2011 at American Family Inns

December 2011
Happy holidays! With the help of our partners, children at all four of the American Family Inns will be sharing in the spirit of the season once again this year. The Clinton, Prospect, and Williamsbridge Early Childhood Education Centers will attend holiday parties at the Chapin School and the Bank of Tokyo, while elementary school children from the Prospect will visit with our friends and partners at KidCare. Children in The Saratoga After School Program are looking forward to a field trip to see Mary Poppins on Broadway, a holiday party at Hofstra University, and a visit from the Vincent Mood Foundation. Regular education and enrichment programming for children and parents will continue throughout the month with our partners.

November 2011
As the holidays approach, Homes for the Homeless is gearing up for a season of community support and outreach. The Williamsbridge Family Inn Early Childhood Education Center kicked November off by traveling to Green Meadows Farms in Queens to visit the petting zoo and pick pumpkins. The Prospect and Williamsbridge Family Inn Early Childhood Education Centers will be happy to welcome our friends Dr. Priscilla Tepper, a dentist, and her daughter Julia Tepper to teach the children how to care for their teeth. The Saratoga Eagles NFL Flag Football team played their last regular game on Saturday, Nov. 4, and made it to the playoffs; we're rooting for them! On Wednesday, Nov. 23, mothers and children from the Clinton Family Inn will visit Temple Emanu-El for a special Thanksgiving dinner, and on November 30 children from the Prospect Family Inn will visit Columbia Business School for their annual holiday party.

October 2011
While HFH students are working hard in school, our activities keep them busy outside the classroom as well! The Prospect Family Inn After School Program resumes its partnerships with Columbia University's Peace-by-Peace, which runs conflict-resolution activities, and the New York Children's Health Project's CHEFFs program, teaching the importance of healthy eating and an active lifestyle. Prospect FutureLink students will visit The Barbarian Group offices for a career session focused on Web- and technology-based jobs. The Saratoga Family Inn After School Program is also busy, and will welcome volunteers from Temple Israel in Great Neck, Long Island for a "Fitness Fun Night." The Clinton Family Inn resumes weekly visits to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, where children explore the museum while our Clinton moms work on literacy and parenting skills. And at our early childhood education centers, everyone is looking forward to Halloween, when a magic variety show, Monsters and Magic, will come to the Williamsbridge and Saratoga, and children from all four Inns will visit the Bank of Tokyo offices in Manhattan for a day of trick-or-treating!

September 2011
Fall is in the air in New York, and you can see the signs at the American Family Inns. In recognition of Library Card Sign-up Month, children from the Williamsbridge Family Inn Early Childhood Education Center will take advantage of the New York Public Library by attending the kid-friendly show Jaws, Paws & Claws! Animal Wisdom Tales From Around the World at the Castle Hill branch. Volunteers from New York Cares will resume their weekly Play and Read activity with children at the Clinton Family Inn, as well as Urban Adventures with children at the Prospect Family Inn, starting with a field day in Central Park. Fall is also football season, and our NFL Flag Football team, the Saratoga Eagles, will give eight-and-nine-year-old boys from the Saratoga Family Inn and participants in the community after school program a chance to compete on the gridiron with other Queens children in partnership with the DePhillips Athletic Club. Fire safety will be another important topic this month, with workshops from the FDNY for children and parents at the Prospect. Finally, Credit Advocate Counseling Corp returns to the Prospect to resume financial literacy classes for our adults.

August 2011
Children at HFH are winding down summer vacation with a busy schedule of field trips before school starts again in the fall. For children at the Prospect Family Inn and Saratoga Family Inn early childhood education centers and summer enrichment programs, trips include the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and more. On Saturday, August 13, residents at the Saratoga will take part in a special day of service that will include baking with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and arts and crafts with employees from Coca-Cola. The Saratoga will also welcome students from Hofstra University at the end of the month who have volunteered their time to beautify the facility. Meanwhile, our “Fast Track Program” in adult education continues this month at the Prospect with a series of workshops run by Planned Parenthood. The Adult Role Models program will include workshops such as “Opening the Lines of Communication” and “Talking to Your Children About the Facts of Life."

