At Risk Children of Heart House Enjoy Stuffed Animal Workshop
As many as 75 low-income children in the Heart House Free Afterschool program will enjoy a traveling stuffed animal workshop conducted by a work-at-home mother.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) June 4, 2005 -- Stuffing and dressing up cute toy animals
is all the rage among suburban kids at birthday parties and in upscale malls,
but too often less-advantaged children are left out of the fun. That won’t be
the case on June 7th and 8th, when Heart House of Austin (www.hearthouse.org) will host
a free Traveling Stuffed Animal Workshop conducted by work-at-home Austin mother
Laura Alter for Heart House’s low-income, at-risk children.
Heart House
provides a valuable service. Approximately 34,000 low-income, school-age
children in Travis County were found to be inadequately supervised between the
hours of 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. and therefore at risk, according to a 2003 study by
the Travis County Afterschool Network. Some of these children are able to call
Heart House their safe haven, where they can spend time with caring adults,
receive homework assistance, participate in literacy programs, learn more about
health and safety issues, and have access to art enrichment and other academic
programs. Statistically, children who attend an afterschool program are only
half as likely to use drugs and one third less likely to become teen
parents.
"Stuffed Animal workshops are a
wonderfully creative and happy activity for all children," says Alter. "By
bringing this experience to the children of Heart House, we can help them gain
confidence and exercise their creativity and we give them the satisfaction of
completing a project that they can keep with them forever."
Kirk Watson,
Former Mayor of Austin, agrees with the importance of supporting Heart House and
their free afterschool program. "Without the guidance of organizations such as
Heart House, many children don't live up to their full potential. Heart House
offers the opportunity for children to become something they never thought
possible by providing a safe environment to cultivate the pride and imagination
required to become our heroes of tomorrow."
As
an independent founding crew member with Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop (www.noahsarkworkshop.com), Alter conducts traveling stuffed
animal workshops all over the Austin area for birthday parties, daycare centers
and camps, Scout troops and churches, hospitals, senior centers, and disabled
adults. Many of these groups do not have the ability to travel conveniently, so
Alter brings her workshop to them. Participants choose which animal they wish to
create, and then together they stuff them, have a wishing ceremony on a rainbow
star to stuff inside, zip them up, dress them in adorable outfits, create birth
certificates, and decorate take-home bags for their completed new friends.
In addition to conducting workshops, Alter offers other parents the
chance to join her team, Noah’s Crew, so they can work from home. "Being able to
help other families gain the economic independence they desire while spending
more time with their own children is something that I very much enjoy," remarks
Alter. "And on top of it all, we have a lot of fun!"
About Noah’s Ark
Animal Workshop and Heart House:
Heart House was started in the summer of
2000 when founders Suzanne Kiefer and Anna Land, while volunteering their time
with children in the Vickery Neighborhood of Dallas, quickly realized that these
children required a "safe" environment in which to obtain homework assistance,
mentoring, friendship, and above all, protection from the idleness and negative
influences they found in their daily afterschool lives. Heart House is open for
three hours after school, Monday through Friday, with extended hours during the
summer and winter breaks. Heart House is free to all children -- the Heart House
kids "pay" for their clubhouse privileges by participating in community service
projects.
Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop was founded in 2003 when a
Chicago-area mom, Dina Kriescher, saw the need for quality, fun, and affordable
home birthday parties. Once she began her personal Noah’s Ark Animal Workshop
business, conducting workshops throughout the southwest suburbs of Chicago, she
quickly saw the need to expand. Today there are more than 600 independent crew
members all over the United States, with more joining daily for the chance to
work for themselves in a fast growing and ever popular business with the
guidance of a well-run and dedicated company.
Contact:
Laura
Alter
Independent Founding Crew Member #547
Local: 512-351-9858
Toll
Free: 1-86-Noah-To-Go
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb247338.htm