At Risk Children of Heart House Enjoy Stuffed Animal Workshop
As many as 75 low-income children in the Heart House Free Afterschool program will enjoy a traveling stuffed animal workshop conducted by a work-at-home mother.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) June 3, 2005 -- Stuffing and dressing up cute toy animals is all the rage among suburban kids at birthday parties and in upscale malls, but too often less-advantaged children are left out of the fun. That wont be the case on June 7th and 8th, when Heart House of Austin (www.hearthouse.org) will host a free Traveling Stuffed Animal Workshop conducted by work-at-home Austin mother Laura Alter for Heart Houses low-income, at-risk children.
Heart House provides a valuable service. Approximately 34,000 low-income, school-age children in Travis County were found to be inadequately supervised between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. and therefore at risk, according to a 2003 study by the Travis County Afterschool Network. Some of these children are able to call Heart House their safe haven, where they can spend time with caring adults, receive homework assistance, participate in literacy programs, learn more about health and safety issues, and have access to art enrichment and other academic programs. Statistically, children who attend an afterschool program are only half as likely to use drugs and one third less likely to become teen parents.
"Stuffed Animal workshops are a wonderfully creative and happy activity for all children," says Alter. "By bringing this experience to the children of Heart House, we can help them gain confidence and exercise their creativity and we give them the satisfaction of completing a project that they can keep with them forever."
Kirk Watson, Former Mayor of Austin, agrees with the importance of supporting Heart House and their free afterschool program. "Without the guidance of organizations such as Heart House, many children don't live up to their full potential. Heart House offers the opportunity for children to become something they never thought possible by providing a safe environment to cultivate the pride and imagination required to become our heroes of tomorrow."
As an independent founding crew member with Noahs Ark Animal Workshop (www.noahsarkworkshop.com), Alter conducts traveling stuffed animal workshops all over the Austin area for birthday parties, daycare centers and camps, Scout troops and churches, hospitals, senior centers, and disabled adults. Many of these groups do not have the ability to travel conveniently, so Alter brings her workshop to them. Participants choose which animal they wish to create, and then together they stuff them, have a wishing ceremony on a rainbow star to stuff inside, zip them up, dress them in adorable outfits, create birth certificates, and decorate take-home bags for their completed new friends.
In addition to conducting workshops, Alter offers other parents the chance to join her team, Noahs Crew, so they can work from home. "Being able to help other families gain the economic independence they desire while spending more time with their own children is something that I very much enjoy," remarks Alter. "And on top of it all, we have a lot of fun!"
About Noahs Ark Animal Workshop and Heart House:
Heart House was started in the summer of 2000 when founders Suzanne Kiefer and Anna Land, while volunteering their time with children in the Vickery Neighborhood of Dallas, quickly realized that these children required a "safe" environment in which to obtain homework assistance, mentoring, friendship, and above all, protection from the idleness and negative influences they found in their daily afterschool lives. Heart House is open for three hours after school, Monday through Friday, with extended hours during the summer and winter breaks. Heart House is free to all children -- the Heart House kids "pay" for their clubhouse privileges by participating in community service projects.
Noahs Ark Animal Workshop was founded in 2003 when a Chicago-area mom, Dina Kriescher, saw the need for quality, fun, and affordable home birthday parties. Once she began her personal Noahs Ark Animal Workshop business, conducting workshops throughout the southwest suburbs of Chicago, she quickly saw the need to expand. Today there are more than 600 independent crew members all over the United States, with more joining daily for the chance to work for themselves in a fast growing and ever popular business with the guidance of a well-run and dedicated company.
Contact:
Laura Alter
Independent Founding Crew Member #547
Local: 512-351-9858
Toll Free: 1-86-Noah-To-Go
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