Learning is Fun at A Child’s World!

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Abby and Ellie both love coming to school at A Child’s World each day. Now that they’re both in the PreK room, they like being some of the big kids in the school. Between giggles, Abby shares “I get to see my friends each day!  Ellie’s my best friend, and Emily, and Anna, Lila, Scarlett, Devin, RJ, Lele, and Ellen and…”

Abby & Ellie stand outside the door of their PreK room at A Child’s World.

“Abby, that’s almost the whole class!  I like Miss Allison and Miss Hailey and Miss Vonnie our teachers,” shares Ellie. “They play color tag with us, draw with us, color with us, count with us…”

“I can count numbers to 100!” exclaims Abby. “I like to make art though.”

“Yeah! I like making art projects,” says Ellie. “I never get bored.”

“I get bored- when I’m at home” giggles Abby.

“Well, maybe at home,” Ellie agrees. “But not at school!”

At A Child’s World (ACW), we love hearing that our kids are having a great time, while learning valuable skills. It’s an integral part of our mission to prepare children to make their mark on the world by providing quality care that will enrich a child’s unique social, emotional, physical and intellectual development.

A program of the YWCA Cass Clay, ACW is a childcare facility that is open to the public. ACW is licensed by the Department of Human Services and accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. ACW is proud to be one of only ten accredited programs in North Dakota and is licensed to care for 111 children.

The center utilizes four approaches to our early childhood curriculum:  Creative, Integrated and Emergent, Anti-bias and Environmental Rating Scales. Creative Curriculum teaches to the specific stages children naturally progress through, while at the same time teaching to the individual child within each progression as they move through at their own speed. Integrated and Emergent Curriculum is based on what children show interest in; the teacher then integrates that emerging idea into a lesson plan or activity. Our Anti-bias curriculum teaches children to respect their own culture, as well as that of others and encourages children to see people of diverse cultures working together as unique parts of a whole community. Environmental Rating Scales help teachers create environments to help children learn.

At ACW, we believe children live what they learn, and it is our responsibility to teach them how to flourish in our ever-changing world. After all, our kids have big plans:

“When I grow up, I want to be a dancer,” says Abby.  “And I’ll count to a gazillion!”

“Well, when I grow up, I want to work here [at A Child’s World]” shares Ellie.

Don’t Toss It, Thrift It!

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Help YWCA Fill the Savers Truck!

When cleaning your house this spring, you’re likely to find items you haven’t used in ages. Don’t toss it- thrift it! Every time you choose to donate your excess clothing or household items instead of discarding them in the trash, you positively impact our community!

The YWCA Cass Clay is a proud partner of Savers, a thrift store offering household goods, clothing and accessories for men, women and children. Savers believes that items repurposed within local communities should benefit local communities. That’s why Savers always partners with local nonprofit organizations.  Here in Fargo, the YWCA Cass Clay is financially supported by every donation of clothing, housewares, furniture and more to Savers. By doing so, otherwise unused goods create sustainable revenue to support the YWCA’s vital community programs and services. By recycling, we keep usable product out of local landfills, and help women and children meet their most basic needs. It’s a win-win!

The Savers family of thrift stores saves more than 600 million pounds of quality used goods from landfills each year.  During Cleanup Week this year, the YWCA and Savers encourage you to consider giving your gently used goods a second chance. Rather than placing your usable household items on the curb, help the YWCA fill the Savers truck. Look for the Savers truck parked at the Emergency Shelter May 3rd through May 10th for your donating convenience. This week (or anytime throughout the year) you can bring items directly to our partner Savers, located at 1623 38th St SW, Fargo.

Of course, you can always choose to have your donations go directly to our shelter residents.  Simply bring your donations to the Emergency Shelter, located at 3000 South University Drive, Fargo.  To see a list of our most urgent needs for the Emergency Shelter Residents, please visit our website: www.ywcacassclay.org

Vote for the YWCA in the VISIONBank Giving Hearts Day video contest!

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You might have already seen that Thursday, February 14 marks the sixth annual Giving Hearts Day. During this one day fundraising event, Dakota Medical Foundation (DMF) wants to inspire you to give back. You can maximize your gift to the YWCA on February 14; DMF will match online contributions of $10 or more made to Giving Hearts Day participants, up to $4,000! (Furthermore, DMF will award donation incentives to organizations raising the most funds during the 24 hour time period.)

