Five

 

Five years ago, the newly formed Board at Kids Five & Over gathered around the kitchen table and brainstormed ways to build a nonprofit that could immediately support the needs of local children while planting deep financial roots into the future. 

We could not have imagined all the wonderful ways the next five years would unfold!  From our first sponsorship in 2013 to our most recent one today, we’ve heard stories of children who simply want a chance.  We’ve read heartfelt letters from parents, grandparents, educators, coaches and mentors asking if we can fill a financial void while families find their footings, and we’ve read thank you notes from children who say we’ve made their dreams come true.  Nothing has been more rewarding than hearing from the children and knowing the financial support from Kids Five & Over has helped them be just that – children. 

In our first year as a nonprofit, we actively solicited donations so we could get on with the business of sponsoring children.  In subsequent years, unsolicited donations sustained our mission.  Imagine that?  The P.O box filled up, PayPal sent email notifications of funds received, and anonymous donations arrived in the form of envelopes stuffed with cash.  True story!

This year, in honor of our 5^th birthday, we are circling back to year #1 and actively soliciting donations.  We’re doing this because it’s a milestone birthday and that makes us feel as if we can yell from the rooftops, especially because bombarding you with requests for funding has never been how we roll. 

This year we are hoping for a burst of financial growth that will help expand our circle of support as we anticipate a record number of requests for summer funding.

Can you help?  Can you pledge $5 in honor of our 5^th year – just enough to say you’re thinking about us?  You can add as many zeros as you want (wink) but please know that $5 tells us you’re out there and you share in our mission:

Kids Five & Over is an all-volunteer local nonprofit 

dedicated to helping children in challenging economic circumstances 

grow their talents and find their niche.

A sustained commitment to financial support and programming is our focus 

so that each child can reach his or her full potential.

In a time when over 80% of new nonprofits are said to fail, we are honored and humbled to feel lifted by your caring hearts.  Our mission remains strong and our hearts hold great hope for the future.

Thank you!

P.O. Box 4746

Portsmouth, N.H. 03802

Online donations can be made here

.

Four

Kids Five & Over

Our 4th birthday came and went quietly.

Quietly is how we do business.

For the past four years we have grown steadily as a nonprofit with a mission statement that has held true.

We've funded many opportunities for children over the last four years and we are especially proud of the ways we've helped them afford the peripheral items & equipment needed to participate in their chosen activity so they can truly show up and blend in.  We are fiercely determined to make blending in an option for our K50 kids. However, this consistently leaves us with a marketing dilemma.

Making a choice to keep the details of our K50 children's lives private (financially and otherwise) means we are not able to leverage their stories to help us raise funds.  This topic comes up in conversation at all our Board meetings and we always land in the same place.  We are not willing to exploit the very lives we are working to improve.

In the early years we were concerned this decision would make for a short-lived nonprofit, but we stayed the course.  Now, in year four, we can see that our decision is not only wise, it is right.  We want our K50 kids to step into their funded opportunities with a clean slate and if this means we take a financial hit so they don't have to, then that is how it will be.  Providing opportunities for them to be free of constraints in their young lives is incredibly rewarding for us.  They deserve that and much, much more.

How have we been able to stay afloat without any significant marketing plan?  Our donors are incredibly committed to our mission and our circle of support grows wider every year.  Word of mouth is our greatest tool and people simply volunteer to donate.  In our first year, we solicited local businesses for donations.  Since then, we've been held strong by unsolicited donations.  People get it.  They don't need to see the face of a child or hear about the child's struggles to be convinced to donate.  They simply remember their own childhoods, draw from those experiences and donate as a way to pay their own gratitude forward.  Meantime, we continue to promise that 100% of all donated funds will go directly to the children we sponsor.

There will never be a shortage of children who need our financial support. And, hopefully, there will never be a shortage of people who want to fund the activities our K50 kids both want and need in their lives.

The experience of being part of an organization that is truly doing good in our community brings rewards that can't be measured.  Our most heart-felt thanks to all of you who have made the last four years so remarkable.  We truly could not do it without you.

Three

Kids Five and Over

We made a quiet entrance in 2013, excited to build a nonprofit to support local children as they explore their gifts and meet like-minded friends.

