Volunteer Event Coordinator Still Needed

EVENT COORDINATOR

Do you like to plan events and fundraising?  We are looking for an experienced and creative fundraiser and event planner who believes in and and will be committed to putting in approximately 5 to 10 volunteer hours per week in support of our cause. Find out more about our organization that helps to break the poverty cycle in children at www.citykidz.ca/ottawa.

The Event Coordinator will be responsible for assisting the Branch Manager in designing, coordinating and implementing fundraising events to help raise money for City Kidz Ottawa. Our organization is particularly looking for the ideal candidate who will enjoy working with people, have good decision making skills and creative ideas for fundraising with the capability to multitask. To be considered for this position please reply to ottawa@citykidz.ca with a resume and two references.

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Musings on David & Goliath

I was at our board meeting last night and we got into a discussion about a book that I’m reading, “David & Goliath” by Malcom Gladwell.   One insight gleaned from this discussion was the analogy that a child can be seen as David and Poverty, Goliath.

According to Gladwell, however, wealth may not necessarily be the answer to happiness either and there seems to be an optimal level of wealth before happiness wanes. He illustrates this by examining the effects of academic achievement based on classroom size. The question of is “smaller better” (as most people would say it is) in classroom sizes, provides a surprising response. In fact, a smaller classroom size may not always have an advantage of a larger one. After offering up some proofs he suggests that academic achievement in smaller class sizes wanes to the same level as its opposite, and uses the inverted U-graph to illustrate.  His point is that in classroom sizes, the optimum level for academic achievement seems to be somewhere in the middle for class size.

Eg.

Gladwell also discusses the question of whether wealth does make one happy.  His conclusions are that the results are similar to the foregoing because happiness tends to wane after a family income level of $75,000 is reached.   As soon as the income level surpasses this amount, the curve actually begins to fall. Great wealth does not create happiness; in fact, it can make things worse if it is not handled properly. According to Gladwell, great wealth requires that values about money and how it is spent (not always giving your child money when their hand is out and/or not living decadently) be properly taught a wealthy child to create an environment where that child can grow to be an adult that thrives. Interesting!

But to the lower income individual, Gladwell states that wealth can also be seen as a giant that can never be overcome. For the low income child the impossibility of ever having that amount of money can be seen as Goliath as well. 

At City Kidz, we help a child to believe that it is possible to achieve a better income level and hopefully have a better lifestyle even though it seems like an impossible task for them to aspire to. However, we are NOT about helping a child to achieve great wealth. That is not the City Kidz message. Instead, it’s about providing lessons of faith, hope and love to a child so they become resilient. At City Kidz we teach these values and hope that they will bring them with them to adulthood.  This will enhance their life whether they are rich, middle class or even living happily in a lower income lifestyle.

City Kidz is in a child’s life to build him or her up, increase their resiliency and give them the tools to live a happy life. Achieving and thriving does not always mean having a larger income. It means becoming resilient and living the best life possible even in adverse circumstances. In this case, while our target are children living in a low income household, our message is for every child in every demographic.  All children will benefit from lessons and values taught at City Kidz and have a good chance of becoming thriving adults, whether they are rich or poor.  It’s values that enhance a child’s life, not money.

And ONE for all…

The Invitation

When I reflect on our early days in Ottawa, I am always reminded that it all began with a simple “yes” from me. When one thinks about it, this is how God works in all things. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” (Matt. 4:19) When He has a plan to do something---like reaching some marginalized children in a city through City Kidz---He invites us into it.

Thankfully, for me, I accepted the assignment. That`s when I realized that City Kidz Ottawa was just a miracle waiting to happen---I discovered the invitation did not stop with me. God had already been inviting others and when I told them about what I was doing, they too, excitedly, said yes. Like ever-expanding ripples across water when an object is dropped into it, the invitation to take part in something like City Kidz Ottawa was going out and had been going out for a long time before, even, I arrived on the scene.

Since then, the circle of supporters has grown consistently and we can proudly look back over the years and see that together, we have been able to impact well over 150 children with God’s love. God invited me to start this important work in 2010 and I had the audacity to accept. Since then many others have also said yes. A never ending call, the invitation continues to beckon others to join the effort.

When you get your invite, what will your response be? We always have two options: we can say yes, or, we can say no. If we do say no, that’s okay, God simply moves on. However, for those of us who have said, and will say, yes to this amazing invitation, no matter how small, we can delight in the knowledge that we have joined a miracle in the making called City Kidz Ottawa. We can rejoice because God is using us to become an integral part of His loving intervention in the lives of Ottawa’s kids----and their amazing response to that love. We can celebrate, because we are helping God to impact Ottawa’s children to transform this city, one child at a time. God’s way. Because, after all, it is His invite, isn’t it?

And ONE for all…

Safe and Sound

The Saturday before last week’s Dream Banquet one of our girls came to me and asked if it would be all right if she and two other girls could sing a song for Remembrance Day at our next Playhouse, which was yesterday.  When I asked her what she wanted to sing, she said Safe and Sound.  I had not heard of this song and drawing on my own life experiences, assumed it would be a nice “children’s song” that she learned at school.  Wanting to encourage her, and feeling deep down that this would be a profound moment, I agreed.

When it came time for her to sing yesterday she and another friend (the original two were away for the weekend) came forward to sing.  This was no “children’s song” however, but, in fact a Taylor Swift song and the lyrics were powerfully moving.  Every rambunctious, excited-to-be-at-the-Playhouse child, was spellbound by the richness of their voices and erupted in enthusiastic applause when it was over.  As for me, I was, as some would say, “toast” and it was a little hard to hold it together to prevent creating a giant puddle of tears right there on the stage with them. However, seeing this as a wonderful teaching moment to reinforce the week’s theme of “helping others”, I drew on the fact that soldiers helped us by going away to other countries to protect our freedom and that some even died in wars.  I suggested that even though it wasn’t officially Remembrance Day we would have a two minutes of silence in honour of the soldiers who had fought for our freedom.  What followed amazed me.

