An Evening with Fostering Families

By Summer Brill, Web Marketing Assistant Chair (Social Media) 2010-11

I was so excited to get a peak at Fostering Families and am so thankful we get this opportunity through Done in a Day (DIAD). I knew from reading the fall Piper article that our Fostering Families committee (2010-11 Chair Kyla Eller) partners with Help One Child to run workshops to help foster children with a variety of life skills:

Personal Development: Self Esteem, Self-Talk
Interpersonal Communication: Assertiveness, Conflict Resolution
Relationships: Respectful Behavior, Anger Management
Community Development: Cooperative Behavior, Personal Support Systems

The night I volunteered, the workshop topic was Relationships: Anger Management. As I waited to learn my table assignment, I observed the children walking in with their parents. This was the sixth session so the kids were well versed in the routine. They arrive, get their table assignment and get right to coloring while they wait for their table leader to get started.

Help One Child volunteers run the check in table and direct us in timing for the night. They are also on hand if we need any support whatsoever and they have an incredible ability to calm antsy children with gentle attention. League members on the Fostering Families committee are the table leaders and League DIAD volunteers are table helpers. I was working on the Blue team led by Megan Olesk and we had five kids at our table, ages ranged from six to 10. All the children seemed to want to be there and when asked about their favorite activities, one little girl said coming to these workshops was one of her favorite activities!

Megan lead an ice breaker and I got a chance to get to know the kids at our table shortly before Cathy Lewis (Help One Child) led us in Brain Gym. We stood up and did some calisthenics to get the wiggles out! The kids know the drill and participate enthusiastically.

After our Brain Gym, we got ready for dinner. The kids helped set the table and cleaned their hands. We all sit together at our tables and have dinner together. The kids all had great table manners, my oldest child is four and this experience gave me hope that we will be able to have a civilized dinner table sometime in the future!

Over dinner we had casual conversation and I got to learn more about each of our Blue team members. Once dinner was over we started our workshop on Anger Management. Each table hosted a different activity to illustrate the lesson. Our table illustrated "Safe Anger Release", physical ways we can handle our anger. We did some calming self-hugging and tapping, breathing and we squeezed a pillow as tight as we could until we calmed down. Each child participated in the physical activities and they had fun squeezing the pillow tightly!

Next, I moved along to the next table with my Blue team members, while Megan stayed behind to teach the next team her skills. We moved to the "Work it Out, or Move On" session, led by League Member Leticia Gonzalez-Ratchev. She led a discussion about working out a conflict. She gave each child a can of Play-doh and asked them to sculpt an “anger monster”. The anger monsters took all shapes and sizes. Once they were finished they were instructed to tell the anger monster that they were not going to let the “anger monster” control them. Then each child smashed their anger monster! They got to take their Play-doh home with them, which was very exciting.

Next, we moved on to more discussion with Rose Repetto about "Take a Break". She talked about how you can take a break when you are angry and revisit the topic when you are calm. She then handed out a long piece of yarn to each child and explained that they can use this as an incentive to use anger management strategies. She showed them that they can tie a knot in the yarn for each time they use anger management strategies to show themselves how well they are doing. Then she suggested they make an agreement with their parents or teachers, that if they get 10 knots in their yarn they can get a reward.

For our final table, we joined Debbie Wright and she continued the discussion on “what makes you angry and what strategies can you utilize to calm yourself down”. Each of the kids gave examples of something that has made them angry, what they did when they got angry, and what they could do instead to calm themselves down. We were running low on time so we didn’t get to the illustration part of the table. But each child participated in the discussion and it was an interesting conversation.

Parents started to arrive, and it was time for the treasure chest!! Each child ran up to the chest and crowded around to root around for the BEST prize! These are the small toys we as a League donated earlier in the year for Done in a Day at our committee and General meetings. For everyone who donated, these small gifts are a hit! There is a lot of excitement around finding the coolest prize!

As I got to spend the entire evening with the same team of five kids, I got to know each of them and when it was time to say goodbye I was sad to see them go! It was a well run event and the kids definitely enjoy coming to the workshops. I had a great time and highly recommend it if you are looking for a Done in a Day opportunity. The next dates are April 11th and May 9th. This is a great way to preview Fostering Families for future placement. The Fostering Families Committee members were all well versed in their topic and activities and very comfortable with the kids. All the members of Help One Child are kind, friendly, helpful and energetic. I came home energized and hope I have another opportunity to do this again!


Fostering Families Committee: Back L-R: Debbie Wright, Shannon Morton, Kyla Eller (Chair Fostering Families 2010-11), Tina McMinn, Lee Casem, Michelle Melen (Provisional DIAD volunteer), Rachel Pickworth. Front L-R: Rose Repetto, Leticia Gonzalez-Ratchev, Megan Olesek, Cathy Lewis (Help One Child)

If you are interested in volunteering for Fostering Families through Done in a Day, sign up online in Volunteer Shifts (April 11th and May 9th). To learn more about Fostering Families and our other Community Projects, click here.

