Parents of Tots

Two mothers are at the market and the one mother asks the other...have you heard this one before? No, me either but there is something that we’ve all heard over and over and over again...MOMMY, I need a new diaper!

For the month of May, Parent of Tots is collecting diapers for the North Suburban Family Network. Please consider helping families less fortunate by donating new, unopened packages of diapers.

 

You can bring your donations to the following PoT events:

• The Spring Fling at Lake Quannopowitt-5/1/09

• The Klubhouse - 5/12/09 at 3:30pm

• Northern Suburban Family Network - 5/21/09 at 9:30am

• Gymstreet USA - 5/26/09 at 3:30pm

OR contact Barbara White at barbwhite8@yahoo.com or Amy Caggiano at amy_caggiano@comcast.net

Take this opportunity to share with your children the importance of helping others who are less fortunate. Have some fun and encourage your children to pick out the type of diapers to donate.

The Charitables Team appreciates your donations. Thank you!

This month, the Charitables committee has chosen to highlight a very worthy cause – Reach Out & Read at Children’s Hospital.

Reach Out & Read is national program designed to promote “school readiness and early literacy skills among children who are at an increased risk for reading failure.” Children are given a developmentally and culturally appropriate book at each checkup (6 months – 5 years). Reach Out & Read accepts new and gently used donations of children's books and is in need of books written in a variety of languages, especially Spanish.

Reach Out & Read has given approximately 43,000 brand new books to their patients since the program's inception, and an additional 720,000 gently used books through donations.

Some of our best memories are sitting and reading with our children as they explore each page. We hope you consider giving someone else a chance to experience that same joy with their own children.

If you’d like to donate, please contact Barbara White (781.587.0026 or barbwhite8@yahoo.com) or Amy Caggiano (781.454.6034 or amy_caggiano@comcast.net). We encourage you to use these opportunities to teach your children the importance of charitable giving – after all, our children are the future.

Thank you for your compassion, generosity and support.

Do you have baby gear that you would like to donate?

One of the reason’s many of us chose to join PoT was to enrich the lives of our children through playful activities and social interaction in a safe environment. We are very fortunate to be surrounded by caring individuals. Many new moms aren’t so lucky.

This month we would like to bring attention to an organization that helps young children living in poverty. The organization is Room To Grow (www.roomtogrow.org) and their mission is to enrich these precious lives throughout the critical first three years of development.

Room to Grow's program provides parents raising babies in poverty with one-on-one parenting support and essential baby items. Parents are referred to Room to Grow by selected prenatal programs assisting low-income families. Parents are enrolled up until their child turns three. During appointments with staff clinicians, parents receive developmental information, customized support, and all of the needed baby items to ensure a healthy and secure start for their child.

How can we help?

PoT is having a collection drive for Room to Grow. If you have any baby items in NEW or EXCELLENT condition, please contact us today! To arrange a time to drop off your items, contact Barbara White (Wakefield) at barbwhite8@yahoo.com or 781.587.0026 or Amy Caggiano (Stoneham) at amy_caggiano@comcast.net or 781.454.6034.

Room to Grow accepts the following items suitable for a child under the age of three and in excellent condition only:

Clothing, to size 4T | Toys | Books | Blankets | Bumpers
Sheets| Towels | Washcloths | Bibs | Strollers | High Chairs
Booster Chairs | Bassinets | Baby Carriers | Bouncy Seats
Swings| Play Mats | Exersaucers | Bathtubs | Pottys
Feeding Supplies | Baby Proofing Items | Sleep Positioners
Baby Monitors | Breast Pumps | Diaper Bags | DVD’s
CD’s | Photo Albums | Baby’s Room Accessories

The following items are accepted new only:
Bottles | Cups | Nipples | Teethers | Baby Shampoo
Baby Lotion | Diaper Cream | Baby Care Items

