Hey everyone!! I hope everyone's projects are going well! We have had some great progress on ours. Our biggest plan in the works right now is our fall festival. It is going to take place on November 6th from 2-4 in the basketball practice gym. We are planning different booths and games with the help of Lighthouse and Chase bank. Some of the games we are planning include a cake walk, for which we are going to make cupcakes and cookies, pin the tail on the turkey, face painting, pumpkin decorating, and other fun activities.   We have also decided to have some crafts that the parents and children can do together.


The aim for the festival is to get the families from Lighthouse meet each other, and interact with each other more. We hope that in doing this they are able to build a support group for each other. At the moment most of these families have no support group and so if a child gets sick or there is an emergency, they have to miss a day of work which just sends them back into the bad financial situation they are trying to get out of. By having a support group, hopefully the parents could find someone to watch their child and allow them to be at work more consistently. Another goal of the festival is getting the parents more involved with their children. Building a strong bond between the family members is something most of these families need help with. By interacting with the children Lighthouse hopes the families will have a positive experience in this sense. 


Planning this fall festival has been an interesting experience for me because growing up, I was never in the situations many of these families find themselves in. I would never have thought about the issues that come from not having a circle of friends or family to help give support in tough times. Seeing how these families are struggling has put things into perspective for me. I really hope that the fall festival is successful in this respect. Lighthouse does such a great job at providing instrumental lessons to assist these families in becoming more self sufficient, and I think that this fall festival could be another one of the these lessons. 


I go to volunteer at the actual Lighthouse center tomorrow, and I am so excited about finally getting started. 


See you tomorrow!
Tiffany