July 2011
The Prospect Family Inn Early Childhood Education Center held its Moving Up Ceremony on July 8. With proud parents and family members looking on, we congratulated our young students who will enter kindergarten in the fall. The center also welcomed volunteers from Polo Ralph Lauren this month for Book Buddies, a book-sharing activity. At the Saratoga Family Inn, children in the Summer Enrichment Program continue tending to their garden, where, thanks to a generous grant from Jamba Juice, they added an assortment of fruit trees, including pear, cherry, apple, and fig trees. The Summer Enrichment Program is in full swing at the Prospect Family Inn: Children in the Brownstone and FutureLink programs will take in their first Broadway show later this month at The Addams Family, thanks to a grant from KidCare, and the Little Brownstone Program will host a volunteer group all the way from McLean, Virginia.

June 2011
The school year may be winding down, but at HFH, students are as busy as ever. At the Saratoga Family Inn, activities and field trips have included T-ball with Rosedale Little League for five- to seven-year-olds, and a special evening on Broadway for teenagers to see "Sister Act," which for many was their first Broadway show. Pre-K kids took a special trip to PS 119-Amersfort School of Social Awareness in Brooklyn for an introduction to elementary school, and the SFI Early Childhood Education Center will hold its Moving Up Ceremony later this month. We're very proud of the 15 children who will be heading to kindergarten in the fall! On June 15, dancers from the Annabella Gonzalez Dance Studio will put on an interactive performance and workshop at the Prospect Family Inn. Mothers from the Clinton Family Inn, meanwhile, will participate in two resume-writing and job-prep workshops with the Urban Girl Squad.

May 2011
As spring weather hits New York, young boys at the Saratoga Family Inn After School Program are heading outdoors for the 2011 T-Ball season, sponsored by KidCare in partnership with Rosedale Little League. KidCare will also sponsor a JobHop at the Gramercy Starck Building this month for Saratoga Future Link students, ages 11-15. Adults at the Prospect Family Inn will continue financial literacy classes with the Credit Adovcate Counseling Corp, and professionals from the Mt. Carmel Youth Development Corporation visit for workshops on contemporary health issues. To wrap up the month, children from the Prospect and Saratoga will attend a Mets game at CitiField through a generous donation by the New York Mets.

April 2011
April's activities at the American Family Inns are all about education, for students of all ages. Children at the Saratoga Day Care Center are looking forward to three visits from fifth graders at the Ethical Culture Fieldstone School. During the visits, the children will be book buddies and read together. Meanwhile, adults at the Prospect Family Inn will wrap up an eight-week financial literacy course run by the Credit Advocate Counseling Corp. At the end of the month, fitness and healthy eating will take center stage at the Clinton and Prospect Family Inns, with workshops from Fit4Life on how to cook nutritious meals on a budget and healthy eating habits for kids.

March 2011
On March 1, students from P.S. 50 in East Harlem visited the Prospect Daycare Center and were book buddies with daycare children, spending an hour reading their favorite storybooks together. Later in the month, students from Indiana University visited Prospect and held a college information session with middle- and high-school students of the FutureLink program. Women at the Clinton Family Inn attended a nutrition workshop at the Ryan Health Clinic, focused on how to maintain a healthy diet on a budget. Children at the Williamsbridge Family Inn Daycare Center learned about animals, and took a special trip to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at Nassau Coliseum.

February 2011
February is Black History Month, and as part of their study, students in the Saratoga After School Program visited the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. The Prospect After School Program continued offering its broad selection of enrichment activities such as conflict resolution classes with Peace by P.E.A.C.E. and students from Columbia University, and began a new partnership with ART-START, to facilitate art activities. During their midwinter break, children at Prospect also visited the SONY Wonder Technology Lab. At the end of February, a new session of the Clinton Family Inn Book Club began with the help of New York Cares volunteers. Participants are reading Krik Krak.

January 2011
Women at the Clinton Family Inn started off the new year with a four-week "Steps to Success" workshop run by the Junior League. The workshops covered a range of topics, from how to write a resume and cover letter to interview skills. At the Prospect After School Program, children learned about Italy by making their own pizza and gelato, as well as fresh pasta with the help of volunteers. At the Saratoga After School Program, kids honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a service project, working with volunteers from St. John's University making "gift bags" for residents at the Calvary Senior Center in Jamaica, Queens.