Spring Into Action With The Partnership For Our Kids

The sun is out, the snow is gone and just like spring flowers are popping up all over the city, so are the latest Partnership For Our Kids activities! Here is a preview of what is coming up:

Omaha Storm Chasers - Partnership For Our Kids Night - April 22nd
Kick off the baseball season with the Storm Chasers and The Partnership For Our Kids! The Storm Chasers will take on the Memphis Redbirds at 7p.m. at Werner Stadium and one of our students will be throwing the very first pitch! Come root for both your home teams! Oh, did we mention there would be fireworks?

IMAX Double Feature - April 28th, 6p.m.
Join us for an evening at the Lozier IMAX theater on Thursday, April 28th. We'll be presenting our 'Get to Know Me' film on the giant screen and afterwards, we will also screen the 3D baby-animal documentary 'Born to Be Wild' narrated by Morgan Freeman. This event will be free to the public but is geared toward potential volunteers. Learn more at www.gettoknowmeomaha.com.

Ride to Success Kick-Off Event – May 6th
Thanks to an amazing new partnership with Greenstreet Cycles and a grant from Specialized Bicycle components, the Partnership group mentoring program has exclusive access to a fleet of 30 brand new bikes!

Beginning with a ribbon cutting on May 6th at 3:30p.m., classrooms will go on supervised bike rides across the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge. .Outside of classroom visits, all Partnership For Our Kids mentors will be able to check out bikes for students to go on their own group rides beginning in early May. Learn more at www.gettoknowmeomaha.com.

Sixth Grade Recognition Ceremony - May 11th, Holland Performing Arts Center
On May 11th, sixth grade students in the Partnership’s goal-setting program will be recognized by Omaha Mayor Suttle for achieving their math, reading and life skills goals. This special ceremony will take place at the Holland Performing Arts Center and will begin at 10a.m. For more information, call 930-3000.

Golf For Our Kids – May 16th, Omaha Country ClubGolf For Our Kids will swing into action on May 16th with a shot-gun scramble at the elite Omaha Country Club. In addition to a gorgeous day of golf on the green, participants will receive a fabulous barbeque lunch, an opportunity to perfect their game with an OCC golf-pro, a chance to win an exclusive sports fan raffle package, team awards and much more!

Golf For Our Kids is sponsored by SilverStone Group, John & Anne Nelson and Bob and Judy Bates. Foursomes and corporate sponsorships are still available starting at $1,000. Click here to download a registration form, or call 402-930-3026 to learn more!

*All proceeds will benefit The Partnership For Our Kids’ goal-setting and mentoring programs.

Giving Time and Heart

Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart. ~Elizabeth Andrew

Time is a resource that is always in high demand and it seems that there is never enough of it to go around. So in order to give one’s time away, there had better be a really good reason for doing so, right?

Partnership group-mentor, Kristin Nolan actually has five good reasons for donating her time. Their names are Geovany, Mirna, Francisco, Herlin and Jennifer. Nolan has been a Partnership group mentor volunteer with students at South High School for a year and a half and she truly feels that it has been time well spent.

“I really enjoy getting to know the students. I learn something during every meeting! The topics being discussed apply to my life as well, which is very motivating,” says Nolan.

While Nolan feels that she is the one who benefits from the time she spends with her group of students, her dedication and giving spirit have been invaluable gifts for the Partnership staff and students alike. “It’s easy to notice the enthusiasm and energy, [Nolan] brings to her group,” says Partnership Bilingual Program Specialist, Nick Sasada. “She is invested in the future success of her students.”

Nolan’s commitment to the Partnership has even reached beyond the classroom. “Kristin has gone out of her way to bring her students to special events, she has made special efforts to reach out to her mentees’ parents and has even helped us promote our organization to the community,” Sasada says.

Nolan credits her passion for helping students to those who encouraged her in her own teen years. “Everyone goes through struggles in their lives and without someone to talk to and support your dreams, life is very lonesome,” she says. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without the role models and mentors I have in my life!”

The students in Nolan’s group love having her in their lives and they think of her as both a role model and a companion. “She is a great person, “says Mirna, a ninth-grader in Nolan’s group. “She takes the time to listen to me and I look up to her.” Fellow group mentee, Geovany, agrees. He feels like Nolan truly understands who he is. “Its like hanging out with a friend,” he says.

*To find out more about how to volunteer with The Partnership For Our Kids, visit VOLUNTEER or call 402-557-6392

A Volunteer Workforce Equals A Wealth of Value

It has been said that money makes the world go round, but believe it or not, according to a study done by Johns Hopkins, volunteers actually make up a far more significant share of the workforce of nations than has been commonly acknowledged.

Data generated by the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project in 37 countries (Salamon et al, 2004) revealed that approximately 140 million people in these 37 countries engage in some volunteer activity in a typical year. To put this into perspective, if all of these volunteers represented the population of a country it would be the 8th largest country in the world. The study goes on to show that even when estimated conservatively, these volunteers make $400 billion in contribution to the global economy.

As National Volunteer Month kicks off this Friday, The Partnership For Our Kids would like to extend a special thank-you to all of our volunteers for their hard work, devotion and commitment to kids. You are truly worth your weight in gold!

