Project Change

PEOPLE

Benefiting: Reach Out and Read & Operation Breakthrough

Our January Challenge with REACH OUT and READ was to visit Operation Breakthrough to read and interact with the preschool children. Operation Breakthrough offers a safe learning environment for children who are currently living in poverty. Our goal along with REACH OUT and READ is to support early childhood literacy and inspire a love of reading. We divided our team into groups of two, and proceeded to read stories and play learning games with classrooms of 4 to 5 year olds. They, in turn, inspired all of us with their energy and enthusiasm

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PLACES

Benefiting: Reach Out and Read
 

March is Dr. Seuss month and what better way to participate with REACH OUT and READ than to spread the FUN, EXCITEMENT and JOY of reading Dr. Seuss by creating a Seuss party for the children of Independence schools. The party consisted of a photo area with life size Seuss cut outs, donated by ARCDECOR and painted by Kim Matthews. Each child could sit or stand with the characters and have their picture taken. A craft table was set up for the children to make picture frames for their Seussian photos. A second craft area allowed the children to make CAT IN THE HAT hats. Many of them started here so they could wear their hats in the photo. A third table featured a Dr. Seuss coloring and activity book. A snack table was filled with gold fish and CAT IN THE HAT cookies. The reading corner was always full with young listeners hearing about Thing 1 and Thing 2, and of course our main guest of honor CAT IN THE HAT. The children showed much enthusiasm and laughter!

THINGS

Benefiting: DIFFA
 

For our final challenge “Things”, we chose to do three “Things” by designing three tables and participating in “Dining By Design” a benefit for DIFFA, Design Industries Foundation Fights AIDS. This event was started in Kansas City 20 years ago and now is held all over the nation. Proceeds from this event are kept in Kansas City and used for education for fighting AIDS.

One of our team members, Chuck Matney of Matney Floral Design has been associated with KC DIFFA since it was started in 1990. In addition to designing tables, Chuck and a team of six also raised an additional $200,000.00!

The first table we designed was for the Muriel I. Kauffman and The Muriel Mcbrien Kauffman Foundation, the largest sponsor of the event. The table theme was very formal to tribute Julia Irene Kauffman and her late mother Muriel Mcbrien Kauffman. All the table top china and crystal was donated by Halls. We had the table cloth and chair covers made to add to the overall theme.
The second table was themed very natural and gardeny, using orchids and succulents, natural linen table cloth and raffia for added detail. Our third table was designed by Kim Matthews and her new company Her Majesties Wine Closet. The table represented her companies wine bottle fashions and provided a colorful and fun dining experience. Flowers for all three tables were donated by Matney Floral Design.

The event was held over two nights at the Hyatt convention center. The first night was a “table hop”. For a nominal entrance fee guests could view the tables and enjoy food and beverages donated by local restaurants. Over 500 people attended! The actual dinner was held on Saturday night with over 40 tables designed by local business, groups, designers and schools. Attendance topped 600!

Pampering the Youth

Benefiting: Crittenton Children's Center

KidVISION held it’s February Challenge “Pampering the Youth” on Saturday February 21st. These kids come from such neglected or abusive families that we wanted each and everyone of them to know what it is like to be pampered and tell them they deserve to feel good. At the same time we wanted to extend their knowledge about good personal hygiene.

We started our morning with a personal hygiene trivia session. The kids were on the most part eager to participate. We then broke the kids into smaller groups to design a canvas tote bag for their own personal belongings, hand manicure and message stations, makeup, shaving techniques and cologne testing. Two testaments from the kids reinforced how important and rewarding this challenge was for them. As one of the boys was having a manicure and hand massage, he said “I have forgotten about all of my troubles and problems. This has been a very special day for me”. One of the girls who the staff said is always rebellious and did not want to actively participate in any of the sessions, was inspired by others and chose to do every activity.

Community Garden - Food Tasting

Benefiting: Crittenton Children's Center

Our focus was to support Crittenton’s Nutritional and Horticultural curriculum by engaging the students in garden preparation and the introduction of healthy food alternatives. We began our 2-hour event with a “bucket brigade” transporting healthy soil to the new raised garden beds in Crittenton’s garden area. During the 2nd hour of our event, we moved into the Greenhouse classroom where 3 food stations had been set up to focus on healthy food alternatives. Stations featured taste tests, games, and discussions revolving around Exotic Fruits, Trail Mixes, and Vegetable Alternatives. Pictures of the featured foods in their natural habitat spurred discussions on greenhouse plantings.

Students were given stickers to show that they tried various nuts, fruits, and vegetables. At the end of the presentation, every student had at least 36 stickers to display. One adventurous student tried over 46 new healthy foods! Each of the students had earned extra behavioral points, with three students awarded bonus points to celebrate their enthusiasm for different aspects of our event. Each student was given a recycled shopping bag and water bottle filled with various fun items. The reward for the volunteers was that we were able to connect to each of these students—whether we helped them rescue a few worms or gave them refills on purple carrot juice, we were reminded that each of these kids, no matter what their history may have been, are wide-eyed, curious kids. And for an afternoon, we could join them!

Community Gardens

Benefiting: Crittenton Children's Center

Our April challenge focused on continuing the work in and around the raised garden at Crittenton. In an effort to assist with their goals of maintaining a sustainable garden, we constructed a large 3-bin compost system, to be used in the main garden, and a single, portable compost bin for their Carrier House garden. Thankfully, a carpenter from the John A. Marshall Company volunteered some of his personal time to build the bins off-site, which saved us a lot of time and headaches. The bins will be filled over the next few weeks with compost material that they have been storing over the fall and winter. In addition to the natural organic materials they have collected, they also utilize used coffee grounds and remnants of fruits and vegetables served at the facility.

With the help of Andrea, the Horticulture Therapist on-site, and a couple of eager kids from Crittenton’s Horticulture Therapy program, the volunteers dug a path around the perimeter of the fence, pulling up grass and weeds, and laid rubber mulch in its place. The rubber mulch is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and long-lasting. It will serve as a barrier, so that weeds and grasses don’t infringe upon the garden, and it is more aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, due to the timing of this event, we weren’t able to interact with as many kids as we had hoped, but the girls who participated were able to learn a bit about composting and take some ownership in the garden that they will continue working in throughout the upcoming months. The work we put in also saved Andrea an enormous amount of time, enabling her to focus more of her time and energy on organizing activities for the kids in the Horticulture Therapy group. 

Nurture the Children - Warm their Hearts

Benefiting: Crittenton Children's Center

Our challenge was held on Saturday May 23 at Crittenton Children’s Center. To kick off and celebrate the beginning of WARM weather and summertime, we donated swim suits, beach towels, flip flops and sunscreen for 48 of the kids. The donation of items was a complete surprise to the kids. All 48 suits were different colors and styles, flip flops were offered in 10 colors and beach towels were available in many patterns and colors. Each child could select a towel and flip flop with suits to be distributed later by the staff. They were SO excited and appreciative! Their hearts were warmed!

A happy hour was held earlier in the month in the Power and Light District to help collect items. In addition, many representatives in the local design market made contributions at DLR Group’s office. The remaining funds were collected via generous donations from a variety of people.