Tees Please

Monday night’s corporate sponsor, Jetblue, not only provided dinner for the House, they also hosted a special raffle where one lucky family won airline tickets to anywhere in the world. The dining room celebrated as the family’s name was picked out of a hat. Later that evening, the Monday Night Team setup in the Playroom encouraging families and kids to join them in a DIY t-shirt craft, including glow-in-the-dark paint.

One resident, Jackson created two tees, one with a scary monster and the other with various colored fireworks!

A new family to the House from England, created a design with each of their hand prints and the words “We Love You” on the tee. The tee was made for the rest of their family back home across the pond.

Submitted by Alyssa Ahern

DJ Marcus in da' House

The Thursday Night Team rolled out the red carpet for Marcus, rapper and performer extraordinaire. Marcus brought the house down with his original freestyles as DJ Biggs was bumping the beats.

Marcus then showed the kids how they can create a beat and flow of their own with inspirational lyrics such as “we’re going straight to the top...look at the way that I rock...if you’re hatin’ on me just stop”.

Everyone in the living room had their hands in the air and their heads bobbing to the beat while the kids gave the rap a try for themselves with the help of Marcus and the Thursday Night Volunteers.

The night was a hit as we learned the music making process. The cherry on top of this awesome evening was a visit from Thursday Night Therapy dog, Beau.

Submitted by Leslie Fradkin

Greek Good Luck Coin

On Friday a group of warm hearted and friendly volunteers from Greek Division spent an evening with us. Dinner was just the beginning of an evening full of surprises. As families assembled, they were asked to greet the wonderful people from Greek Division who stood by a table full of toys.

There were close to 200 toys lined up on the table which were up for grabs for our kids. It was a wonderful sight to watch the kids handpick their favorite toys, run around with more than what their tiny two hands could carry, and bring them back to their rooms to play. Toys included beautiful dolls, stellar action figures, speed racer cars... and more!

The shower of surprises didn’t quite end there. Then came out this mighty vanilla cake with a hidden coin in it. It is part of the Greek New Year tradition to hide a coin in the cake called Vasilopita.

If your slice has the coin, then you have good luck bestowed on you for the rest of the year. Everyone had a wonderful time.

Submitted by Sneha Ramesh

It’s All Fun & Games

The Sunday Night Team went all out helping to serve dinner, Chinese food right in time for the Chinese New Year! After dinner was served, there was some fierce ping pong being served down in the playroom as the team set up for a fantastic game night ahead.

Alongside the ping pong match there were plenty of other options to choose from such as; Tick Tack Toe, Connect Four, Jenga (big and small), bowling and coloring galore.

Connect Four and Jenga were the biggest hits of the night with several interpretations of the rules floating around.

While the kids were having a blast, several parents were able to relax and watch the amazing musical performances at the Grammy’s.

Submitted by Aurora Brennan

Time to fly!

The Monday night team brought out airplanes to make, paint, and fly in the playroom. There were two options: foam or wood. The wooden planes were definitely the favorite.

Each packet came with all the pieces for the plane and its own set of paint. We had some very colorful and creative planes made by both the volunteers and the families.

Waiting for the planes to dry was the hardest part, as everyone was eager to see how well they flew. The target was the window and from across the room planes took off! There were many attempts and many crashes, but one plane was successful in the end and hit the window! Everyone cheered.

Submitted by Andrea Boinott

Cheerful Breakfast!

On Saturday, Breakfast Club #1 ran like a well-oiled machine, working together to make a delicious breakfast in record time.

As the families gathered in line for a morning pick me up, it was evident the volunteers were serving more than food, they were serving an opportunity to begin a new day full of hope, on the right foot.

A big thank you to our volunteers for going out of their way to make the families’ days a bit brighter, each and every day.

Submitted by Coli Bacharach

Supreme Super Bowl Sunday

Competition was fierce Sunday night as the best of the best competed before the big game! Families gathered in the dining room as the Sunday Night Team set up an assortment of Super Bowl Sunday fun.

To celebrate, not only were there miniature footballs for all who attended, but also mini corn hole, pin the football on the field, and tattoos galore.

The energy in the room was incredible, music bumping everyone enjoyed the games and running around before kickoff.

There were plenty of Kansas City fans throughout the room, who at the end of the night finally got their championship after 50 years.

Submitted by: Aurora Brennan

How would you look in a cartoon?

Caricature artist Rick Welch made a special appearance at the House. After dinner, the Wednesday night team gave everyone a ticket with a number to organize the order in which awesome cartoon drawings would be created. One by one kids sat down across from Rick, stated their names, and gave a big smile.

In 5 minutes a drawing of the child as a cartoon character was complete! Peaking was strictly prohibited during the drawing process, which built up suspense and made the reveal exciting! There were some precious authentic smiles and laughs amongst the families when they saw the cartoon version of themselves.

In addition to a fantastic caricature, Rick added some personalized touches. One of the boys loved Dash from The Incredibles; behind him in the drawing, Dash came running in his Incredibles suit.

Submitted by Andrea Boinott

Toucan Tuesday

Tuesday night dinner was brought in by Temple Emanuel. During dinner there were crafts being lead by Nedra Koplin. The kids loved threading beads for necklaces and making masks with the kids.

Nedra has been coming to the house with the Temple once a month for almost ten years now, it is always great to have such a familiar face around!

Once dinner had wrapped up, the guests were invited into the playroom for a plethora of different crafts. Some of the crafts included ezee beads board, snap together jewelry, puppet making and “create your own city” maps. The kids got to choose what to create and some of their creations were truly amazing. One boy created a toucan in the ezee beads board based off of an image on the internet, not following any of their template cards.

The toucan turned out awesome and everyone was so impressed. Overall it was such a fun night with lots of creative energy!

Submitted by Kelly Quane