Our Amazing Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board of Kidzz met this evening for a pizza party to celebrate our 2022 toy drive success.
With the downturn in the economy and the possibility of a recession, we never anticipated we would meet our goal of brightening the lives of 5,000 children spending their holiday season in a Puget Sound area hospital.
To our surprise, we surpassed our goal and delivered 7,018 toys to children at St. Michael Medical Center, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Seattle Children’s Hospital, St. Anthony’s Hospital, and Kaiser Urgent Care in Silverdale.
Shortly after delivering the toys, we received two calls from families. Carrie from Edmonds, WA called to say that her 3 year old daughter received one of our large stuffed animals while at Seattle Children’s Hospital and it made her day.
Edmond from Port Orchard, WA shared that his 6 year old son received one of our puzzles while at the Emergency Room at St. Michael Medical Center and it made him calm and relaxed while he put it together.
After enjoying pizza, chips and Beth’s “famous” soft and chewy gluten free brownies (the Kidzz say these are the best!), the kids began to brainstorm activities that they would like to do this year to help kids in need.
Our conversation focused on issues such as childhood hunger and helping pack backpacks with food with our friends at the Bremerton Backpack Brigade.
"Serving the first need of the child, so they may learn."
We also discussed contacting Central Kitsap Food Backpacks 4 Kids to see if we could help them pack backpacks with food for kids in the Central Kitsap School District.
Stand Up 4 Kids Kitsap County is an organization in Kitsap County aimed at helping homeless youth by providing them with food, clothing and hygiene items. We decided to reach out to them to see how we could help.
We also discussed applying for grant dollars to support our new mentoring program where a member of our Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board would mentor a child who has a sibling with a chronic disease.
As a youth-led nonprofit organization run exclusively by volunteers, we are aware that prospective funders want to learn about our successes.
Our Advisory Board of Kidzz decided to begin developing a video that can be shared this fall during our toy drive season.
We recorded a short “Intro” video clip…
And a short “outro” video clip...
…To use for what will be our main video with the kids responding to a series of questions about the important work they do at Kidzz Helping Kidzz and how their acts of kindness and service for others has shaped their lives and perspectives.
After all that cerebral work, it was time to unwind by playing a fun family entertainment game night classic, “Night at the Museum”.
The object of this game is to run around while the lights are out and then freeze when the lights are turned back on.
This is what the kids looked like when the lights went back on (multiple times).
Pretty wild! I could not believe how entertained the 16 member Advisory Board were with this simple game.
At the end of the night, the kids decided they wanted to look at Zach’s baby book. Although Zach was not too thrilled about the two naked baby pics, he tolerated the whole thing. The Kidzz all agreed Zach was an adorable baby.
Stay tuned for our next blog post as we make a difference in our community by helping Kids in need.
If you are a "kid" between the ages of 10-18 and would like to join our Advisory Board please contact us here. We would love to hear from you!
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