logo and Search Box on your site *********************************************** Ongoing Volunteer Opportunities: We are looking for volunteers to join our team as board members, start clubs at your school and help create a new website. Congratulations to Sonia for trying to set up KWCF club at UCI in late spring! January 2009 Happy New Year! Wow, what a way to start off the new year, with a new president! "YES, WE CAN!" We can make a difference in our communities. Here is part of Michelle Obama's email: "Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds are committing to renew America together, one community at a time. Barack and I will be volunteering in Washington, D.C.,our new home. I hope you'll join us by taking part in this national call to service in your community" Thank you, Michelle So pledge to yourself today and volunteer with the Kids Who Care Foundation to renew America together and do your share in making America a better country. There are volunteer opurtunities for all ages. You can make a difference to a child in the hospital. Sierra Vista Middle School kicked off the holidays with their 1,000 students raising cash and gift card donations!!! They also made over 1,000 cards, which will be used for sending out cards across the world. A special Spa offer for Valentine's Day coming up for the month of February! Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter! We would like to thank the following contributers for their special support in 2008: Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of Orange County, Alpha-Phi-Omega Fraternity from UCI, Rosa Virga with Marshall Reddick, Jack Tatham, George Rendon from Monarch Beach Rotary Club, and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Children's Ministry in Irvine, and many more precious hours from all our volunteers! December 2008 Sierra Vista Middle School rocks! Sierra Vista's coin drive was a big huge success. Thank you to Mr.Linville, Mrs. Shaw, all the ASB students, Risha, Vrushka and Roshani for all your help The students not only collected coins and gift cards but also made over 1000 "cheer up" cards to send to kids in the hospitals across the country! Thank you to Kohls Department Store in Irvine for their kind donation of books. These books along with card quilts were donated to children at the CHLA Hospital. Thank you Kohls for your ongoing support to KWCF! Boy Scouts of Orange County made cards and card quilts for KWCF. These were donated to UCI Childrens Hospital in Orange. Thank you Kristen H for your help in organizing this event and help us deliver the card quilts. Thank you to for making the card quilts and collecting gift cards to Target for the smile pack. These items were donated to children at the Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis, MN Jack T. thank you so much for your ongoing contribution to KWCF. This contribution really helps with shipping of the card quilts. Thank you to Orange County Brownie troop 1626 for making cards for KWCF. We appreciate your kindness. *********************************************** November 2008 Girl Scout Troop 1442 Rocks! Kids Who Care and Girls Scouts of Orange County troop 1442 partnered up for a Service, Song & Snack Event on November 02, 2008 at Bill Barber Park in Irvine. This event was hosted by Sue Berkel, Service Unit Manager which was a huge success with over 220 scouts making 340 "cheer up" card for kids in the hospitals and raising over $1000 for Kids Who Care! Smile packs and Card quilts were sent to Mayo Clinic, Ronald McDonald Home, England and other hospitals: * Nellie is a 15 year old girl from Wisconsin who is being treated for cancer. * Mario is a 14 year old boy from Mexico receiving treatment for brain damage. * Mead is a 16 year old girl from UAE receiving care for a transplant. * Asmaa is a 10 year old girl from Iraq receiving care for trauma. * Mohamed is a 2 year old boy from Somalia receiving care for urology. * Tim is a 17 year old boy from Wisconsin receiving care for cancer. * Mounib is a 3 year old boy from Algeria receiving care for spine bifida. * Ty is a 13 year old boy from Texas receiving care for cancer. * Zach is a 16 year old boy from South Dakota receiving care for cancer. * Makenzie, 4 years old from Kansas City with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome * Alexis, 12 year old from Michigan with neurological disorder * 5 card quilts sent to England A BIG THANK YOU to Sue Berkel, her troop 1442 for organizing the event, and all other troops and volunteers that came to help on Nov.02! Girl Scout Troop: 288, 356, 473, 523, 568, 591, 654, 810, 838. 