Sorry, they cannot accept: (for safety or hygiene reasons) Cribs | Baby Furniture | Bath Seats | Car Seats | Diapers Diaper Pails | Formula | Baby Food | Stuffed Animals l Walkers

Family Bonds: Giving Together

I recently got together with some friends and we were talking about ways to get involved in our community. Realizing how important it is to give back, especially in today’s world, we started to talk about how to get our children involved in community service. "Gathering Change" (www.gatheringchangeinc.org) gives everyone an opportunity to help their community. Gathering Change is a grassroots non-profit charitable organization that collects spare change from the community for distribution back into our local neighborhood food pantries and social programs.

What’s even more exciting is that this offers you a great way to involve your entire family in giving back. Spare change can be found anywhere - your coat pockets, vehicles, even your couch cushions. Enlisting the help of your children to find the spare change is not only a fun and exciting game, but also gives you an opportunity to explain why helping others in need is so important. One way to get kids motivated to collect change is to decorate a special collection container. You can either decorate your own or we will be handing out kits to help your child design their own special container. The kits will have an emphasis on food (with stickers & stamps) to help children understand that the change they collect will help other families to buy food.

You will be able to pick up the kits at the following events:

• Creative Arts Puppet Show workshop, Wednesday, February 4th at 3pm
• Mix and Mingle, Monday, February 9th at 10am
• Creative Arts Fairy Tale Workshop, Wednesday, February 11th at 3pm
• Look What I Made, Friday, February 13th at 3:30pm

...or just email me at barbwhite8@yahoo.com for more info. Each child is encouraged to return their container for collection at The Winter Blues Party on Monday, February 23rd. To recognize the donation, children will be given their very own certificate of appreciation for their participation in community service. We truly hope everyone is inspired to help their neighbors.

Thank you for your generosity, compassion and support: 
Barbara White, Amy Caggiano and Laura Villarroel

To help inspire your children, here are a couple of books based on community service:

• Mutt Dog, by Stephen Michael King
• A Chair for My Mother, by Vera B. Williams
• Meiners, Cheri Reach Out and Give
• Hest, Amy Jamaica Louise James

UPDATE:

Thank you to all who participated in our Gathering Change drive last week. We collected $158.32 that will go directly to our local food pantry. This will help in so many ways. We should all be proud to be part of an organization that is caring, compassionate and supportive. What a wonderful example this is for our children. Please let your children know what a great job they did and that their contribution will make a difference.

“Food is an important part of a balanced diet.” - Fran Lebowitz

As we approach the holiday season, our local food banks are dealing with empty shelves as the number of people facing hard financial times is increasing. Donations have dropped significantly in the past couple months. The state of our economy has put more people in need of assistance while forcing local government to cut back on aid.

This reality has hit home. As I was walking my child into preschool, I noticed that we were directly behind a woman with two small children who looked to be about the same ages of my children. I assumed they were going to preschool as well. I didn’t notice the bags she was carrying under her arm. As she held the door for us, she greeted my children with a warm smile. As I walked past her, I thanked her and turned to make small talk but was stopped in my tracks. She was not bringing her child to preschool, but, she was going to the food bank. At that moment, I realized I that any of us could be in her shoes.

The holidays are upon us and it is more important than ever to help our neighbors feed their families and give them the help they need in such difficult times. Please consider making a donation to your local food bank.

If you are unable to make a delivery, please feel free to drop off donations at my house (see Newsletter for address) and I will deliver your donation to the food bank of your choice.