In 2014, we celebrated our first birthday with an exhale of gratitude to our supporters and with great pride for the accomplishments of our sponsored K50 kids.  

In 2015, we stayed the course.  

The early years of a nonprofit are often riddled with exploration and misstep which explains why less than 15% of nonprofits survive.  

How have we survived?  We are an all-volunteer organization with a laser sharp focus. (Sorry...A little bragging there.) By staying the course, we've held true to our mission and now, three years later, we've witnessed the formation of identities.

"I'm a dancer."  

"I'm a gymnast."

"I'm a second baseman."

"I'm an artist."

The children we sponsor often require a noticing adult to bring their story to our attention, so in many ways, it's the noticing adult we reach out to. In the simplest of ways, we are a Board of kind-hearted match-makers.  We match kids to opportunities and we match the donations of our supporters to the kids.  It's a perfect triangle, void of complicated twists and turns.  Donations come in and then funding goes out.  It's really that simple.   

As in years past, we will continue our promise of dedicating 100% of your donated money to the children we serve. We are as proud of that as we are of our K50 kids.  We have been fortunate to operate in a protective bubble that allows us to keep our best intentions in the forefront.  Even Santa recognized our work again this year with his generous, unsolicited donation!

The last three years have brought great support for our mission (locally, nationally, and as far away as the North Pole!) as well as words of thanks: 

"I love what your organization does. I would have been one of those kids whose parents could not afford extra curricular activities.  I know how much these activities can do to build confidence in children from my own kids, who were able to participate.Thank you for this beautiful way to support children."

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for granting my son the scholarship money.  The joy on his face and in his expression of gratitude is something my words cannot convey.  Overjoyed is a grave understatement in this case. Without your amazing organization, he would not have this opportunity."

"Thank you for doing something so wonderful for the children in our communities."

As we celebrate our third birthday, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all who have supported Kids Five & Over whether it be through word, deed or donation.  We thank our K50 kids for continuing to dream big and for letting us know what our support has meant to them.  And, we thank the adults who have sent in nominations asking for financial support for very deserving children.  

We look forward to the year ahead and more opportunities to enrich the lives of children.

Thank you.

Kids These Days

The Student Council at Rye Elementary School, under the tutelage of Jacquie DeFreze, recently organized a fundraiser called "Mall in the Hall" where they sold both goods and services to their school community.  The Mall in the Hall was peppered with a variety of creative kid ideas including face painting, nail painting and the ever popular pet rock.  One dollar at a time, the students inched closer to their goal. All the while, those of us at Kids Five & Over had absolutely no idea they were doing this for us.  The students' hard work and creativity yielded incredible success.  

Imagine our surprise when they asked us to come to an assembly so they could present us with a check.  A really, really big check.

Rye Elementary School Students, 2015

ONE THOUSAND dollars! That is an enormous amount of money and the students deserve great praise and high accolades for their efforts.  What made our hearts fill with pride was that these were kids helping kids - and moreover, they were helping kids who they may never meet.

A favorite quote of ours at Kids Five & Over is this:  

You have not lived 

until you have done something 

for someone who can never repay you.  

 - John Bunyan

How many of us would like to rewind the clock in order to learn that important lesson at the young age of ten?  The generosity of these students is heartfelt.  We saw great pride and incredible poise as they stood in front of their peers during a recent assembly to share how they raised the money and, equally as important, WHY they raised the money.  As mentors to younger students, they explained the importance of helping.  Student Council Vice President, Daisy Helm, explained, "Everyone has a talent....and everyone should have a chance to make something of that talent."

No one understands the mission of Kids Five & Over more than kids.  They know at a gut level how alive and in sync they feel when they are immersed in a hobby or growing their talent.  They know about meeting friends with similar interests and creating bonds that come with their own unspoken language.  They know about teamwork and tenacity and all those things that build strong human beings.  They want these things for all kids and, in the case of our friends at Rye Elementary School, they are willing to use their time, energy and talent to make it possible for other kids to realize dreams of their own.

If you ever feel discouraged by "kids these days," you need only think about the students at Rye Elementary School.  They are a perfect example of what is right in our society and we will be forever grateful to them for sharing their hearts with us.