1027, 1204, 1214, 1254, 1287, 1425, 1497, 1581, 1595, 1626, 1653,1856, 2012, 2053, 2053, 864, 906, and 1431 A huge Thank you to Vijay Anand on helping us with our website programing needs. Additional Thank You's of the month to: Natasha, Kristen H, Roshani, Risha, Rachel, Natalie, Mr. Linville, Mrs. Shaw, Mrs. Glespi, Vrashka, Priyal, Shelly, Mona, Grecia, Divya, Kristen L, Quilt Card from Troop 1204, Irvine Girl Scout Servive Unit-1 Patricia Veiga (3 card quilts), and Laila K, Community Events, and Casandra Thank you to Tiffany B for making 2 beautiful quilt for children at the Ronald McDonald House in LA Congratulatons and a big Thank You to Chapman University students on complettion of their research project on Kids Who Care! ********************************************* November 15: Holiday Card Making Event Sponsored by: High School Youth Action Team and Organized by KWCF University High School Club was a big success. Over 70 students came to make "Cheer up" cards for kids in the hospitals and also put Smile Pack and Card Quilts together. Packages were sent to children being treated at CHOC hospital, UCI Children's Hospital, Fairview Hospital in MN and to the children staying at Ronald McDonald House in Orange and Minneapolis. *********************************************** Nov: Sierra Vista Middle School in Irvine will hold a "Coin Drive" and "Gift Card Drive" by collecting coins for mailing out card quilts and gift cards to cheer up critically ill children across the country and U.k. This event will be headed by Risha with the help of Varuska and ASB. Students will also be putting card quilts and smile paks together. Sierra Vista students help volunteer today and help bring a smile a child in the hospital. Community Service hours available. Go Chargers!!!! October 2008 Great job Amber for collecting 29 ink cartridges for Kids Who Care! You rock! Kids Who Care is proud to be a partner of Make a Child Smile! We hope we can cheer up many more children by working side by side. Thank you so much to Patricia V. from Scouts of Irvine, service unit one for making card quilts and smile packs for Olivia, 12 years old with cystic fibrosis; Tyler, age 7, with rhabdomyosarcoma; and Savannah, age 15, also with cystic fibrosis. We truly appreciate all of your time and effort put into this project. Way to go troop 463, 143, 1183, and the service unit group!! Thank you to Girl Scout troop leader Julia K., for making a card quilt and a smile pack for Emilio, age 4 from Illinois who has leukemia. Thank you for making a card quilt and a smile pack for his sister as well! April 2008 Upcoming Events: Card Making Event to cheer up kids in the hospital on Sunday, April 27 from 1 to 3 pm for the National Global Youth Service Day.Event sponsored by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Irvine (corner of Yale/Irvine Center Dr). Great event for the entire family. Community service hours available. We are looking for groups to help us with the event. To volunteer or sponsor the event, please email us. March 2008 Bring your family and friends to this great game! Benefiting: Kids Who Care Foundation (www.kidswhocareclub.org) At the CSUF Titan VS. UC Riverside Baseball Game http://fullertontitans.cstv.com/index-main.html Saturday, March 29, 2008 @ 6pm General Admission Tickets: $7 Adults $5 Kids *Parking is $5 Watch Risha throw the first pitch! Be in a drawing to win the “Ultimate Fan” Giveaway! *Mention “Kids Who Care” name and receive FREE kids admission Please RSVP to: annetteromo08@yahoo.com Event organized by Five Star Public Relations TV Show Fundraiser in April. Everyone is invited to join us for a TV Show taping. The bus will depart out of Irvine. If interested in joining us, please email. Volunteers needed for our booth at the Youth Expo, OC Fair Grounds 10-4pm on Saturday, April 26. Please email if interested in 2 hour spots. Shraddha M and Rhea S, a BIG THANK YOU for donating one item from your birthday gifts to Nicole who is very sick. Thank you for having a BIG KIND HEART! Thank you to Diana T and Jack T for their donation. It is truly appreciated. A Special Thanks to Joe G at the “Children’s Ministry at Voyagers Bible Church.”,Irvine for making 11 beautiful card quilts and laminating all of them and even helping