Santa Crawl 2011: It’s all for the kids!

Posted on December 21, 2011 by AliciaJ

Santa Crawl 2011

If you were wandering around lower Manhattan last Saturday looking for holiday gifts, you may have instead found holiday cheer – in the form of 40 strapping, young Santas caroling and merry-making their way through New York City. Santa Crawl is an annual all-male bar crawl that requires participants to sport the quintessential suit, hat, and white beard all day long; and this year, the guys teamed up with Change for Kids to raise funds for our four partner elementary schools.

CFK caught up with Junior Council Co-Chair Andrew Maxwell (who, we have to admit, looks dashing in red) to recap the day’s festivities.

Q: Why did you participate in this year’s Santa Crawl?

A: What better way to enjoy the holidays than dressed in a Santa costume, singing “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” while going from bar to bar with a bunch of your friends? Add that to the fact that we were raising funds for CFK, and there was no way I was going to miss it.

Q: How many bars did you all visit?

A: Six in total – Puck Fair Bar, Bleecker Street Bar, Amity Hall, Off The Wagon, Barrow Street Alehouse, and Village Tavern.

Q: Describe your outfit for us.

A: A full Santa costume is required – I spiced mine up a little bit with a pair of Knockaround sunglasses and some Superman Mardi Gras beads – and, of course, the prerequisite Change for Kids button and hat!

Q: What was your favorite part of the day?

Washington Square Park

A: The best part of the day was definitely singing carols in Washington Square Park. Our entire group walked out into the middle of the fountain area, which was dry due to the winter season, and took requests from the crowd as we all belted out Christmas tunes in unison. It was really cool to sing carols that the kids in the crowd wanted to hear. By the end of our sing-a-long, there was a large crowd gathered around, and we took pictures with lots of different groups.

Q: Wow, sounds like a fun day! Did you eat anything in between the bars and carols?!

A: Between Barrow Street Alehouse and Village Tavern, a few Santas picked up pizza – so we munched on that while we walked and caroled. After it was all over, I went home and snacked on a monster burrito from Dos Toros. I almost slept in my Santa costume but thought it’d be better to fold it up, place it in the closet and save it for next year!

Face painting, All-you-can-eat hot dogs, and a Justin Bieber dance off? Sign us up!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Sarah Stevens

Last Saturday 25 fifth grade students from P.S. 73 loaded a bus in the Bronx and landed 35 minutes later at the Variety Boys and Girls Club in Long Island City. As a reward for their hard work and excellent participation all semester in our Bronx Museum of Art and Story Pirates programs, these students were treated to a fun-filled day hosted entirely by our amazing friends at the Variety Children’s Charity.* Every year Variety throws an all day bash for all of the organizations who they work with throughout the city to celebrate the holidays, and this year we were incredibly proud and honored to join in the festivities.

We were very excited to meet all the other groups of kids, and we could not have had more fun during the party. All-you-can-eat hot dogs and soda are not the healthy foods we normally promote, but everybody splurges when Santa cookies are involved, so we were all for it. During lunch the DJ played all our favorites – Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Rihanna – and the gym floor turned into a full blown dance off with kids from all over the city trading off turns in the circle. Between the face painting, arts and crafts, and balloon animals, it was hard to decide exactly what activity to do next. The seemingly never ending entertainment continued with live musicians, a dance troop, and a juggling clown!

At the end of the day, there was one more amazing surprise…. Variety had a special bag full of presents for all of our students! Everybody went home with a brand new DVD to watch with their families over the holidays. Awesome!

Special thanks to the team at Varsity Bus Company Andrea and Andy, for providing our transportation for the day! We would have never made it to the party without them. We are so grateful to have such amazing friends, earlier this year Alison (Andy’s wife) hosted our summer Shop for Kids. Also a big shout-out to Ms. O’Doherty who organized the trip and Mr. Jones who came along to help chaperone.

*Variety Children’s Charity is the lead program sponsor for the Bronx Museum Art Partnership. Thanks to their support, the entire 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades at PS 73 travel to the Museum multiple times a semester to explore the collections and create their own original masterpieces. Pictures of their incredible artwork will be coming soon…

Modern Ink Feature!