Two

Kids Five & Over  501c3

And just like that, we turned two.   Two years of building the most incredible group of supporters who understand there is important work to be done.  Two years of sponsoring kids with big dreams and big hearts.  Two years of surprises and celebrations and heartwarming stories of people helping people, and kids helping kids.  Two wonderful years.

Where do we go from here?  We stay the course.  Great growth comes from having both tenacity and patience.  It comes from making sure our actions are aligned with a specific goal, but our focus isn't so intense that we miss a golden opportunity.  It comes from believing in what we do and letting the smile on a child's face tell the story.

We are excited about the year ahead.  With donations in December totaling over $5,000, we are $2,000 away from our goal of raising $25,000 by March.  We'll get there, no doubt about that, and we'll let you know when we do.

Until then, please send in your requests for sponsorship, keep spreading the word about our mission, and know that we are so very grateful for your support.

The Anonymous Donor Strikes Again!

Christmas Eve -- A time of family & friends,  food & fun,  with visions of sugarplums and........cash?  

The anonymous donor has struck again!  In today's mail came this:

It's been a wonderful month at Kids Five & Over with a donation from Santa at the beginning of the month, a story in Seacoast Online mid-month, a radio interview this morning on WGIR, and now this?  We are over-the-top with excitement for the love and support we have felt this month and know that our K50 kids feel the same.

Thank you to everyone who has embraced our mission and shown their support through donations.  We are so very close to our goal of $25,000 by March of 2015 and know we will get there because of you.

Holiday hugs and heartfelt thanks to all!

Feelin' the Love

Thank you to Denise Wheeler, writer extraordinaire, and Seacoast Online for publishing a story about Kids Five & Over.  You can read the story by clicking here: "Nonprofit Gets Early Gift From Santa"

The added spotlight on the work we're doing has yielded an onslaught of donations, including donations that will be used as gifts this holiday season.

To our Kids Five & Over kids - past, present and future - 2015 is going to be a great year for you!!

Dream big!

Santa is Real

During these early weeks in December when young children are writing letters to Santa with very specific requests for what they hope to find under their Christmas trees, Santa has been busy doing some letter writing of his own.

In a letter dated December 2nd, Santa wrote to Kids Five & Over and he said:

And then he enclosed something in the envelope that we're pretty sure wasn't made by his elves - though that can't be confirmed.  Santa, a most generous soul, gave an unbelievably generous gift to our K50 kids.  See for yourself.

We are speechless.

Five hundred dollars.

Cash.

Cash for our kids.

To our Santa - In this busy time of year, when finances are especially tight, your random act of kindness has touched our hearts.  There is a famous quote from John Bunyan that says:

"You have not lived today until you have done something 

for someone who can never repay you."

This quote reminds us of you.  Thank you from all of us at Kids Five & Over for your generosity.  Our K50 kids will reap the benefits of your random act of kindness immediately.  You embody the holiday spirit.  We are so very grateful.

Thank you

Everybody Needs A Budsie!

We are in love.  We met someone who wants to honor children by celebrating their talents, and this same someone believes in giving back to the community.

It was love at first sight.

 

If you haven't already heard about Budsies, consider this the day your life changes for the better.  Alex Furmansky is the genius behind Budsies - a company that brings children's artwork to life through fully customized stuffed animals (and side note: many adults have decided they like making artwork too!)  It also has a social mission to provide for kids in need.

Alex talks about his humble beginnings and the need his family had for support from their community when he was a growing up.  He is determined to give back and - this is the exciting part - he has made Kids Five & Over an Official Ambassador for Budsies.  What does this mean?  It means every time someone uses this link (http://www.budsies.com/user/KidsFiveAndOver) to purchase a Budsies stuffed animal, we will receive a percentage of the sale - a pretty BIG percentage of the sale. This is a very generous company that is serious when it says it wants to give back.  Alex has also said he wants to help some of the budding artists we support through our sponsorships and well, now we are gushing.  We love when people help people.

Please check out their website, read their story, and use our special link if you decide to place an order.  If your days of drawing animals with that special 64-pack of Crayola crayons is over, consider sending a photograph of a friend, relative or colleague and watch how Budsies can turn that special person in your life into a stuffed animal!  If that doesn't say whimsical gift giving, we don't know what else does!

Thank you to our new friends at Budsies for being our kind of people!