You can also help the YWCA gain more funding by voting for the YWCA in the Giving Hearts Day video contest. VISIONBank in Fargo is hosting their own video contest in conjunction with Giving Hearts Day. All you have to do is check out our video at this link, visit their website here, and vote for the YWCA Cass Clay! That’s it! It’s as easy as that, no personal information needed, and you could help the YWCA Cass Clay gain more funding to support our mission and programs.

We impact lives on a daily basis, and we wouldn’t be able to do so without the wonderful community support we receive. To make a secure online contribution to the YWCA and have your donation matched on Giving Hearts Day, simply go to www.impactgiveback.org on February 14 and click on the Giving Hearts Day “Donate” button.

A special thanks goes out to the Impact Foundation for making this day possible, and to VISIONBank for their support through the video contest. Be sure to keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter to see how we’re recognizing Giving Hearts Day, to check out our Giving Hearts Day video, and more!

Calling all past Women of the Year recipients!

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As you may have read in our last blog post, 2013 marks the 40th annual Women of the Year event for the YWCA Cass Clay. Through Wednesday, March 6, we will be accepting nominations for this year’s event (nomination forms and more details can be found on our website by clicking here.)

Recognizing area women since 1973, the Women of the Year event celebrates and honors women and businesses whose passion and service inspire and shape the Cass-Clay community.  As part of the special 40th anniversary celebration, we’re looking for past Women of the Year recipients to be honored at a separate, private event on Sunday, April 28, 2013.

Though we’ve been able to find most of these outstanding women, we’re still trying to find and contact some past recipients, and we still need your help!

If you are a past Women of the Year recipient, or if you know someone who is and have their contact information or details about where they may be, please call us at (701) 232-2547 or email us at woty@ywcacassclay.org.

A program we came across, from the 1975 Women of the Year event!

Thank you again for your help with and support of this wonderful event.  We’re looking forward to a stellar 40th annual celebration, and wouldn’t be able to do it without such great community support.

(P.S. –To keep up-to-date on Women of the Year and other important happenings with the YWCA Cass Clay, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!)

Who in the Cass-Clay community inspires you?

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Things are really picking up around here as the holidays have ended and 2013 is in full swing.  With a new year means new projects, new resolutions, and a new start.  We hope the year is off to a great beginning for you!

2013 also marks the 40th annual Women of the Year event for the YWCA Cass Clay.  Now through Wednesday, March 6, we will be accepting nominations for the event.  Recognizing area women since 1973, the Women of the Year event celebrates and honors women and businesses whose passion and service inspire you and shape the Cass-Clay community.

Furthermore, proceeds from this special event support the mission and programs of the YWCA Cass Clay.  Women of the Year recipients will be named during the event to be held on Monday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Fargo Holiday Inn.

This leads us to ask: who in the Cass-Clay community inspires you? Maybe it’s a co-worker, friend, relative, or teacher.  Maybe it’s someone you’ve looked up to your entire life, or someone you’ve recently met.  As you think about it, please consider nominating an outstanding woman or business to be recognized in one of the following twelve categories:

Categories for Individuals

  • Advocating for Equality
  • Arts & Communication
  • Business
  • Community Service
  • Education
  • Faith Community
  • Florence Reed Owens (Lifetime Achievement)
  • Volunteer Service
  • Wellness
  • Young Woman of Today & Tomorrow (ages 15-22)
  • Youth Advocacy

Category for Businesses

  • Business/Organization that Empowers Women

Nomination forms are available on our website by clicking here.  Forms are also available at our administrative offices, located at 3100 12th Ave. N. in Fargo. Please call (701) 232-2547 or email Abby at aboggs@ywcacassclay.org with any questions.

Thank you to the community for supporting this special event for 40 years.  We’re excited to keep you updated as we plan for this milestone event, and hope you consider nominating an outstanding and inspirational woman or business in your life today!

2012 Women of the Year recipients. Congratulations to all!

Happy Holidays from the YWCA Cass Clay!

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From all of us at the YWCA Cass Clay, we hope your holiday season is full of joy and peace.  We extend a big thank you to the entire community for helping to make the season brighter for the women and children in YWCA programs.

As we mentioned in our last post, KFGO and Y94 teamed up once again for Stuff the Bus.  The bus, courtesy of MatBus, was decked out with holiday decorations and made lots of stops around town to collect donations. We received an abundance of beautiful gifts from this donation drive, and are so grateful for the efforts of KFGO, Y94, and MatBus, as well as the generosity of the entire Cass-Clay community.

