2009 Shop for An Angel Project

Making the Holidays Brighter for Kids

Shop for an Angel is an FRC holiday tradition created sixteen years ago when the staff decided to try to fill the void felt by many children during the holiday season. 

Friends come together to provide toys and gifts for the children FRC serves, brightening their holidays and bringing back simple joys. In 2009, Shop for an Angel will supply gifts for over 700 children! Donated new toys, games and books (wrapping paper too!) and hats and mittens will help FRC provide something special for every boy and girl from newborn age to young adult.  

We Need Toys! How You Can Help: 

• Sponsor a toy drive and ask your friends, family and co-workers to contribute.
• Keep FRC’s kids in mind as you shop for your loved ones. 
• Below is a wish list of the items needed. You can also purchase items from the online wish list on Amazon.com. Simply purchase items from the wish list and they will be shipped directly to our office.
• Cash contributions are welcome.  Make checks payable to Family Resource Center.  Your cash donation will be used to purchase new toys. Donations can be mailed to: Family Resource Center, 3309 S. Kingshighway Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63139.
• Deliver unwrapped toys to FRC by November 25, 2009.

The Wish List:

• Stuffed animals
• Learning and discovery toys and books
• Rattles and teething toys
• Trucks, cars and race sets
• Remote control cars
• Building sets and blocks
• Dolls of all ethnicities & accessories
• Pretend dress-up kits
• Action toys and super hero figurines, such as Transformers®, Spiderman® and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®
• Character theme toys, such as:  Disney®, Sesame Street®, Dora the Explorer®, Strawberry Shortcake®, Thomas the Tank Engine®, Bob the Builder® and Curious George®
• Tricycles, bikes and bike helmets
• Kitchen and play food sets
• Games for all ages
• Radios 
• Personal CD players and batteries
• Handheld video games and batteries
• MP3 players & batteries
• Shower gel and cologne sets for teens
• Watches
• Hats and mittens or gloves for all ages

Calling all volunteers!

Interested in becoming more involved with FRC? Now is your chance to get involved in a fun and exciting event!

We are looking for volunteers to serve on our 2010 “Love Grows Here” Gala Committee. The event will be held on Saturday, May 8^th at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown St. Louis. This is our largest fundraising event of the year, and is always a fun and elegant time. We’d love to have your help!

The following committees are looking for members:

Acquisitions Committee
Obtain items for silent auction
Obtain items for live auction
Set-up items for silent and live auctions

Sponsorship Committee
Determine sponsorship goals
Develop a solicitation plan
Secure sponsorships
Plan event “ask”

Creative Committee
Determine Theme/Messaging
Graphic Design, including invitation, programs, and event materials
Décor and Event Set-up
Favors
Entertainment
Photographer/Publicity

Volunteer Committee
Secure volunteers
Volunteer coordination
Volunteer coverage the day of the event

If you are interested in serving on one these committees, please contact Tina Nelson at 314.534.9350. We promise that you will have a great time!

Chevy’s Fresh-Mex Fiesta Benefitting FRC

Join us for another Chevys Fresh Mex Fiesta to benefit Family Resouce Center!

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

11:00 am – close*

Visit any of the following Chevy’s locations on this date and 15% of the proceeds will be donated to Family Resource Center.

Chesterfield
Crestwood
O’Fallon (Missouri and Illinois)
Hazelwood
Olivette
Tesson Ferry

You must take this flyer and present it to your server for the proceeds to be credited to FRC.

Visit www.chevys.com for directions to each location.

*O’Fallon Missouri event is from 4pm – close.

Shop for a Cause at Macy’s!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Purchase a $5 Shopping Pass to Macy’s for discounts and a chance to win a $500 gift card!

Shop For A Cause gives you the opportunity to give back to your community by purchasing a $5 Shopping Pass.* This pass offers exclusive savings at Macy’s and includes an entry into a drawing for a $500 Macy’s gift card on Saturday, October 17th.

Family Resource Center will keep 100% of the Shopping Pass sale proceeds.  Come together with Macy’s & Family Resource Center and make a difference in the life of a child.

To purchase passes please contact Tina Nelson at 314-534-9350, tnelson@frcmo.org, or send $5 for each pass desired to Family Resource Center, 3309 S. Kingshighway Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63139

What a difference a day makes!

*Some exclusions apply.

Coming Soon – A New Look

In April, Family Resource Center was awarded a $17,000 Capacity Building Grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health. One of the areas that we wanted to look seriously at in this organization was branding and messaging, and how to reach the community effectively.

With the help of Henning Communications and FRC’s board of directors, the development team has put together a plan to roll out an updated logo and coordinating design pieces, and more importantly, messaging that truly reflects the mission of this organization. It should be an exciting few months as we launch this new endeavor among our constituents.

Be on the lookout for the first major communications piece in our new branding project – the fall newsletter, slated to mail in mid-October. If you’re not on the mailing list, please contact Lorraine King at 314.534.9350 to be added.

More to come!