Being Thankful Is Overrated

Thank you to our guest blogger for this month's contribution 
and for all the great work you are doing for kids!

I know November is the month of being thankful, but don’t you sometimes think being thankful is overrated? 

Or, is it? 

Recently my son and I were sharing memories (he is 20-something) and I said, “Remember when we did this or went there?”  Interestingly, many things he did not remember, and he sheepishly apologized.  However, he said he was thankful for the experiences because he knew each one was instrumental in making him who he is today.  “YES!”  I said. 

I have been mentoring a young teen for more than a year and trying to provide her with new life experiences - positive, healthy, confidence building experiences - the kind that many kids might not even consider something to be thankful for.  It has been a privilege to be part of her life in this way, and it has also been an eye opener.

Kids Five & Over has provided funds so this young teen can participate in extra curricular opportunities that help her grow in all the right kinds of ways, and I’ve been able to see how these opportunities are shaping the young woman she is becoming (even if she won’t remember each and every one of them 20 years from now.)

A few weeks ago I was watching an episode of House Hunters (because I'm an HGTV House Hunters addict) and my K50 teen was with me.  I don’t typically watch ‘my addiction’ when she is with me, but we knew one of the realtors showing the houses so screen time was a must.

On this particular episode, a young couple was looking for their first home.  He wanted modern, private and a man-cave; she wanted vintage and charm.  As this young couple perused three homes they picked apart each option…

·      Only one sink in the master bath (How would we get ready in the morning?)

·      One mismatched appliance in the kitchen (Need to be changed immediately)

·      No his and her closets (I need a closet just for my shoes!)

·      Unable to twirl in the closet without touching sides (I’d feel so closed in)

·      Laminate flooring (We must have hardwood) 

·      Too close to neighbors (They could look right in my window)

All of a sudden this teen looks at me and says  "Really, can't they just be thankful for a house?  Sheesh!"

Flashback to Father’s Day last June and the card she made for her stepdad. It read,

Happy Father’s Day!

 If it weren’t for you we’d be homeless like mom.

Do I think being thankful is overrated?  Absolutely not.  I think being thankful is often overlooked.  It is so easy to take things for granted.

Do you want to know what I am thankful for this November? 

People like you. 

Yes, YOU!! 

Because of your donations to Kids Five &Over, this child watching House Hunters with me has been able to participate in gymnastic classes; ski club; summer camp; basketball league; yoga class and is now taking flute lessons. 

And guess how many of these activities this child would have participated in without your donations? 

NONE.  That is right … nada. 

There usually isn’t enough money at the end of the month for the basic staples, like milk and bread. 

And what would this young girl be doing if not participating in these activities? Probably sitting in the living room watching videos with her three siblings (they don’t have cable) or running around in a neighborhood that unfortunately shows up too often in the local police log.

And yet this child is so upbeat, personable, polite, and has such a zest for life that you would have no idea of the circumstances that surround her.  The only thing I can complain about this young woman is that she doesn’t love chocolate.  REALLY?  Who doesn’t love chocolate?! 

One of our goals at Kids Five & Over is to find children like this - kids who have a spark, a dream, a belief that they can do anything - but the finances are just not there to support their dreams.  And our goal is that once we find them, we hold on to them and continue to support, nurture and finance their dreams.  In many instances we collaborate with other agencies and co-fund activities.  As a member of this Board, we so often say, “It takes a village”.  And, you know what? You can be part of this village.

What might your donation buy?

$20 – A flute lesson

$20 – Participation in basketball league

$40 – A baseball clinic

$40 – Sneakers to play basketball (We ensure when we sponsor a child that they are fully equipped with whatever they might need to participate in the program)

$100 – Digital Art Classes

$250 – A membership in the school’s ski club

$500 – The opportunity to participate on a gymnastic competition team

$1000 – Oh, my! 

The most important thing to remember is that every dollar counts.  When resources are pooled for a greater good, funds add up quickly.  Your donation, no matter the amount, will help us in our goal of sponsoring all deserving children who apply.

November is the month of being thankful – not for trey ceilings, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances or two sinks in the master bath. November is the month to be thankful for what we can do for others. 

Being thankful is not over-rated.  Being thankful is what grows character. 

Being thankful is what I am for YOU.

To make a donation to Kids Five & Over, click here