The stuffed bus arriving at the YWCA Emergency Shelter.

The gifts piling up from Stuff the Bus!

YWCA staff, along with Y94 and KFGO staff and volunteers. Thanks for all of your hard work!

Following Stuff the Bus, our Unique Boutique event took place on Friday, December 7.  This event was also a great success, giving over 200 women and children the opportunity to shop (at no cost to them) for gifts for their loved ones.  We had tons of wonderful gift donations and lots of great help from great volunteers.

A glimpse of the room set up for Unique Boutique — look at all of the great gifts!

Just a few of the wonderful volunteers helping wrap gifts. Thank you!

Last Thursday, our Client Party rounded out our series of holiday events.  The women and children in YWCA programs enjoyed a special night, including fun outings for the kids, a holiday meal and holiday entertainment for the women, and a visit for everyone from Santa Clause, Mrs. Clause, and the elves from the North Pole!  As always, Santa was a huge hit with people of all ages, including YWCA Staff as you can see below!

Some of the YWCA staff with Santa Clause at the Client Party!

We’ve received an outpouring of support this season, and for that, we say thank you.  Whether you gave monetary donations, gift donations, or donated your time volunteering, your actions have helped make this time of year special for those who need it most; your actions help us do the work we do day in and day out at the YWCA.  Thank you for your dedication to helping women and children in our community!

P.S.—As you might have seen on our Facebook page, Bremer Bank is giving away $2,000 in their Holiday Nonprofit Giveaway.  All you have to do is visit their Facebook page to cast your vote.  Voting ends tonight at 8:00 p.m. CST, so please visit their page here and cast your vote for the YWCA Cass Clay!

More holiday happenings at the YWCA

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Happy December, everyone!  We hope the last month of 2012 is off to a great start for you.  As we’re in the midst of the holiday season and we near closer to 2013, things continue to stay busy for us at the YWCA.

This Friday is Unique Boutique, our one day shopping event for the women and children utilizing the services of the YWCA Cass Clay. We’ve received many wonderful gift donations and wrapping supplies for this event, so we would like to say thank you to everyone for donating these items.  Your donations will help make the season brighter for the women and children in our care.

Some of the gifts after being wrapped at Unique Boutique 2011.

This week also marks a fun and special event that benefits the women and children at our Shelter for the holidays.  KFGO and Y94 are teaming up once again for Stuff the Bus 2012.  Today and tomorrow (December 5 and 6),  MatBus is generously providing a bus to be stuffed with donations for residents of the Emergency Shelter, as well as goods for the Red River Children’s Advocacy Center’s Kids Closet.

The bus will be at West Acres, the Moorhead Center Mall, the Fargodome, and Kmart at various times throughout Wednesday and Thursday.  Visit the KFGO or Y94 website to see where the bus will be when, and to get more details on items being collected and information about the Stuff the Bus event.

Lastly, next week is our annual Client Party and we’re in need of volunteers for the event.  The Client Party is Thursday, December 13, and volunteers are needed for various shifts and tasks. Be sure to “like” us and check our Facebook page, where we’ll share the link where you can read volunteer job descriptions and sign up for a time to volunteer.

As always, we thank the community for the support we receive, during the holiday season and all year long!

Holiday Happenings at the YWCA

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The holidays become a busy time for everyone, and it’s no different for us here at the YWCA.  We strive to make this time of year a special time for the women and children in our care, and are so grateful for the outpouring of support the Fargo-Moorhead community has shown us through donating gifts, holding donation drives, and volunteering (at this time of year and all year long!)

Next Friday, December 7th is our annual Unique Boutique event.  During this one-day shopping event, families utilizing the services of the YWCA are able to shop for presents for their immediate family members.  If you’re interested in volunteering, please click this link to see available time slots and job descriptions, and to register and sign up to volunteer!

We’ve received a lot of wonderful gifts for this event, so thank you to all who have donated gifts and supplies for Unique Boutique.  Last night, we were fortunate to visit Hope Lutheran Church in South Fargo, where their 6th and 7th grade confirmation classes held a donation drive for gifts and hygiene supplies.  Rachel, our Associate Executive Director, spoke to the group and showed them a video about the YWCA Cass Clay, while the kids asked questions about the YWCA, decorated holiday cards for the Emergency Shelter, and compiled their gift donations.

