Way to GoodSearch!

We just received $29.06 from www.GoodSearch.com. Is that thanks to you?

In June 2008 Riverbend Head Start & Family Services joined the 70,000 other nonprofits on board this no-brainer fundraiser and asked our community to GoodSearch and GoodShop for us. It's working!

GoodSearch is an internet search engine powered by Yahoo! After selecting RHSFS to be the beneficiary, every search someone does through GoodSearch earns nearly 1.3 cents for RHSFS. The $29.06 is for searches conducted through September 2008. That means thousands of internet searches and purchases were done through GoodSearch and GoodShop to benefit RHSFS.

Oprah Magazine, ABC News,CNN, The New York Times and more have picked up the GoodSearch story and thousands of dollars are earned each day by nonprofits all over the world.

GoodShop.com is the perfect solution for getting some extra bang for your holiday shopping buck. RHSFS could earn close to 3% of your online purchases from 800+ retail partners from Amazon to Zappos. Go to www.GoodShop.com. It's easy to select Riverbend Head Start & Family Services as the beneficiary and start shopping.

Thank you for GoodSearching and GoodShopping for our mission! Please, tell others to use their computer as an agent for change as well.

www.GoodSearch.com
www.GoodShop.com

To Market, To Market

Thank you Jim, Shirley, Rhonda and the rest of the team at Office Depot in Alton, Illinois! They donated hundreds of dollars worth of cool office and classroom supplies to us today. Pictured is Store Manager Jim Miller on the left, and John Norton, our Facilities Janitor.

We got the call and rushed right over to find a palette full of boxes of goodies. A little something for everyone in our agency, including the kiddos we serve in our programs that get them ready for big school.

These supplies will go a long way toward helping us achieve our mission to enable children and families to develop positive skills to meet life's challenges.

Thanks again, Mission Partner!

Shop Office Depot (shameless plug)

Father David Boase from the Episcopal Parish of Alton surprised Sandy Kelley, director of Family Foundations with a $300 check, board books and Baby Einstein videos for the young children and families her program strengthens.

Thank you so much parishioners!

Parishioner Gay Bryant (not pictured), said that the outreach efforts of the parish are geared toward helping small children and struggling families in the community by supporting programs that help them.

Family Foundations, a program of Riverbend Head Start & Family Services, provides parent education and case management to parents, and child development activities to children through regularly scheduled home visits.

Kelley said they'd use the cash for a holiday party they host for their families. It's a chance for families to be out in the world together and celebrate. Research has shown that family strengthening programs should foster social connections between families with young children. Many of our families are isolated due to a lack of transportation and low-income.

Parent group meetings at its Alton and Granite City centers round out the program's family strengthening services that are based on the Parents As Teachers model.

A Happy Father's Day...early

Recently fantastic fathers, like Rodrick (in the picture) and other positive male role models helped their preschoolers make apple pies from biscuits, filling and cinnamon.

While the pies baked, the families read a book together, and then played outside on the playground.

The event promoted father-child bonding, which is important for a child’s brain development and self-esteem. It also let the men know that they are valuable, too.

The families are enrolled in our Head Start Home-Based program. Rodrick and his son, Rodrick, Jr. are from Alton. Other families came from Bethalto, Cottage Hills, and Roxana.

Thanks for being there, Dads!

A book in the hand is worth two in the...actually, it's priceless.

Congress has put tax dollars where the National Endowment for the Arts’ mouth is. It recommended level funding for the federal literacy program Reading is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) that provides free books to underserved children.

That means we got a grant! It will put 3,753 free books in the hands of 913 babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers in Madison County who may be at-risk of failing in school due to poverty, a disability or some other factor.

Last November the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) published a report on reading habits of youth that revealed “recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, exposing trends that have severe consequences for American society,” according to its web site.

Yikes! We want to make sure that the little kids in our programs grow up reading and learn to love it. Grants from RIF and TheBANK of Edwardsville (who provided the required local match of $1,784) allow us to do that.

Family reading events for our kids and their parents will be planned throughout the year, some in partnership with the nearest public library. Designed to encourage parents to read to their kids at home, the events include a warm, nutritious meal served family–style, a guest reader, a craft centered on a children’s book, and culminate with each child choosing a free book to take home and keep courtesy of RIF.

Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest and largest children and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age eight. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, such as Macy’s department stores, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year.

All RIF programs combine three essential elements to foster children's literacy: reading motivation, family and community involvement, and the excitement of choosing free books to keep.

This is the ninth year Riverbend Head Start & Family Services has received a RIF grant.

We're in the TELEGRAPH!

Thanks so much to TheBANK of Edwardsville for providing us with this opportunity to give our children sturdy shoes for school.

Now Enrolling for FREE Preschool!

Is it really that time of year again? Already?

Here at Riverbend Head Start & Family Services, we are entering Back-to-School mode. As employees hustle and bustle trying to find school supplies to fill their children's backpacks, the agency hustles and bustles preparing for the new program year.

As fall approaches, Head Start is gearing up for the school year. Staff are looking forward to working with families to help teach children reading, math, physical, motor, relationship, and language skills.

Head Start is a program that provides education, health and social services to 800 low-income children ages three to five and their families. The program is designed to provide qualifying children with the resources that they need in order to have a "head start" in life. One of these resources is free preschool. Centers are now enrolling. For more information or to see if you qualify, call (618) 463-5947

Oh, BABY!

We are excited to announce that Family Foundations held Infant Massage Class at its new space, 1800 East Broadway, next door to the Essic Robinson Head Start center.

Parents enjoyed learning a new way to bond with their children, and the babies loved receiving massages!

The Parent Group Meeting was the first of many. Topics for future meetings include First Aid, Potty Training, Nutrition, Shaken Baby Syndrome, Dental Health, Budgeting, Preventing Abuse, and CPR.

Family Foundations is a home-based program, but many of its families do not have access to transportation, so Family Foundations leased space at 1800 East Broadway in Alton to provide families with more opportunities to socialize and learn.

Riverbend Head Start & Family Services works diligently to provide the best services to our children and families, and we are pleased that our Family Foundations program has developed this new way of interacting with parents.

We thank the Alton Foundation for the grant that funds these opportunities for Madison County families.

GoodSearch to support local children and families

What if Riverbend Head Start & Family Services earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!

GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half of its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause.

Just go to www.goodsearch.com and be sure to enter Riverbend Head Start & Family Services as the charity you want to support. Don't forget to set GoodSearch as your home page and spread the word about this simple way to support Madison County children and families.

Testing 1,2,3!

Riverbend Head Start & Family Services is really working to move into the online realm! With this blog, we hope to keep you in the loop about our most recent news! For now, suffice it to say that we are working diligently to bring you a user-friendly website complete with blog, search capabilities, and updated information!