*Attention all current Partnership volunteers! Be sure to check the mail for a special volunteer event invitation coming to you soon.

Homework Help, It’s As Easy As A-B-C!

It is 10p.m. and that Geometry homework is not going so well. What if solving those problems was as simple as having a library card and internet access? Although it may sound too good to be true, a free online service being offered through the Omaha Public Library and Tutor.com is making homework help as easy as A-B-C.

A. Obtain a library card.
A student must be 14 or older to apply for a library card without a parent’s consent, so students in grade 8 or below will need a parent signature on the application.

B. Log on to Tutor.com.Students can connect to Tutor.com through the Omaha library website, omahapubliclibrary.org, through any Omaha public school website and even on Facebook by searching Tutor.com, Omaha.

C. Connect with a Tutor!Once a student is on the Tutor.com site, he or she can select the subject area that they need help in and a qualified tutor will walk them through the problem live on the spot!

Not only does Tutor.com offers homework assistance, but it is also a great resource for test preparation, research and even GED and citizenship test support—all for FREE! Tutors are on staff between 2 p.m. and midnight each week and are eager to make your homework turn from disaster to done, quicker than you can say A-B-C.

Thank You Gregg Young Chevrolet!

Thank you Gregg Young Chevrolet for making The Partnership For Our Kids this week’s “Go The Extra Mile” award recipient! The Partnership was selected to receive this honor in recognition of the exemplary service the agency provides to Omaha’s disadvantaged youth. Partnership staff and students were presented with the award during a ceremony, Wednesday afternoon, at Lewis and Clark Middle School.

“Going The Extra Mile is a unique opportunity to showcase great organizations, like The Partnership For Our Kids, that might not otherwise receive recognition for the extraordinary work they are doing in our community,” said Gregg Young Chevrolet representative, Bob Holland. “Winning this award means the world to our organization,” said Partnership President, Julie Hefflinger.

*Watch for coverage of the award presentation and a special interview with Partnership President, Julie Hefflinger and group mentoring program volunteer Ben Larson, which is scheduled to air on WOWT Channel 6 during the 6 p.m. news broadcast this Friday, March 11th.

Competing For The Partnership!

The spirit of competition can drive people to accomplish some amazing feats and that spirit was alive and well during The Partnership For Our Kids first annual fund drive. Partnership staff made the task of raising annual funds a little more interesting with a team competition. Each team developed their own community fundraisers and spread the word to family and friends. “I think this fund drive only scratched the surface of the creativity, ingenuity and persistence our staff has to offer as fundraisers,” said team leader, Nick Sasada.

Collectively, the team competition raised nearly $6,000 of the $38,000 fund drive grand total. “Our staff has been fully committed to raising funds for our organization. Without their dedication, we wouldn’t have raised as much as we did.” says Partnership Development Director, Nicole Everingham. Team fundraisers included office jeans days, a restaurant night at Julio’s West, holiday photo sales and a community bowling event at Maplewood Lanes.

The Partnership For Our Kids is currently planning a spring golf fundraising event that will be held at Omaha Country Club on May 16th. Foursomes and sponsorships are available, call Nikki at 402-930-3026 for more information or to reserve your foursome.

* If you would like to make a monetary or in-kind donation to The Partnership For Our Kids, visit thepartnershipforourkids.org/donate.shtml, or call 402-930-3000 to see how you can help.

Saving Service Programs

This week the National Mentoring Partnership released a legislative alert regarding a potential bill that would drastically cut funding to government programs and would eliminate the Corporation for National and Community Service. See the full story below and learn what you can do to save service programs:

Mentoring Legislative Alert
February 2011
Save Service Day


This past weekend, by a vote of 235-189, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1, a continuing resolution that will cut government programs by $100 billion for the rest of this fiscal year. This bill eliminates the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and would zero out funding for the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. We need your help now to ensure these harmful cuts to mentoring do not become law.

As you may know, Congress is in recess, and the Senate has not yet voted on this bill (and after they vote, the bill will still need to go to the President), so there is time to act. Therefore, Friday has been designated a "Save Service Day."
We are joining forces with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Voices for National Service and several additional service-related organizations in reaching out to our members. We ask you all to contact your Members of Congress this Friday, February 25, by phone or e-mail — or by scheduling a meeting — to explain the necessity of service programs.

We need your help in contacting your Senators right away and telling them to pass a Continuing Resolution that restores funding to CNCS and the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program. You can find contact information at: www.senate.gov.
If you choose to reach out by phone, we encourage you to state the bill number (H.R. 1), the title of the legislation (Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011) and why restoring funding to Mentoring Children of Prisoners and CNCS is important to you.

We understand that this is a difficult time for our economy and a difficult time for funding all programs. We ask that you encourage your Senators to fund quality mentoring programs. We certainly do not want to see tax-payer dollars wasted on bad programs.

If you choose to reach out by e-mail, you can click here to write your Senators: (www.capwiz.com/mentor/issues/alert/?alertid=30007506&type=CO)
Then, on Friday, please call or e-mail your Senators again in honor of Save Service Day. With programs across the country reaching out en masse, we hope to make a major impact.

Thank you very much for your support and efforts. Together, we can save mentoring programs across the country.