A big thank you goes out to Hope Lutheran Church for having us as guests last night and for their wonderful support; to their staff and volunteers for making this donation drive so successful, and to the members of the church for their great generosity.  The gifts and necessities collected will positively impact the women and children we serve, during the holidays and beyond.

We’re excited because we get to go back to Hope Lutheran Church next week to do the same thing with their 8th and 9th graders!  Check out some photos from last night below, and be sure to follow us on Facebook where we’ll add more photos next week.

Hope Lutheran confirmation classes and parent volunteers getting ready to decorate holiday cards.

Rachel, our Associate Executive Director, speaking to the group.

Just a glimpse of some of the many donations collected. Thank you, Hope Lutheran!

Some of the beautiful, handmade cards the confirmation students at Hope Lutheran made for the YWCA. Such a nice and thoughtful touch for the holidays!

The gifts, all loaded into the truck and ready to be taken to the YWCA.

A taste of November at the YWCA Cass Clay

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November has been a busy time here at the YWCA Cass Clay, so we figured we’d share a small sample of what we’ve been up to lately.  As we shared in our last blog post, November 9 was our United Way campaign kickoff. Our campaign lasted all of last week with fun events every day and throughout the week, including: Comfy Clothes Day, Sports Day, a puck toss contest, a concession stand snack cart, door prizes for participation, Penny Wars, and more.

As you can see in a couple of the photos below, our Penny Wars heated up on Friday as teams made a last-ditch effort to get the most pennies into their jars while adding the most other currency to the other teams’ jars.  Making it even more exciting, the winning team won by less than 60 cents!

A great photo of the action!

Penny Wars teams filling the break room before the final count.

Our Taco in a Bag concession stand cart!

Michelle, a lucky winner of one of the prizes!

Karen was a winner of one of the prizes on Sports Day!

Congrats on winning the Scheels gift card, Jillian!

Ending our week, last night we had a table selling tickets at the annual West Acres event “It’s A Wonderful Night.”  This community shopping event allows mall-goers to shop past normal store hours, take advantage of special store savings, enjoy holiday entertainment, and register for numerous door prizes.  To make it even better, all ticket proceeds benefit local fundraising organizations. It was great to see the big turnout last night, and we thank everyone who attended and hope you enjoyed your evening.

Lastly, today marks the first day of filling the Fargodome for Fill the Dome 2012. Local schools and organizations have begun delivering food they’ve collected to the Fargodome, in an effort to fill the dome and reach the goal of feeding over 500,000 people.  As one of the benefiting organizations from this effort, the YWCA Cass Clay is grateful for the group’s hard work, as well as the support of the community. If you’d like to donate food, it can be dropped off at the Fargodome today or tomorrow, located at 1800 N. University Drive in Fargo.  Let’s fill the dome!

We wish you all a safe and happy holiday later this week, and will leave you with this favorite photo of ours from last week’s campaign:

Our youngest (and cutest) United Way campaign participant!

2012 YWCA United Way Campaign

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Today is the kickoff of the YWCA Cass Clay’s 2012 United Way campaign, and the energy among our employees is absolutely great!  This year’s campaign theme is “Create Everyday Miracles,” and our internal committee has been hard at work to make it a fun and successful event.

As we begin our campaign week, a special shout out  goes to our very own Sarah, our HR Coordinator and Accounting Specialist who is also the Lead Employee Campaign Coordinator for the campaign. She’s been busy, busy, busy, working to make the campaign a great one—thanks, Sarah!

Sarah, hard at work in her office!

 

As part of today’s kickoff, we’re participating in the First Annual Live United T-Shirt Day.  Employees also had the chance to enjoy a breakfast smoothie & tea from Cold Fusion with a $5 donation, watch the 2012 United Way Campaign Video, and be entered into a drawing for prizes.

Some of the YWCA staff proudly sporting their “Live United” T-Shirts.

Next week, we have fun events planned every day.  To give you an idea of what’s in store, we have activities ranging from a comfy clothes day, to a concession stand, to penny wars, to a carnival-style puck toss contest. We’re excited for everything that’s planned, and are even more excited to make a difference with the United Way.

We have to extend a special thank you to the United Way for all of the great work they do.  We also have to thank all of you who contribute to the cause, as we are one of the fortunate agencies to benefit from the generosity of the community through the United Way Cass Clay. Thank you for helping create everyday miracles in our area!