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Welcome Back EAKC We're so happy you're here!

Welcome back families! We are so excited to be rocking and rolling into our 2022-2023 school year at the East Atlanta Kids Club. We had such a great summer and wanted to say "thank you," for all the love and support you provided as we tackled a huge season. We served 74 youth during Camp Full S.T.E.A.M. and provided our youth with a number of new opportunities. We invited in several new program partners that kept campers engaged and excited, and at the end of it all, we hosted an awesome, virtual showcase, where students had the opportunity to show off what they learned. *applauds*

Since the start of the 2022-2023 school year, we've seen 57 bright, young minds walk through our doors, eager for programming. That is the highest number of youth we've seen for after school, EVER! We are so excited to welcome new families and get to know more about our young people! So far, they've been working with our staff, program partners and volunteers who offer a number of fun and unique activities to help their minds grow and broaden their perspectives. We've been working with Atlanta Public Schools transportation and school administrations to hopefully offer more transportation options to continue serving our growing community.

Our food program and partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank has allowed us to offer a range of healthy snack options and increase curiosity around foods that are good for us. We had a seaweed and rice roll tasting, a homemade nacho bar, and tasted a new, blueberry cereal, as well as chocolate chip cookies with organic milk. The excitement around new weekly choices has been exciting for us. For the community, we've distributed over 15,000 pounds to our neighbors since the beginning of August! To help put it into perspective, that's roughly 12,500 meals, valued at $37,500 of food support. We've also partnered Erin Stieglitz with Bagel Rescue to offer bags of bagels to our families and our wider community!

This year, we received a grant that will help us to support and elevate girls in sports. In response to that, for the first time, we will be offering Girls on the Run as an elective for our 3rd - 5th grade girls. We have procured an awesome coaching staff that are anxious to work with our young ladies. We believe that they have the drive and know how to encourage and inspire while offering a quality program. Thanks to Mr. Ryan for working with Ms. Amechi and Girls on the Run Atlanta for getting this new, community based team, funded and underway. Programming began on Tuesday, September 13, 2022 for our season and will end on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, after our ladies complete a 5K race. We will be looking for family support and volunteers throughout the season to help us out with particular events.

One of our Girls on the Run coaches for the season will be Miss Alyssa, EAKC's new Family Services and Outreach Manager. She was hired over the summer to help build strong family relationships and community partnerships. Over the past couple of months, Miss Alyssa has worked closely with Miss Danielle to communicate with our parents and families, our greatest stakeholders. She has gotten to know many of you, assisted in the Fall enrollment process, helped to increase engagement within our local community, and even celebrated her birthday with us. Please reach out to her and say "hello," when you get the chance. She is excited to be here at Kids Club and has many ideas to share.

As many of you know, Mr. Troy has been experiencing health concerns and has has not physically been on site with us since the last week of camp. As one of our Program Managers, Mr. Troy, alongside Miss Danielle, was responsible for securing program partners and developing new programs for after school and summer camp. We miss him a lot around here, and he sends his love to all of you. In the meantime, please keep him in your prayers, and commend Miss Danielle for continuing to provide excellence during an unsure time for us. If you have an idea about a program your child may be interested in, let Miss Dannie know, and remember, we're always accepting teen and young adult volunteers to provide necessary support.

Miss Sabrina celebrated her FIVE YEAR anniversary with the East Atlanta Kids Club last week. We are grateful for her for working with the kids, and providing much needed transportation for so many of our families. With only one van running at the moment, we have been searching for more transportation options to assist us as we grow as a program. We started a partnership with BPA which allows for students to hop on their local bus route to attend programming and we are working with APS transportation to become an official bus stop for the district. As we move forward and continue looking into this, please consider signing a petition, sending a letter, or making a call to the transportation department to express the need for Kids Club and for transportation.

Miss Shen celebrated her THREE YEAR anniversary with East Atlanta Kids Club! Although she works remotely, she plays a critical role in making sure that Kids Club continues to run. As our Director of Finance and Operations, she works closely with Mr. Ryan to ensure that we receive funding and that our finances and paperwork are up-to-date and submitted to necessary entities. Shen is a pleasure to work with and please make sure you say hi to her at this year's Bike Rally!

Kids Club was closed for an entire week for Labor Day and Professional Development. Members of our staff attended the 2022 Georgia After School Youth Development Conference in Athens, GA. Each year, the conference features and highlights Out of School Time (OST) Programs from around Georgia state. A number of presenters and exhibitors are available to train, coach, empower and equip attendees with new ideas and updated standards to ensure that they are providing the best possible programming for their youth. In 2021, East Atlanta Kids Club was recognized as a BOOST Grant Recipient and, in recognition of our organization's sustained impact on youth and our impact on supporting food insecure neighbors, we were also recognized with the 2021 Innovator Award!

If you're looking for a fun and unique way to support East Atlanta Kids Club, join us at Pure Taqueria for the Atlanta United FC Player Meet & Greet on Thursday, September 22, 2022. This event is 21+ and 100% of spending on that night will be donated to EAKC as we are the organization featured during Pure's "Month of Giving." Throughout the rest of the month, $1 for every Ginger Hibiscus Margarita sold will be donated to Kids Club. Mr. Ryan will be in attendance to share the joys of Kids Club. Make sure you tell him, "Hey!"

Don't forget to register your kiddo(s) for The 18th Annual Brownwood Bike Rally on Saturday, October 1, 2022! This is EAKC's biggest fundraiser of the year and will look a little different this year. As we are back in person, we really wanted to focus on and highlight the heart of our community, the youth! We look forward to providing you with an amazing kid-centered festival on top of the usual races. We will have fun booths, BMX demonstrations, bounce houses and more, so please come join us. Remember, KIDS RACE FREE! We are also accepting volunteer and sponsor registrations! To register to race, please click here. For other registrations, please click here.

That's all for now! Until next time, thanks for all you do and for continuing to support Kids Club. We are looking forward to another tremendous year! Please keep your eyes on your email, where we will be sending new resources to further the work that we do!

- Best, EAKC Staff

Credits:

Photos courtesy of East Atlanta Kids Club