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Kristin Black

We’ve been drooling for a week now over Modern Ink – a sweet new online design magazine with laid-back aesthetic and gorgeous layouts. But we have to admit our favorite thing about the publication is the five page(!) CFK feature in their winter edition. Check it out below and then head over to Modern Ink to read the rest of the issue.

Bowl for Kids 2011: It’s a Wrap

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Kristin Black

After the liquor bottles were all put away, after the silent auction items went to good homes, after the CFK staff finally managed to sneak in a full night’s rest, we counted up the total income from this year’s Bowl for Kids…$188,232.

Clink through to check out the official Bowl for Kids slideshow

Which is about $41,000 more than we were able to pull in for Bowl for Kids 2010. Woohoo! Applause, applause! If you celebrated with a few too many Trips to the Principal’s Office (our signature Tom Collins, remember??), you can relive all your half-hazy memories by checking out the photos here. Most importantly, though, you should know that it’s not just our amazing student musicians who benefit from this event every year. Every single one of our programs is in the midst of expansion right now, and it’s because of people like you that our students will continue to receive the kinds of programs that foster creativity and confidence to achieve.
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Community Spotlight: Meet Joshua Holmes

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Kristin Black

Meet Joshua Holmes, the Detroit native with a master’s in public administration, a love for all things sports-related, and a special fondness for NYC food culture. When he’s not on his long-standing quest to find the best burgers and beer in the city, you can find him on the sports field. Any sports field will do. “I play softball, racquetball, football, tennis, and basketball. Also golf and snowboarding. I enjoy reading, though I always fear I don’t do it enough.” Prod him a little though, and he’ll admit that his favorite books are pretty diverse – Freakonomics, all seven Harry Potters, Cornel West’s Race Matters, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I’ve also heard from a very reliable source that he’s consistently voted the best dressed at the annual UVa alumni holiday party – perhaps not so hard to believe of a guy who manages to pull off a red plaid bow tie.

Josh Homes, Best Dressed and Tutor Extroadinaire

The best thing about Joshua, however, is that he spends every Tuesday reading with two very special second graders at P.S. 243 – Rubayet and Trinity (Weird factoid of the day: two of Joshua’s aunts actually attended P.S. 243). Given the recent standards push for nonfiction reading skills, they’ve been working all fall on a slew of animal books, says Joshua. “I’ve gotten a sense of their reading level at this point, so we always start by picking something out that looks really interesting…There’ve been lots of snakes, birds, and birds’ nests,” he adds.

Whether they’re sounding out words, identifying main ideas, or separating fact from opinion, the most exciting part of the process for Joshua has been watching Rubayet and Trinity grow more confident in their reading. “Rubayet was more shy and bashful when we first met, but now sometimes I have a difficult time keeping him on task because he wants to talk about all kinds of things. Trinity is very bubbly and warm. She’s really kind of adorable – like a little cousin.”
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Volunteer Magic: Fresh Spaces, New Computers

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Kristin Black

For the last ten years, P.S. 243′s computer lab has been “under construction” – a full decade of hoping they could get together the resources to provide their students the technology education they’d need to be successful throughout school.

Baruch College volunteers in the new J.P. Morgan computer lab

Finally this summer we met the folks at nPower, a national nonprofit that brings information technology services and training to other nonprofits. When they heard about the situation at our Bedford-Stuyvesant school, they brought in long-time sponsor J.P. Morgan for a little financial muscle. JPM generously donated enough machines to stock up the entire lab, thus ending the agony of yet another year minus computer education. Last but not least, muralist Caitlin Everett and a team of Baruch College volunteers joined nPower to get things set up and pretty in the brand-spanking new lab. You heard right: nonprofit + business + education + individual volunteers = solutions. That’s just how CFK rolls. Meanwhile…

Our favorite South Bronx school was facing a dilemma. CFK’s violin instructor, Mr. Majid, could probably work miracles wherever you put his classes. But this year, the increased student population at P.S. 73 (otherwise great news) pushed Mr. Majid’s violin class into an old locker/shower room (bad news).
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The Chalkboard: 21st Century Skills

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Sarah Stevens

Welcome to The Chalkboard, a column devoted to the ins and outs of CFK’s education programs. For the next few months, Education Director Sarah Stevens will be tackling a five-part mini-series on 21st Century Skills – a set of competencies that guide CFK’s program development. First up…Creativity!

