Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Greetings from Morocco!

Hello CKI!

Hope you all are enjoying a nice break away from school, but don't forget to stay involved in service over break. I'm sure all of your clubs are planning some great service opportunities for the spring semester, too. If you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to contact me at : rich.cki@gmail.com.

I am honored to be your new Service Ambassador for UNICEF and the Six Cents Initiative. Six Cents is so important to me, and I'm proud to be doing my part to reach our goals. Right now I am working on a good, comprehensive fundraising guide to help your clubs with lots of fun and helpful ways to raise money for this great initiative.

On a side note, I am writing to you from Morocco where I am spending the month volunteering in an orphanage with Cross Cultural Solutions. I've been updating my blog on the website I used to fundraise at http://www.supportrich.org/travelblog.htm. There's info of what I have been doing, and also pictures from my travels, too. Enjoy.

Have a great New Years everyone!
Rich
--
Rich Henderson
Service Ambassador for UNICEF and the Six Cents Initiative
Atlantic Division Lieutenant Governor
Circle K International
508.846.3968
rich.cki@gmail.com
AIM: richcki

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Open a Book, Show Them the World

Service Initiative - Literacy: Open a Book, Show Them the World

Literacy is a huge problem in today's world. According to the National Center for Family Literacy:
  • By age four, children who live in poor families will have heard 32 million fewer words than children living in professional families.
  • One in five, or 20%, of America's children five years old and under live in poverty.
  • Some 30 million adults in the United States have extremely limited literacy skills. If one teacher could teach 100 adults to read, we would need 300,000 adult education teachers to meet this need.
As Circle K'ers we are committed to help rectify this problem. We have a well established service initiative that takes place from December 1st through March 31st and a recent partnership with Better World Books. It has been proven that by exposing children to literacy at a young age are rated higher by their teachers than a randomly selected comparison group in terms of overall academic performance, motivation to learn, attendance, and likelihood of future success. So what can you and your clubs do to help?

Circle K clubs can help kids enhance their imagination and stay in school by reading with them. You can also:
  • Co-sponsor a Builders or K-Kids club
  • Co-sponsor an Aktion Club
  • Create a library for children at a local shelter for the homeless or community center
  • Implement the College Bound program in a third- to sixth-grade class to encourage students to stay in school
  • Implement the Terrific Kids program at your local elementary school
  • Create flash cards for children
  • Implement the BUGS program at your local elementary school
  • Collect books and host a book drive
  • Read to students
  • Mentor students
  • Tutor students
  • Establish book drives with Better World Books

Students Team Up to Fight Hunger (STUFH)

Hey everyone!

Get excited, STUFH Ambassador Mike Z has been working hard to create a service partner guide about STUFH so that you all will be able to learn more about them. It is in the final stages and hopefully will be available to you all soon!