Parenting Wisely

This fall, Family Resource Center will be offering free sessions of Parenting Wisely, an innovative parenting resource program.

Parenting Wisely is a free, five-week interactive parent training program that improves family communication, builds stronger parent-child relationships, reduces child behavior problems and improves school performance.  The average class meets for two hours each week for five weeks.  Experienced Parent Educators facilitate each session, which can be tailored to meet the needs of any group interested in developing more tools to “Parent Wisely.” 

 Topics covered will include, but not limited to: 

• Active Listening
• Assertive Discipline
• Building Responsibility
• Setting Consequences
• Monitoring School Work and Friends
• Tools to Reduce Parental Stress
• Managing Sibling Conflict

This program is free to any group who is interested – we will come to schools, businesses, churches, community organizations, and more! For more information about how to bring Parenting Wisely to your group, contact Lora Gulley, Program Manager, at 314.534.9350 or lgulley@frcmo.org.

Lend a Hand to the United Way

The United Way of Greater St. Louis has been a long-term supporter of Family Resource Center for many years. In 2009 alone, the United Way allocated $324,352 to help fund FRC’s programs. Without their support, many of our programs would struggle to succeed.

For the next two months, the United Way is conducting their annual giving campaign. This year they are asking everyone to “Lend a Hand” to help support the community.

For more information about how you can help, download the campaign brochure CampaignFlier, or visit the United Way website. By supporting the United Way, you’re supporting Family Resource Center!

Thousands of Smiles, Thousands of Dollars

A huge thank you must be extended to everyone who participated in the 15th Annual “18 Holes, Thousands of Smiles” Golf Tournament on August 24th. Because of our 180 golfers, volunteers, and corporate sponsors at the event, we were able to raise over $130,000 to help support FRC’s children and families. In economic times such as this, being able to raise that amount of money really brought a smile to the face of everyone at FRC.

We had beautiful weather for the event, and everyone had a great time. You can check out the pictures of all our foursomes here.

Each year at the golf tournament, Family Resource Center presents the Guardian of the Green Award to a company who embodies the following characteristics:

• Outstanding and sustained support of Family Resource Center’s golf tournament
• Advocacy for the Tournament and Family Resource Center in the community
• Commitment to Family Resource Center’s mission of preventing and treating child abuse and neglect

This year, FRC was pleased to honor St. Luke’s Hospital as the recipient of the 2009 Guardian of the Green Award. St. Luke’s became involved with FRC in 1995 with the support of Dr. George Tucker.  As a board member and president, his leadership led to the involvement of additional St. Luke’s employees, including past president Jan Hess and current Vice President of Programs Laura Holt. 

St. Luke’s support for FRC’s Golf Tournament is a wonderful example of how companies can expand FRC’sability to reach new audiences.  Not only has St. Luke’s been a consistent sponsor, but has also brought vendors, friends, and other companies to the tournament. Over the past five years, this commitment has led to $40,000 in direct cash contributions to the golf tournament – not mention all the advocacy and good will that has come to us from those important contacts. St. Luke’s is truly an example of how companies can spread our mission, and for that, FRC is very grateful.

The award was accepted by Laura Holt and Jan Hess:

Also, a big congratulations goes out to the winners of the tournament!

Lewis and Clark Course Winner: The Homan Team – Christine Homan (Guardian Society Chairperson), Rev. Greg Smith, Cynthia Behr, and Devin Homan.

Tavern Green Course Winner: Thompson Coburn – Tom Corbett, Tom Cohn, Garrett Reuter and Clint Williams.

Putting on a golf tournament takes a lot of hard work and effort, and we’d like to say thank you to our golf committee, our volunteers, and all of our sponsors. You made this event possible!

We’re already planning our 16th Annual Golf Tournament and are looking for committee members, sponsors, and volunteers. If you’re interested in participating, contact Tina Nelson at 314.534.9340.

MICDS Varsity Field Hockey Team Cleans Up

The girl’s varsity field hockey team from Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS) very generously spent their last day of summer vacation volunteering at Family Resource Center. Chief Development Officer John Heithaus gave the team an introduction about the programs and services offered by FRC before putting them to work.

The girls helped out primarily in the Therapeutic Preschool/Day Treatment area, cleaning classrooms, washing toys, and sprucing up the area. The preschool has anywhere from 10-12 kids attending every morning, so you can imagine how often the place needs a deep cleaning! They also assisted with sorting some large donations of clothing, and really put forth a great effort to assist FRC.

“Most teenagers wouldn’t want to spend a beautiful day of summer, especially during their last day of vacation, cleaning up classrooms,” said John Heithaus. “It was really inspiring to see how hard these girls worked, and always with a smile on their face. We sincerely need and appreciate these types of efforts from our volunteers.”

View more photos on flickr.

A beautiful day for golf

We took a break from blogging yesterday for the 15th Annual FRC Golf Tournament at the Country Club of St. Albans. It was a gorgeous, perfect, sunny day for the 180 golfers who participated in the event. Check back later on this week for photos and more details about the event!