One of our staples is ensuring we give back to our community in the form of service. During this Christmas season we assisted at the Holiday with Hope Celebration. Each year the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA hosts a holiday celebration on the Saturday before Christmas. This years festival took place Saturday, December 20, 2014 from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.
Purpose
To provide a fun day for families with children during the Christmas holiday season. Each year gifts are presented to thousands children thanks to the generous donations of individuals and businesses. This year was no different as nearly 5000 people showed up to take part in this years holiday festivities.
This year’s event featured
Arts and Crafts
Picture with Santa
One gift per child that is present*
Music
Entertainment
Much more!
We are thankful for the opportunity that the YMCA gave us to assist families this holiday season and the opportunity to play the roles of Rudolph, Mickey Mouse and Santa.
Our Annual Christmas Awards breakfast took place Saturday Dec. 5th, 2015 at the Crown Plaza – Mission Valley with the goal to celebrate this holiday season by honoring those that serve our community and bringing educational awareness to San Diego’s foster and underprivileged youth during a festive Christmas celebration.
For the past nine years it has been our opportunity to give and receive the gift of service. We invite youth and families of San Diego to partake in a morning of joy, gift giving and celebration. This year we have grown larger than ever inviting nearly 100 children and providing them a celebratory breakfast. These children and teenagers come from a variety of programs which include which include foster and area group homes
This year’s Keynote Speaker was Devin Hughes.(The Chief Inspiration Officer) with Community Activist of the Year Awards going to Anna Arancibia (Jackie Robinson YMCA), Kristyl JL Smith (Community Activist), Dana Michelle Bryant (Eleanor’s Place) and Joann Fields all of which have directly impacted young people’s lives on a regular basis. We also honored educational administrators Karla Whitaker (CalSOAP), and Beverly Warren both of which have greatly impacted our student’s lives at both grade school and collegiate levels. Finally, sticking with our theme of education we will honored our shining star Shane Harris, Sade Burrell as our Guardian Scholar of the Year for overcoming monumental obstacles to graduate from college along with a and E.J Walls as our Collegiate Activist of the Year. We also had awards for children from both the Heartbeat Music Academy and the H.E.A.R.T (Higher Education And Rising Together) mentoring program.
This was a wonderful Christmas event benefiting San Diego’s Foster and underserved youth and encouraging them to attend and complete college
In order to avoid being “Grinchy” we took in America’s favorite holiday fable as it returned for its 17th joyous year!
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. Back for its 17th incredible year, the family favorite features the songs “This Time of Year,” “Santa for a Day” and “Fah Who Doraze,” the delightful carol from the popular animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Celebrate the holidays as the Old Globe Theatre is once again transformed into the snow-covered Whoville, right down to the last can of Who-hash.
We believe culturally enriching field trips matter. They produce significant benefits for students on a variety of educational outcomes that schools and communities care about. The effects of field trips to see live theater demonstrates that seeing plays is an effective way to teach academic content; increases our youth’s tolerance by providing exposure to a broader, more diverse world; and improves the ability of students to recognize what other people are thinking or feeling. These are significant benefits for students on specific educational outcomes that schools pursue and communities respect. Especially when considered alongside our community service efforts.
Lastly, you can never know what may impact a child’s life. Not all learning occurs most effectively within the walls of a school building. Going on enriching field trips to cultural institutions makes effective use of all of a community’s resources for teaching children. You can never know what may impact a child’s life. There’s nothing like seeing a group of young men excited for Christmas.
This year we served the community again twice during the Thanksgiving holiday, The young men of The Blue Heart Foundation’s mentoring program HEART (Higher Education And Rising Together) participated in the Annual San Diego BPOA Thanksgiving Dinner drive and the Annual New Season of Love Block Party. One of our core values is volunteerism, we feel its important to give back and serve our community regularly.
The Annual San Diego BPOA Thanksgiving Dinner drive benefited over 100 families, other amazing organizations that participated in this beautiful event that were Phi Beta Sigma, NFLPA, Sigma Gamma Rho, Brothers United and the San Diego Police Dept and was a great way to kick start the holidays.
That same weekend we volunteered at the Annual New Season of Love Block Party. This is an Annual Event that fed over 1000 families and we were able to distribute 31,000 lbs of groceries and 600 turkeys to families in attendance.
The unique concept and vision of New Seasons Church is to reach this community where it is needed most – the family -every family – with love. Through this event, we plan to bring available resources to our community. We will offer information and assistance with agencies such as: CAL Fresh Pre-Screening, Red Cross WIC, family healthcare resources, East Country Pregnancy Care Clinic, County Health Mobile providing HIV/STD and Hepatitis screening, Covered California information and AKA Head Start.
Watching the San Diego State State Aztecs dominate Wyoming 38-3 after tailgating was a perfect way to celebrate the 2015-2016 SDSU homecoming . The young men participating in the H.E.A.R.T. mentoring program were truly in for a treat on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. The victory in front of an announced crowd of 38,761 at Qualcomm Stadium showed flashes of how good the team could become.
The same could be said of the young men of H.E.A.R.T. of which 18 young men with unlimited potential will come together and devote themselves towards aspirations of a higher education. Many of these young men could “fall through the cracks” due to lack of resources and/or opportunities afforded in the public education system. What we address are the other needs that young men need to make better decisions, learn to be goal oriented as well as focus on character development.
We were joined by the Men of the Omicron Iota Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity inc… Together each and every gentleman both young and old got to know each other and build a familial bond. This is an exciting time in these young men’s lives and we are looking forward to watching and tracking the growth of these ten young men as they work to achieve success together. Be sure to watch their growth and cheer them on as they strive to reach their potential and beyond.
This year’s event featured
