You know how awesome it is when kids take the lead? That's exactly what the Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board does! They're always working to make a difference, and it's super inspiring.
Meet Bella, Our March Rising Star!
This month, we're all about celebrating Anabelle (Bella). She's an awesome part of our team, always ready to help other kids in need. Bella has a wonderful sense of humor and embraces life to the fullest!
Bella loves Legos, baking, and hanging out with her cat, Nicky. Did we mention she has a great sense of humor?
Bella totally understands what it's like to be a kid in the hospital for months on end due to a bike injury she sustained in 2020. When reflecting on her participation in our 2023 toy drive, she noted:
“It makes me feel really good to help because I was in the hospital for an extended period of time, not just a normal stay. It makes me feel good to be helping kids that I know I can relate to.”
Bella recalls receiving a toy at bedside and how it brought joy to her during a very challenging time in her life. Bella’s empathy and commitment to helping kids in need is truly inspiring.
Bella, thank you for your amazing civic leadership! It is a sincere honor to have you as a member of our Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board!
Get Ready for Our First Food Drive!
March is a big month for us! We're super focused on something called food insecurity – that's when families don't have enough to eat. So, guess what? We're having our first-ever Kidzz Helping Kidzz food drive, fighting hunger here at home!
Kids from our Advisory Board joined us at our warehouse to make food collection boxes for select locations in Bremerton and Silverdale.
We teamed up with our buddies, the Hope Scouts, to make these awesome food collection boxes.
Wrapping those giant boxes took 2-people about 20-minutes to wrap, but hey, we made it fun! There was wrapping paper and tape everywhere. Constant sounds of packaging tape being pulled off roles to cover the boxes could be heard for hours!
There was lots of laughter as some of the younger kids played in the boxes and lots of cheering as we completed the work!
We distributed 28 of our beautifully made food collection boxes to local businesses, schools, and churches on March 1. We were joined by Hope Scout leaders, Jen and Adam Wiren who showed up in their large pickup truck to help us out.
All donated nonperishable food items will benefit the Bremerton Backpack Brigade and the Society of St. Vincent De Paul in Bremerton.
We're hoping to collect tons of non-perishable food donations for families in need.
Check out our awesome food drive flier!
Here's what we really need:
Canned chicken, tuna, ham, vienna sausages, spam, beans
Peanut butter
Breakfast cereal
Oatmeal
Pancake mix
Muffin mix
Granola bars
Learn more on our Food Drive page!
Backpacks Filled with Love (and Food!)
We're not just doing our own food drive – the Advisory Board is also busy filling backpacks with food for the Bremerton Backpack Brigade. This awesome nonprofit organization helps by providing a supplemental food source on weekends for children throughout the eight Bremerton Elementary schools who struggle with food scarcity. You wouldn't believe how many families need a little extra help!
Food insecurity is a growing challenge in our community. The number of families who experience food insecurity continue to rise each week.
Currently, the Bremerton Backpack Brigade provides 235 families with backpacks filled with food each week.
The backpacks we fill are super important for kids. Each one has stuff like fresh fruit, milk, and tons of yummy snacks. They go out to schools so kids can take them home discreetly – it's all about making sure they get the food they need.
We've been working with the Bremerton Backpack Brigade since 2018, and our kids are seriously dedicated to the cause.
Today Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board members filled 183 backpacks with practical kid friendly foods, including fresh fruit and vegetables, shelf-stable milk and juice. Each backpack had a number on it which identified the number of members in the family. Depending on the number of family members, Kidzz Helping Kidzz packed the appropriate amount of food.
The backpacks will be delivered to the elementary schools tomorrow morning, where school staff discreetly distributes them to the students enrolled in the program. Each backpack contains enough food for the entire family. The students return the backpacks to their school on Mondays, to be picked up and refilled for the following weekend. We packed 1,500 lbs of food today!
Although the contents of the backpacks vary each week, today Kidzz Helping Kidzz packed the following items:
“Helper” Meals
Canned Chicken/Tuna
Macaroni & Cheese
Fruit cup/Pudding cup
Chili/Refried Beans
Popcorn
Cereal
Hot Cocoa & Apple Cider Mix
Shelf Stable Milk/Juice
Canned Vegetables/Fruit
Granola Bars
Soup
Mandarins
Squash
More fresh fruit and vegetables will be added to the backpacks tomorrow morning before they are distributed to the schools. Sign up here for Food Drive Updates!
We're hoping our first food drive will be a huge success! We want to help as many local families as possible.
We hope to make a dent in addressing food insecurity in our community by contributing at least 500 nonperishable food items to families in need!
Subscribe for blog updates – and we'll tell you exactly how many non-perishable food donations we collect and how many pounds of food we deliver!
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