“Bucs give kids holiday shopping spree - msnbc.com” plus 1 more |
| Bucs give kids holiday shopping spree - msnbc.com Posted: 11 Dec 2010 08:39 AM PST TAMPA — Christmas came two weeks early for 200 children who got the chance today to buy toys, clothes, anything they wanted â€" and all on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' dime. The Glazer Family Foundation hosted its annual Holiday Shopping Spree at Target on West Waters Avenue. Youngsters from The Children's Home, The Children's Home Society of Florida, Eckerd Youth Alternatives and the Police Athletic League of Tampa were invited to spend $75 each to help make their Christmas a bit happier. Shayla Bennett shopped with her niece and nephew, who snatched up toys, clothes and shoes. The event, she said, helped ease the burden of Christmas during what has been a difficult year. She's can't work now because of health issues. "It helps out a big bunch, a lot," she said. "Some the stuff, I wasn't able to get." The foundation has hosted the event since 2000. More than 50 volunteers helped this year, including cheerleaders and team mascot Captain Fear. The event helps Bucs players and coaches, who are busy this time of the year on the field, reach out to the neediest members of the community, said Miray Holmes, the team's community relations director. Particularly heartwarming, she said, was the generosity the children showed: Many used the opportunity to shop for others. "They have really giving spirits," she said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| After-school program aims to keep at-risk kids on track - Orlando Sentinel Posted: 10 Dec 2010 02:31 PM PST Zaniyah Barnes wiggles in her seat, and the plastic bracelets ringing her wrist rattle in rhythm as she waves her arm wildly. The children gathered inside a classroom at Northwest Community Center in Orlando are in a high-stakes game of "words in a word" pitting boys against girls. The object: Make new words from the letters in a word or phrase. Latasha Danforth has scrawled the phrase "Happy Thanksgiving" on the white board. If she doesn't call on the 10-year-old soon, Zaniyah's arm may pop out of its socket. Finally, Danforth points her way. Zaniyah stands, looks "Ms. Tasha" in the eye and delivers: "Past. P-a-s-t." Score another point for womankind. And score one for all the children — many of them from low-income families — who trek here for enrichment and fun in the after-school program of the Central Florida Police Athletic League, one of many nonprofit agencies supported by the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund Holiday Campaign. Founded by former Orlando police officer Chick Fryar, Central Florida PAL for more than three decades has provided recreation and education to prevent crime and foster citizenship among at-risk youth. The program serves students without charge from 10 public and private schools. On weekday afternoons, 60 or so children, 5 to 14 years old, stream in for homework help, arts and crafts, reading and math tutoring, snacks and activities that blend recreation with the three R's. Simple word games such as hangman and "words in a word" build language and logic skills. Zaria Pollard is as fidgety as her sister Zaniyah. I worry that her answer-signaling arm also might unhinge as she waves, hoping for a chance to fire a blast in the gender war of words. "Stink. S-t-i-n-k," Zaria, 11, declares confidently. Then there's "math dodgeball." In the center's gym, kids spread out in rows. They are sitting ducks for Charise Liburd. Whenever Liburd, the PAL education and enrichment coordinator, nails a kid with a dodgeball shot, she poses a multiplication problem. "What's 12 times 12?" she asks one not-nimble-enough young man. Meanwhile, Zaria and Zaniyah's brother, Aerious Taylor, is going to Disney World — virtually, that is. At a laptop in the center's computer room, the 13-year-old works on the website dedicated to all things Walt Disney World that he co-created as a class project at Gotha Middle School. Oblivious to the carnage and explosions from online games that other kids are playing, Aerious hunts and pecks, testing computer code. For the siblings' mother, Warnell Sims, PAL's program hits a bull's-eye. A single mother until recently, she needed an affordable program three years ago that would give her kids supervision and structure. "PAL," says Sims, 33, "is like a family to me, a safe haven." Zaniyah used to come home from school and watch TV and tackle her homework. She likes it better at PAL, she says, "because there are lots more people to play with, and you have someone to help you understand [homework] better." The attention has refined the kids' study skills and has helped Zaria boost her grades and vault onto the honor roll at Oak Hill Elementary. "It feels good on the honor roll," she says. It feels even better to stick it to the boys — as Zaniyah does when she delivers the coup de grace in the war of words. "P-a-i-n-t," she says, a wide smile covering her face. Darryl E. Owens can be reached at dowens@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5095. Making a difference Thousands of children, families and elderly people throughout Central Florida need your help this holiday season. Contributions to the Orlando Sentinel Family Fund Holiday Campaign provide toys, clothes, food, sometimes even a place to sleep. The campaign's goal is $600,000. All administrative costs are paid by the Family Fund and the McCormick Foundation, which contributes 50 cents for every dollar donated. Use the coupon on Page to mail a donation. You also can charge a donation to a credit card by calling 1-800-518-3978. Or go online at OrlandoSentinel.com/familyfund. Questions? Call 407-420-5705. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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