• Reading Food Pantry – Old South United Methodist Church, 6 Salem St., Reading. 
  Hours: Mondays 7-8pm and Fridays 10:30-11:30am, Contact: 781-944-2481
• Melrose – A Servant’s Heart Food Pantry – at Faith Evangelical Church, 200 Franklin St., Melrose. Hours: Fridays 10am – 12:00pm and the 3rd Friday of the month hours are 5-6pm, Contact: 781-662-8226 or www.faithchurchac.org
• Stoneham – Adventist Community Services Food Pantry, 9 Gerry St., Stoneham.
  Contact: 781-438-1374
• North Reading – Christian Community Service Food Pantry Drop off at N Reading Transcript and N Reading Post Office. Hours: Mondays 9-10am 
  www.northreadingma.gov
• Wakefield – Interfaith Food Pantry (www.wifoodpantry.org) 
  Volunteers needed for Food Drive on Saturday, November 8, 2008. If you have an hour or so, please consider helping. You can contact Susan Majeski at suziem6@verizon.net or 781-245-5109

To find others way to help within your community you can go to:
www.northshorechildren.org and www.volunteermatch.org

This month, we would like to highlight National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month.  Each year, approximately a million pregnancies in the United States end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of the newborn child. National observance of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, since 1988, offers us the opportunity to increase our understanding of the great tragedy involved in the deaths of unborn and newborn babies.  The Awareness Month, meant to bring to light the devastating losses suffered by so many each year, is marked by different ceremonies and services in different communities, including A Walk To Remember, which is held around the country.

A Walk to Remember

Fourth Annual Walk to Remember to be held on October 5, 2008 at Breakheart Reservation

In recognition of National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, you are invited to a walk and memorial service to support those who have lost a baby through miscarriage, stillbirth, or early infant death. There will be speakers, singers, and a reading of the names of all of the babies who are missed so much. For online registration and more information, please visit: mysite.verizon.net/walktoremember or call Maria Morong 781-246-1430

Interfaith Food Pantry

Also, we will be collecting the following items for the Interfaith Food Pantry located in Wakefield.  The mission of the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry is to provide emergency food supplies to people and families who need a helping hand regardless of religious affiliation, if any. The Food Pantry is one source of food for their clients, utilizing referrals to complementary organizations for supplementary food and services.  For more information on the Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry you can go to www.wifoodpantry.org.

• Canned Vegetables (green beans, peas, mixed, carrots, potatoes, creamed corn, beets, etc.)
• Dried potatoes
• Canned fruit
• Hearty stews and soups (Dinty Moore, Campbell's Chunky, Progresso, etc.)
• Canned meats and fish (tuna, sardines, small hams, hash, chicken, etc.)
• Canned spaghettios and raviolis (with and without meat)
• Rice
• Macaroni & cheese
• Pasta
• Jars of pasta sauce
• Pasta meals/mixes
• Tomato paste
• Peanut butter
• Jams, jelly
• Cereal
• Jars of 100% fruit juice
• Canned and powdered milk
• Instant and regular coffee
• Hot chocolate mix
• Mayonnaise
• 2 lb. boxes of granulated white sugar
• Crackers (Saltines, Ritz, etc.)
• Cookies
• Microwave Popcorn
• Shampoo
• Toothpaste
• Paper towels
• Toilet Paper
• Feminine Items

Thank you for your support.

BIRTHDAY WISHES

Just a reminder that we are still collecting donations for Birthday Wishes through the end of the month. You can drop off donations at 29 Juniper Ave., Wakefield, 781-587-0026.

Here are some suggestions for gift and supply donations:

• Party Supplies: gift wrap, paper plates & napkins, party hats, noisemakers, balloons and indoor decorations. Cups and straws are not needed.
• Juice boxes
• Pull-string pinatas
• Disposable helium tanks (available at party stores)
• Goodie bags and Arts & Crafts projects: they use several hundred each month.
• Gifts: new, unused books and toys for children ages 1-19 which are appropriate for children who may not necessarily have access to a yard, bathtub, oven or window/sills of their own. If a gift requires batteries, please consider including the appropriate type with your gift. Gift cards to Old Navy, the Gap, Target and Footlocker make great gifts for teenagers.

If you would like to learn more about Birthday Wishes, you can go to www.birthdaywishes.org.

Thank you for your support.