City Kidz Is the Place To Be!

It happened the other day when I and a member of my Executive Team,  Shawn Donnelly, were out doing our second official night of home visits.  There we were minding our manners at the door and one boy, realizing that it was City Kidz at the door, came leaping out from behind his Mom to give us one bear hug each.   With the hug he reminded us that the last lesson’s theme was love.  “City Kidz is the place to be, ‘cause they love and care what happens to me!” was our memory moment for that week.

We at City Kidz Ottawa have been working VERY HARD to reach a small band of children since about May of this year.  Lots of extra hours on the evenings and weekends (we all work full-time and don’t get paid to work for City Kidz) because we all believe in what we’re doing.  But I don’t think Shawn or I were expecting such an awesome reaction by one little boy this soon into the program.   We just had our third program today, so this grinning hug was a breakthrough of sorts and an encouragement to both of us.

I am very excited.  So is Shawn.

…And ONE for all!!

Officially Launched

After weeks of preparation, City Kidz Ottawa is up and running as of October 2, 2010.  It was a great day!  Everything went like clockwork including the arrival of the bus and every child brought to the program seemed to have a wonderful time.   This week’s lesson “It’s Great to be a Kid” began the first of a four-part series which introduces the City Kidz Four Most Important Things  that every child should know:  God Has A Plan, You Are Loved, It’s Great to Be a Kid and Do What’s Right. So many children these days are under a great deal of pressure long before they’re ready both psychologically, spiritually and physically.   It’s part of the City Kidz mandate to give children permission to enjoy their childhood.  From the Sneaker Search to the object lessons, to the final pie-schmucking, each child had an opportunity to learn and re-learn Saturday’s Memory Moment:  “Let’s have fun and celebrate, ‘cause being a kid is super great!” 

This day was a success and has encouraged all of us on the  leadership team for the future.  But it wouldn’t have happened without a great deal of support from City Kidz Leaders Todd Bender and Trevor Thomson and Peace Tower Church in Ottawa.  Also, there’s a whole lot of other people who pitched in their support and cooperation to help pull our first day off.  All of you know who you are.  Please accept many thanks from City Kidz Ottawa!

We at City Kidz Ottawa are very excited about what is going to be taking place in the next few weeks. We believe that this is just the beginning of something really big in Ottawa!  And we get to to it all again on  October 16th, 2010!! 

…And ONE for all!!