Kids to kids Blog
Morristown High School Names Zachary Crowe as NY Jets “Upstander of the Week”
MORRISTOWN, NJ – Another week, another Upstander of the Week has been chosen at Morristown High School. This week; Week 11, Zachary Crowe was chosen by the School Safety Team. According to the high school, he is “doing a fantastic job helping a special needs student that sits next to him in health class.” He has “always done this on his own” and he “makes sure that the student understands the assignment or whatever activity is being worked on in class.” He is “not only helpful to this student but to the teacher as well” because it allows her to “focus on the rest of the class knowing that Zachary is taking the reins with her special needs student.” Finally, she stated that he was “very deserving of the Jets award!”
The “Upstander of the Week” is a new initiative at Morristown High School, started by Susan Mele after she attended the New York Jets “Stomp Out Bullying” symposium over the summer. The program will continue through the 16 weeks of NFL season.
Summer Golf Program
We just finished 4 weeks of golf for our summer program. Some new players and experienced ones had instruction and practice in all aspects of the game.
Big thanks to Glenn Hockman of Mareric Practice Facilitates for hosting us. Big thanks to Jeff Rickenback, a PGA Pro as our instructor.
And a Big thanks to the NJ Golf Foundation for sponsoring us. Thanks Chris Hunt and Danielle Osowski for their support!
Swim Meet 5-20
We ended swim season with our meet and banquet. Here is a video of the event.
Thanks you mentors and families for a fantastic season- see you all in September!!
Have a safe fun summer!
K2K
Presidents Volunteer Service Award Winners
Twenty mentors earned the Presidential Service Award in 2016 for volunteering 50 hours or more of service to the Morristown based organization, Kids to Kids. The award is a national merit award created by the White House to recognize charitable contributions within their community. The Kids to Kids program provides lessons and learning experiences to special needs families in the Morris County area by creating strong ties with middle school and high school students who volunteer their time and expertise. Kids to Kids is the only group in Morris County to provide weekly, no fee or low fee, lessons in swimming, Tae Kwan Do, golf and yoga for special needs families. Kid to Kid mentors received a certificate and medal recognizing their service contributions.
Ruthwick Guddeti, who received a Gold President’s Service Award for donating over 100 hours of service to Kids to Kids teaching swimming lessons said, “When I won this award I was proud, it really meant a lot to me that my dedication was recognized. It was something I never expected to get, but when I achieved it I felt overjoyed. This award and K2K itself have really inspired me to give back more to my community.”
Practically every day of the week,50 Morris County students volunteers to mentor students with special needs to provide developmental sports and arts programs and gain a deep understanding of diversity and inclusion. At its core, the student volunteer mentors learn the meaning of leadership and responsibility. “The kids are so full of life and the families are so appreciative of the work we do. It makes it worthwhile,” explained Ella Sparacino. Kids to Kids operates 7 different weekly programs, ranging from swimming to Tae Kwan Do to golf and yoga. It is a win-win for the Morris County community with the Kids to Kids mentors gaining valuable management and community service experience and the special needs community of Morris County learning life-long skills taught by trained mentors.
Sophia Sparacino, a mentor and Kid to Kid board member explained that she likes working with the children because “I get to practice trying out different strategies to motivate people and the kids are so much fun.” When asked what advice would she give others thinking of mentoring with Kids to Kids Camryn Grizzetti said, “Try it out! The other mentors you work with will become your best friends and the fun, upbeat kids will make your day. The feeling you get seeing your name on the Presidential Award is great too.”
Award Winners 2016
Zoe Antonius, Betsy Brooks, Meghan Crowley, Matt Ellerthorpe, Rachel Farbman, Camryn Grizzetti, Ruthwick Guddeti, Vaishnavi Guddeti, Jack Hughes, Sonny Hughes, Mackenzie May, James O’Donnell Dominic Palumbo, Fiona Palumbo, Victoria Ratliff, Yusty Sanchez, Juliana Scerbo, Lauren Smith, Sophia Sparacino, Ella Sparacino, Alex Wang
TKD canceled 1/23
Pending weather with high winds precipitated the canceling of class tonight
Running is on for Sunday January 15th
perfect day- sunny – 40 degrees snow covered trails. Maybe best for cross country sking!
Ryan and I will be there!!
Fall line up of new programs
Check out our start dates for all programs and see the many new programs that are being launched.
We will be oporating 7 days a week!!
And watch for the news of a fundraiser with Buffalo Wild Wings in October
In Memory of Todd Gangaware
While nothing can ease your loss, Kelly, Kids2Kids is honored to share in keeping your Dad’s memory alive with this gift of $2,010 for your college fund.
Many of our K2k families graciously donated
| Abbott Family | Petrucelli Family |
| Andersen Family | PGA Foundation |
| B Miller Family | Quinn Family |
| Caffrey Family | Rao Family |
| Carroll Family | Rickles Family |
| Chu Family | Romano Family |
| Ellerthorpe Family | Romanski Family |
| Frattina Family | S Miller Family |
| Grizzetti Family | Scerbo Family |
| Guddeti Family | Sebolao Family |
| Hennessy Family | Smith Family |
| Hughes Family | Sparacino Family |
| K2K | Spencer Family |
| May family | Steinmetz Family |
| Palumbo Family | Wang Family |
K2k’s principle mission is the development of life long skills our special needs children. We also serve a broader mission in the nurturing and development of our Board and Mentors.
Mikey our new TKD Star!
Never question if you should try something! Mikey is our new star of TKD and you can see why in these pictures.
Buffalo Wild Wings provided a generous donation to K2K
AMPAL Group, who owns several Buffalo Wild Wings as well as Blaze Pizza and BurgerFi Franchises, held their first annual company picnic in July. AMPAL prides themselves on being supportive in the communities in which they serve. During their picnic, they had a fundraiser for K2K, using a dunk tank! Employees made donations for the opportunity to dunk their favorite boss. AMPAL was generous enough to match the funds that were collected. K2K was selected in support of one of our long time participants, Erik Murphy. Erik’s dad is a manager at the Rockaway Buffalo Wild Wings. On September 24, 2015, K2K was presented with a check at their Rockaway Buffalo Wild Wings. Representing K2K included Erik Murphy, Daniel Stevens, Julian Stevens and Ryan May. Board Members Shannon Crowley and Mackenzie May accepted the check from Buffalo Wild Wings They are truly a company who cares about their community. Thank you AMPAL Group and Buffalo Wild Wings!