Think YOU can Balance California's Budget? Join SPAC April 14th and Give it a Try!

By Catherine Carlton, Senior SPAC Delegate 2010-11

The Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula, The Junior League of San Francisco and The Junior League of Oakland East Bay have put together the rare opportunity to participate in the Next 10 Budget Challenge for 2011.

This is an exciting opportunity to learn about the state programs and
the budget by trying to balance the budget yourself with a special
computer "game" that is a lot of fun!  We will be carpooling from the
Gatehouse, or people can meet us there.  It's open to both members and
friends.  Here are the details:

What FUN and Educational!! Join the Next 10 California Budget Challenge 2011!

When:    Thursday, April 14 @ 6:30pm

Where:    Claremont Middle School, 5750 College Avenue, Oakland  (We will
carpool from the Gatehouse.)

What:     Try your hand at solving California’s budget woes with a
personal handheld device - YOU balance the California budget!
* Build a state budget based on your values and vision for the state's future
* Learn about some of the topical policy choices legislators face
* Take action and email the governor and your representatives about the policy choices you are making
* Understand about how the budget is built, who is involved, and important background information
* See the choices other people are making on each policy choice

Contact: Catherine Carlton, SPAC Delegate, at spacdelegates@thejuniorleague.org

Meet our First Teachers Committee and Bring Me a Book's Executive Director

Photo submitted by Joy Peacock, Community VP 2010-11



Top row (left to right): Dulcy Freeman, Chris Sapyta, Brooke Lopez (First Teachers co-chair), Marissa Levy (First Teachers co-chair), Jennifer Ryan, Jean Elliot

Bottom row (left to right): Kirsten Crum, Stephanie Pearson-Phillips, Terri Clark (Executive Director, Bring Me A Book), Kristy Phillips

Through our First Teachers project, over the past six years:
100 League members have served on this project which means over 100 women in our community have the knowledge to teach others about the importance of reading aloud.

These women have taught 1,586 parents that they are their child's first teacher and given to these families 1,655 books.

Our Sustainer project, First Teachers Too, trained 48 league sustainer volunteers over the past five years, served 1,320 children and gave 2,580 books to children to keep.

To learn more about our First Teachers Community Project, click here.

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley to Carry School Breakfast Program Legislation bill

By Cat Carlton, Senior SPAC Delegate 2010-11

Julia Brownley, an outstanding Assemblywoman who has been very
successful in improving the lives of women and children through
legislation in California, is going to carry our 2011-2012 sponsored
legislation bill on the School Breakfast Program, AB 839.

If you would like to track this bill’s progress, can use the link
below (type 839 in the space and hit enter). While you are there, we
encourage you to sign up for updates that can be emailed to you as the
bill progresses through legislation.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html

To learn more about the JLPA-MP State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC), click here.

What do the Grammy's and JLPA-MP have in common?

by Summer Brill, Web Marketing Assistant Chair/Social Media, 2010-11


Did you catch the Grammy's Sunday night? I LOVE the Grammy's and get so excited the week before. I love the anticipation of what the artists are going to wear, who they are walking the Red Carpet with and what silly questions they will be asked by Ryan Seacrest and Giulliana Rancic.

But the best part of the Grammy's for me, is the entertainment. Not just any entertainment, but the unique pairings of artists on stage putting on an incredible show that you will see no where else.

Where else will you see Nora Jones, John Mayer and Keith Urban sing Dolly Parton's Jolene, or a Legend such as Bob Dylan sing with two contemporary Jam Bands (Mumford & Sons and the Avett Bros), or Cee Lo sing a profanity-filled song with actress Gwyneth Paltrow and backed up by the Muppets? Only the Grammy's.

But what does this have to do with the League? In my experience with the League over the past three years, I have been amazed at the diverse backgrounds of the women in our League and how these collaborations work like no-where else I know.

Over the past few years I've had the opportunity to work and become friends with other stay at home moms, lawyers, real estate agents, teachers, money managers, entrepreneurs/small business owners, writers, photographers, stylists...the list goes on. Women who are married, single, divorced, with children, without, in the process of having children...Yet, given all of our diverse interests, family status' and occupations, we all work together towards a common goal to improve the Community we live in. We do it with cooperation and passion that I have not witnessed in any other organization that I've been a part of.

I renewed my Membership online last night, and as I did, I reflected on the League and how it has enriched my life from a personal and professional perspective. I can now count many of these incredible women as my new friends (who I run into all over town!). Not only that, over the past three years, I've gained experience organizing and putting on both small scale and large scale events (soup to nuts), running meetings, presenting to large and small groups, and implementing a social media marketing program. I gained all this experience while being a Stay at Home Mom!

I've had a wonderful experience in the League these past few years, and I look forward to what’s to come!

To learn more about the Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula, visit our website here, or "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jlpamp