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Our mission at CFK is to help students develop the confidence to achieve their fullest potential by offering a wide range of opportunities where they can discover their unique talents. An inquisitive brain will constantly want more, and we know developing that thirst for knowledge is the first hurdle in preventing future drop outs. We also want to be sure our students are developing the skills they need to be successful in the 21st century – Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Commitment.
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Slam Dunk Auction Items

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Kristin Black

Get excited for Bowl for Kids next week – not only will it be a slamming party, but it will also be the only place in the city with this kind of loot. Take a look at a roundup of our favorites, and then purchase your tickets here.

SIGNED 1994 ALL-STAR BASKETBALL Remember 1994? Shaquille O’Neal, Patrick Ewing, Scotty Pippen, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon…an utterly ridiculous lineup, all in one place again.

GOLF AT MAIDSTONE IN EAST HAMPTON Golf, caddies, and lunch for three at the exclusive Maidstone Club in the Hamptons. Retail value: $1,000

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Meet Jean Mirvil: P.S. 73′s Superman

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Kristin Black

We’ll just say upfront that it’s hard not to gush about Principal Jean Mirvil. Even before we heard the great news that P.S. 73 had been awarded A’s in this year’s school progress report, we were well on our way to an almost embarrassing crush on the man. Let’s start with the basics.

Mr. Mirvil, Principal of P.S. 73

When you speak with Mr. Mirvil at Bowl for Kids next week, the first thing you will notice is the aura of calm that seems to surround him. And whatever your topic of conversation, you will get the distinct impression that he is not only well-versed in the matter but also intensely interested in what you have to say. The man is simply unflappable, a quality clearly perfect for anyone in charge of almost 900 elementary students in what was recently recognized as the poorest congressional district in the nation. Maybe it’s the Haitian lilt that still creeps into his measured tones, but we think you’ll find Mr. Mirvil to be the most intriguing man in the room.

Don’t mistake his calm demeanor for a lack of energy, though. In the four years since Mr. Mirvil arrived at P.S. 73, he has not only reversed the school’s downward performance slide but also rallied a broad range of community support that has meant a major bump in student resources, even as city budgets have taken a dramatic tumble. When Mr. Mirvil arrived at P.S. 73 from his previous post in the Bronx, the school was in “a state of vacuum,” with a high rate of student attrition, limited parental involvement, and a recently departed principal. They were also on their way to becoming a failing school, with C’s from the city and some public relations challenges.
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Sarah Stevens Goes Medieval on Back to School Projects

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Sarah Stevens

On any given day this fall, CFK teachers, partner organizations, and volunteers are hard at work providing engaging educational programs to our students, and we couldn’t be more thrilled! Mr. Justin is teaching kindergarten through 3rd graders fun games to keep them active and healthy. Mr. Majid is quizzing his returning violin students on their scales. Ms. Kathleen is introducing the work of Emilio Sanchez to students at the Bronx Museum. And volunteers are exploring the adventures of Curious George, Arthur, and Babar with new second graders during tutoring. Every day new doors are being opened and opportunities are provided to eager kids ready to learn.

Sarah Stevens gets it done.

One of the most exciting program developments this fall has been the exponential growth of our volunteer tutoring efforts. In its third year, the one-on-one literacy tutoring program at PS 243 has tripled and we are continuing to train new volunteers. The school has come to rely on CFK tutors for their dedication to the students and invaluable classroom support. Once a week tutors meet with 2nd and 3rd grade students to work on critical writing and reading comprehension skills. With characters like the Bernstein Bears and Madeline to keep them busy, though, it doesn’t seem fair to call their studying “work.”

We have also seen our partnership with Fordham University at PS 73 more than triple since last spring. Fordham students drive their “Ram Vans” a few blocks south every Wednesday to pair up with 4th and 5th grade kids to write the PS 73 school newspaper. If last year’s paper is any indicator, those budding journalists will be prime to steal our jobs writing for the CFK newsletter and blog!

After only a few weeks, we can already tell this year us going to be even more exciting than last, and we can’t wait to share it with you!