us with the postage! About 120 children participated in either making a card or assembling the quilts. Ages were from Kindergarten to 6th grade. Thank You for caring! Thank you to Rosa V from Marshall Reddick Seminars and Sue from State Farm in collecting empty ink cartridges for our stamp drive. February 2008 On a sad note: We tragically lost a very dear friend with cerebral palsy. Kelsey had gone thru over 30 surgeries in her 14 years of life. She was a big inspiration, a beautiful, kind, caring and loving child. She will be truly missed. God bless her soul and her amazing family who fought till the last second for her life. We would like thank Marsha M from Placentia, Ca for making a quilt. We appreciate your group's caring and kindness. We hope that you will continue making more quilts for us. Thank you to High School Youth Action Team, Irvine for benefiting KWCF for their Battle of the Bands event. It was a big success and a lot of fun. We appreciate your donation and support. We would also like to thank Robert and UCI Alpha Phi Omega volunteers - Bryan and Lea for helping us out that day. Anaheim Arsenal minor league basketball team, Thank you so much for donating 40 tickets to the game at the Anaheim Convention Center. These tickets were distributed to our volunteers and their families and also to the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Orange, CA. Everyone had lots of fun and really enjoyed the game. Thank you. January 2008 Event: Battle of the Bands Who: Five local high school bands: Mistaking Angels, After the Arson, The Less You Know, Sail Heezer, Racket on Claremont, and Shant the Mute What: Local high school band showcase and benefit concert. Where: Heritage Park Community Center,14301 Yale Ave,Irvine, CA 92604 When: Friday, February 8, 2008 7:00-11:30 PM Why: This Battle of the Bands will be benefiting the Kids Who Care Foundation (www.kidswhocareclub.org) Cost: $6 or $5 with canned goods (all canned goods will be donated to Families Forward) December 2007 Update Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Dec. 22 Card Making Party Sponsored by SCORE, Irvine at their Irvine Location in Woodbridge. Open to the public. The card quilts made by them will be sent to Ronald Mcdonald House in Orange for CHOC patients. The 40 card quilts (1000 holiday cards)that were made at the Holiday Card Party were sent to: Declan K, diagnosis Lissencephaly, England Jack B for transplant at Great Ormond Children's Hospital, London, diagnosis Neuroblastoma Reuben D, Scoliosis at Great Ormond Children's Hospital, London Luke H Great Omrond Children's Hospital, London, X-Linked Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (XLP) UCI Children's Hospital, Orange, Ronald McDonald House, LA for CHLA Hospital Ronald McDonald House, Rochester,MN for Mayo Clinic, Ronald McDonald House, Fairview,MN for Fairview Hospital Our annual Holiday Card Making Party sponsored by Total Woman Gym in Irvine was a big success! Thank you to all the volunteers that came and to all the businesses for caring. We made over 40 card quilts in just 3 hours! That means this holiday season we will bring smiles to 40 children in the hospitals! A special Thank to all of the following businesses at Heritage Plaza: Total Woman Gym, Ace Hardware, Irvine Design Center, The UPS Store, Machilato, Seattle's Best Coffee, Lamppost Pizza, Finnesse Hair Salon, Wendy's, Ralphs and Caspian Restaurant. Additional Thank you to Albertson (Tabuco/Jefferey), SCORE, Marshall Reddick Network, Vista Verde (Mrs. Wesson), Youth Action Team, KWCF Laguna Hills High School Club, KWCF University High School Club, Mayor Krom, Curt Christianssen (Photographer), ICTV, Kids Factory, UCI Circle K Club,and to all the volunteers for all their hard work and valuable time. For Teachers/Principals: It is our ongoing quest to educate and promote awareness about our program and we've found there's no better place than our own local community schools where kids can help other kids!  Together, it is very rewarding as the children learn and join in the making of another child happy... or -- bring 'that' Smile when they most need it! If you would like to offer our program to your students, please download a copy of our Information Sheet & Release Form for each student and parent/guardian to sign prior to the start of each program.  Thank you, in advance...we know that it all starts with 'you'!      ~ Click Above to get Detailed Instructions ~