Every normally excited child from the youngest six year old, to the oldest junior leader, stood still with heads bowed and kept respectful silence, for the entire two minutes.  Impressive and definitely indicative to all who were present that there is so much more going on in those hearts of theirs.  These children, although perhaps not grasping the full meaning of what they were doing were able intuitively to understand the seriousness of the moment and showed an enormous respect for those who had fought for their freedom.

I can only speculate as to why they did this.  The Taylor Swift song has a haunting yet hopeful lyric that despite the war outside the window you are still “safe and sound”.  The fact that many of our kids come from refugee families from war torn African countries and others come from families fighting their own battles forced onto them by poverty, my thoughts turn toward the possibility that these children are soldiers fighting in their own little war.  The reason that they stood in such silence and were able to sustain it, is because they can relate. 

The 2012 City Kidz Dream Banquet and Silent Auction was a success. We sold out, the Centurion Banquet Centre menu was excellent and keynote Yasir Naqvi MPP for Ottawa Centre and EMCEE Richard Long of Love Ottawa were eloquent.  We raised over $4,000 from the generosity of all the people present.  It was a big event and quite positively impacting for me, in the end. 

But, as big a moment as that event was for me, I had my biggest moment yesterday at Saturday’s Playhouse, as I was reminded as to why I started a branch of City Kidz in Ottawa and why we need the money to keep our program going:  It’s about the kids.  It’s about putting a smile on those battle weary faces; telling them we love them, that God loves them, that we believe they can achieve their greatest dream.  It’s about being to them that someone who they can lean on when their battles are raging on. 

And for those of our investors who have donated either their time, or large sums of money, or silent auction gifts so we could keep this program present in the lives of these children, you are as much a part of keeping their dreams alive as those of us on the frontlines are.  You can go ahead and feel REALLY GOOD about what you have done.  Because, in the end, it’s all about all of us who are concerned for their welfare singing to them, along with Taylor Swift, the lyric to her beautiful song Safe and Sound:

Don't you dare look out your window, darling,
Everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold on to this lullaby
Even when the music's gone

Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound

 

Good on  you!!

…And ONE for all!!

Just Thinking

I’ve been noticing in media lately, that there has been a lot of emphasis on achieving our dreams.  I’ve also noticed greater numbers of young people holding out for their dream job before taking a mundane job; and people who have found themselves unemployed for the first time in their lives, discovering their “dream career” after being forced  into finding more creative ways to make a buck. 

It’s not bad at all to have gifts and talents that we want to utilize to receive greater fulfillment in life.  I know my grandfather who raised seven children during the Great Depression may take a different view, but I do agree with today’s philosophy to encourage greater fulfillment in our career.  Perhaps not so extremely as to say we pass up the jobs that keep our family fed while waiting for that dream career to emerge; but, I am a firm believer that if we are using our God-given gifts in our area of work, we’re going to be happier in life, overall.

But is that enough?

I saw two quotes recently from Matthew Barnett of the LA Dream Centre, who said, People that dream for their own personal success dream from their inner poverty and When you dream for others, you can dream forever.  

What I think Matthew is saying is, it’s not bad to dream for ourselves, but when we do, we are creating dreams that come from a place of self-fulfillment and gratification that many times are birthed out of past hurts and pride. This is the inner poverty that Matthew is speaking of. This may bring satisfaction for a period of time because we are using our God-given gifts, but in the end it too will soon feel mundane, leaving a longing deep within us to really feel personally fulfilled.   His thinking is, that the greatest personal fulfillment in life comes when we look outside of ourselves and our own personal needs and dream instead to transform the world into a better place. This will feel contradictory to some, because it’s hard to jive the sense that personal fulfillment comes through not thinking about our needs.  I know, however, that Matthew Barnett speaks from experience as the head of a place that is in the business of dreaming dreams that improve the culture around them.

I agree. Personal fulfillment can only be achieved when we take the focus from ourselves and onto how we can dream dreams that will transform our family, our neighbourhood, our city and even our nation into a better place.  When we achieve this level of higher dreaming for the greater good and then actually apply them (application is essential) we will notice our dreams multiplying and with it our sense of fulfillment.  In other words, we will dream forever --- as Matthew says.

What are your dreams today?

…And ONE for all!!

Why We Need You!

Crime Prevention Ottawa produced a report in 2009 entitled Ottawa Youth Gang Prevention Initiative. Within it, it identified six priority areas in Ottawa that are at-risk for youth-gang involvement, which includes the Overbrook area that our program is currently reaching.

As a city we are doing a lot better than most as far as gang involvement is concerned, but there are still concerns that this problem is emerging. The City Kidz mission is to come alongside young children who are at-risk and build their resilience and self-esteem and teach them right from wrong. We do this with the hope that these children will make the right choice when faced with the wrong. It also seems we are one of only a few in this city that is actually reaching this age group, because this report also identified gaps in programming for the 6-12 year old group, for early intervention for the prevention of youth-gang involvement. We need YOUR help.

City Kidz Ottawa is funded solely by concerned citizens like yourself. We have our Dream Banquet and Silent Auction coming up on November 8th. Will you come and bring your friends? Every dollar spent in Ottawa, stays in Ottawa for the benefit of Ottawa children. We need the community to provide the resources to keep this vital organization going at such a pivotal time for the betterment of Ottawa. Contact Wendy directly at 613-796-3063, or email at wendy@citykidz.ca or purchase them online at City Kidz Ottawa

…And ONE for all!!

You’re Invited!

…And ONE for all!!