of San Luis Obispo County
August 28, 2008
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BIG NEWSLETTER -August Big and Little Events
Fund Raisers· Singles Charity Mixer Tuesday, August 25th, 5:30-7:30 pm at MOther's Tavern. Cost to attend is $25 for pre-registration or $30 at the door. For more information or to register contact Kristine at 781-3226 or visit www.SCMevent.com
· September 6th from 5:30- 9 pm Fort Hope BBQ Fundraiser at Trinity Hall, 6565 Edna Rd, Hwy. 227, SLO. Enjoy an eventing of entertainment, a silent auction, and a delicious BBQ to benfit Fort Hope. Fort Hope sponsors a special needs youth, boys and girls club, foster youth, and student with a day of old fashion fun including fishing, archery, Chumash Indian arts, and California history. Tickets are $35 per person (adults only). For more information or to purchase tickets call 781-3226.
. SIGN UP FOR E-SCRIP TO RAISE MONEY FOR BBBS WHILE YOU SHOP, IT IS FREE AND EASY! Do you shop at Spencer's Fresh Markets, Macy's, Eddie Bauer, Baja Fresh, The Clubhouse, Thai Palace, and many more? Register your credit/debit cards and a percentage of every purchase will be donated directly to Big Brothers Big Sisters of SLO County. Raising money has never been so convenient. DIRECTIONS:
Anyone can sign up! It is fast and easy.
· Taking a vacation or business trip? Turn your trip into a gift to our community's children! Make a reservation at a Holiday Inn hotel by using the link above and 9% of the proceeds will go directly to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Activity IdeasEmail your activity ideas to a Program Specialist who will add your ‘Fab. Finds’ to our newsletter For more community activity ideas check out www.sanluisobispocounty.com, www.centralcoastkids.com, www.morrocoastaudubon.org or www.agadventures.org
For more low cost ideas, visit the BBBS list of 150 Things To Do With Your Little.
· Did you miss the BBBS Santa Maria Museum Day of Flight? One of our fabulous volunteers would love to share this experience with you and your Little. For more information on flights email Bob.
· Stories 'Round The Fire activity is a family oriented story telling performance by Kirk Henning and other guest story tellers and musicians. There will be a traditional marshmello roasting around a campfire. The suggested donation is $3 and for more information please call (805) 995-2867. Please remember to dress warm and bring blankets.
· The Environmental Center of SLO invites you to the Coastal Cleanup Day on September 20th from 9am-12pm at various coastal beaches. CCD is the world's largest single-day volunteer event for marine environment. For more information visit www.eocslo.org.
· SLO CITY/COUNTY LIBRARY SUMMER READING PROGRAM! Join "Catch the Reading Bug!" this summer at YOUR local Public Library. The 2008 Summer Reading Program is open to all ages including teens. Registration for the Summer Reading Program begins on Friday June 13th. Participants may receive a canvas book bag, certificates for Paso Robles Children's Museum, Home Town Buffet, Denny's, LEGOLAND, Chili's, Round Table Pizza, and more. Events at libraries throughout the county include magic, juggling, music, and more! For more information, call the library at 781-557, or visit the SLO Library's calendar of events.
· Volunteer opportunities are available with the Senior Nutrition Program of SLO County. Assist with a variety of tasks while providing a positive impact for the elderly and our community! For more information visit the Senior Nutrition Program of SLO County.
· Volunteer opportunities are available with the Prado Day Center in San Luis Obispo. Help serve breakfast on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays from 8-10 am. This is an easy and wonderful way to give back to the community. For more information visit Friends of Prado Day Center. Win a Fabulous PrizeA fabulous prize can be yours if you refer-a-Big! Do you know someone who would make a great Big Brother or Big Sister? If a BIG referred by you goes through the training and gets on the match list, you are entered into a drawing for a wonderful prize. Do something great for your community and for yourself!
Congratulations to Big Sister Audra who won a $25 gift certificate to Le Ciel Crepe Cafe for referring Big Sister Misty. Thanks Audra!
Free Stuff
· Women's Empowerment & Self Defense Workshop! Bring your little sister and together, gain confidence for a lifetime! The Sexual Assault Recovery and Prevention (SARP) Center offers this four-hour workshop to help empower and protect the women in our community. This workshop will focus on improving your awareness and assertiveness skills, and will teach physical techniques that can help you escape a dangerous situation. Remember - your best weapon is yourself: your mind, your voice, and your body! This FREE class is open to women of all athletic abilities and Littles ages 12 and up. To sign up, call the SARP Center at 545-8888.
. WHEEL FUN RENTALS appreciates the things that you do, and to show our appreciation, we are giving all the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of San Luis Obispo County FREE RENTALS to enjoy with their Little Brothers and Sisters when they take advantage of their new "Biking Buddies" Program. What is "Biking Buddies"? It is a program designed just for you! This program allows Big Brothers and Big Sisters to bring their Littles to any of our locations to receive FREE RENTALS! Contact BBBS at 781-3226 to receive your free multi-use VIP Card* - valid for the entire summer (excludes holidays). (* Good for up to 2 rentals per day. Not valid on holidays. Parking fees may apply.) Visit Wheel Fun Rentals for more information and for hours of operation.
. PERFORMANCE ATHLETICS GYMNASTICS has opportunities for our Littles to take 4 FREE classes! Performance Athletics Gymnastics was founded for the purpose of creating a professional atmosphere where all students can reach his/her potential. PAG has quickly become recognized as the premier training facility on the central coast. Their goal is to build a strong recreational and competitive gymnastics program that will provide a positive experience in the sport of gymnastics, as will as instill confidence and self worth within each athlete. There are classes available for all ages and skill levels. Please visit Performance Athletics SLO for information regarding class schedules and times. If you would like to sign up your Little for free classes, please contact Kristine at 781-3226.
· Join the Meathead Wrestling Club for Free! Little Brothers and Sisters can learn self-control, confidence and self-reliance while mastering a complex skill set and having fun at the Meathead Movers Wrestling Club. Practice and competition schedules are viewable at Meatheat Wrestling. Practices are usually from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at SLO High. For more information about the Meathead Wrestling Club and their ride-share program, contact Jeff Barksdale (Club Director) at 805-235-0135 or by email.
. Free Refurbished Computers are available for Littles through Exploration Station. Call (905) 781-3226 for more information. To donate your computer contact 473-1421.
. Low Cost Dental Care is available to children in the community who need it through La Clinica de Tolosa, a not for profit children's dental clinic. Call (805) 238-5334 for more information. Announcements· August has brought about a new season in terms of staffing at BBBS. We are saddened to say good bye to both Cindy Casillas and Lynda Lowry. Cindy was here only a brief time, but aided in our Nipomo school-based program, as well as our enrollment and match support team. Lynda has spent the last year and a half with us, running the San Luis Obispo school-based program, as well as assisting in many other areas. Her detail oriented personality, and expertise in all areas will be sorely missed. We wish her well as she goes on to persue her Masters in Social Work at the University of Ocean Pacific. We would also like to extend a farewell to Jennifer Piper, who has been with us to the past 6 months as one of our faithful interns from the Cal Poly Psychology Department. We wish her well as she goes on to finish her schooling at Cal Poly. With the departure of Cindy, Lynda, and Jennifer, comes the arrival of two new staff members. We wish to welcome both Jessica Chang and Kiki Miller to our team. Jessica has been our intern for the past three months and now joins us as our Match Support Specialist. Kiki has recently graduated from Cal Poly and joins us as our Enrollment and School Based Specialist. We would also like to welcome our new intern, Rachel, who will be joined by one other, not yet determined intern. We appreciate Cal Poly's "Learn by Doing" attitude, which enables us to gain valuable volunteer interns for our program. Our new staff members look forward to provide you with support and service!
. BBBS has "Buy One Get One Free" tickets to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor available! Please call the BBBS office at 781-3226 to get yours!
Dear Match Support SpecialistsDear Match Support Specialist, Every month while reading the Big Newsletter I notice that BBBS always has fundraisers going on. Why does the agency have the need to fundraise throughout the year and what does the money help fund? I am already a Big Brother, how and why should I help? Sincerely, Mo' Money
Dear Mo' Money, Thanks for the great question. Throughout the year we have several fundraising events that help sustain matches like yours. Our agency has three large fundraising events per year, and several smaller scale events that we put a great deal of time and effort into so that we can continue to support our community's children. While Big Brothers Big Sisters is a non-profit organization and the services volunteers and families receive are free of charge, our agency requires a substantial amount of funding to continue to recruit and enroll Bigs and Littles, make matches, and provide ongoing, professional support throughout the duration of a match. While are services are free, they are not cheap to maintain. Now let's talk about our fabulous events that help fund our programs. We orchestrate two top-notch events that give individuals in our community an opportunity to showcase their business/products, support our agency, and have a great time. On August 10th, we will host our Tropical Paradise Big Event with wine-tasting, an auction, and live entertainment to be held at the Jack House in San Luis Obispo. Earlier this year we held our Invitational Golf Tournament sponsored by PG&E. In addition to these two events, our agency also has several smaller fundraising events including an upcoming New Frontiers 5% Day, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, Singles Charity Mixer, and other collaborative fundraisers. The newest fundraising opportunity we have developed is our Bowl For Kids' Sake which was held in May and raised over $7000-hopefully you and your Little were involved by bowling a strike for our organization. We have also introduced new fundraising efforts that allow businesses opportunities to contribute on your behalf. The E-Script Program allows you to register your credit/debit cards and a percentage of every purchase you make will be donated directly to Big Brothers Big Sisters of SLO County. We also have a partnership with Holiday Inn Hotel; for every reservation made at a Holiday Inn, through the link on our website, 9% of the proceeds will go directly to BBBS. In the month of October we hold our Community Support Campaign, the biggest fundraiser of the year, in which teams of BBBS supporters go out into the community to fundraise for our organization by asking business associates, friends, and family to make donations. This year with the help of the community and our supporters, so far we have been able to serve 253 children! We know you already donate your energy and time to your Little, we are thankful the children in our program are supported by amazing Bigs like you. Many Bigs may not be in a position to donate financially; however, anyone can help by donating their help, ideas, and time to fundraising events we hold during the year. For those of you with the ability to support community programs financially or are involved with service clubs that are known for their generious donations to local charitable causes, we ask that you consider supporting our program which has made a "Big" impact in your life and in the life of your Little. Sincerely, Lynda
MatchiversariesJuly MATCHIVERSARIES SIX YEARS Big Little Josh Nicholas
FOUR YEARS Big Little Pat Kyle
TWO YEARS Big Little Annie Carla Joanne Brianna Dax Ruben Mark Andy
ONE YEAR Big Little Jennifer Jaydon Jason Brian Kenneth Ben Devon Brian Daniel Joseph Beth Rachel Jacob Logan
NEW MATCHES Big Little Jenny Lisa Jensen Logan Patty Gabby Larry Aldo Jessica Nancy Emily Bethanie David Christian |