 | | Make volunteering a part of your News Year's Resolution! |
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The beginning of a new year brings new resolutions and a chance for new beginnings. This month, I encourage you to make volunteering a part of your 2012 resolutions. For Head Start of Greater Dallas, volunteering is a vital part of how our organization receives funding. Your volunteer time at a Head Start center not only makes an impact in the lives of the children you encounter, but also counts as dollars toward our required nonfederal match. If you or your family, office or organization is interested in volunteering with a Head Start center near you, please visit our newly revamped web site.
We continue to feel the blessings from our supporters' generous contributions to our families over the holiday season. If you or your business or organization gave back to one of our families, thank you! We hope to see you in the coming months at a Head Start center!
Sincerely,
Wanda M. Smith
CEO
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Need a New Year's Resolution? Volunteer!
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Have you considered how you will give back in 2012?
Head Start, like many nonprofits, is in need of volunteers. Volunteers are vital to our success because of how our organization is funded. Here are some numbers to remember:
- 20% - Head Start of Greater Dallas is required to make a 20 percent match each year in order to receive our federal funding. These matching dollars come from monetary and in-kind donations and volunteer time.
- $13.23 - Each volunteer hour is $13.23 towards our required nonfederal match. Please volunteer and give time and dollars at the same time! For a center near you, visit our web site.
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| Celebrating Dr. King at Davids' Place |
 Head Start Kids Share their Dream with the Jubilee Community!
Even at their young age, the preschool children at Davids' Place Head Start Center in Jubilee Park are learning about the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his great service and sacrifice to this country. In an effort to make a lasting impact, the children and parents made signs and decorations to commemorate Dr. King and participated in the center's children's parade in Jubilee Park, on Friday, January 13th. The celebration was featured on WFAA and NBC 5 news!
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 Volunteers and Generous Givers Made our Families' Holiday Merry & Bright!
The holiday season came and went in a flurry of fun and festivities. Our Head Start families were truly blessed by so many caring members of our community who ensured that their families had presents under their tree!
 One such group was the students from the SMU Mustang Heroes who volunteer at the Science Place II Head Start Center in Fair Park year-round. This year, the Heroes organized their resources and provided a toy and coat for each of the 77 children at the center. It was a joyous occasion watching all of the children receive their gift picked out just for them, throwing off the wrapping paper and hugging the more than 40 volunteers. The excitement was palpable and the holiday spirit contagious. Each classroom performed a Christmas carol and skit for the parents and volunteers and did a great job. Thank you Mustang Heroes!
Our Roseland Homes Head Start Center also celebrated the season with their friends from DART, the South Oak Cliff Bus Operation. The long-standing partnership starting with Mr. Robert Reeves and led this year by Ms. Lisa Taylor, has brought holiday cheer to the students of this center for six years. The employees provided toys and gifts for each child which Santa distributed individually. The children were so excited to see Santa had come with gifts just for them! Thank you to DART for your continued support of the children of Head Start!
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Support Head Start - Volunteer Today!
Head Start of Greater Dallas' mission is to provide children with the foundation of skills and knowledge they need to be successful in school and life and foster self-reliant families and communities. The agency receives 80 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Head Start of Greater Dallas generates the remaining 20 percent or nearly $8,000,000, through contributions, grants, community donations, and volunteer hours each year. Your time volunteering is valuable. We can't reach this goal without the support of the community.To become a community volunteer, contact Deneeco Young at 972.283.6457, or visit our web site.
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 | | Do YOU qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)? | |
EITC FACTS:
* Four of five eligible people claim and get their EITC. See if you qualify at www.irs.gov.
* EITC is a financial boost for working people in a recovering economy.
* You earned it. Now file, claim it & get it.
* EITC can make life a little easier.
The Gannon Head Start Center is a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Site. If you need free tax filing assistance, the Gannon site will be open every Saturday from January 28 - April 14 from 9 a.m. - noon.
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 | In Remembrance of a Lasting Legacy of Service
The Head Start family would like to remember our dear friend, Ann Flores Minnis (pictured right), who lost her battle with cancer on January 7th of this year.
Head Start of Greater Dallas' first Hispanic board member, Mrs.Minnis began her volunteer work on our Board of Directors in 1995 and served in many different capacities throughout the next 10 years. From the development of a multidisciplinary team designed to implement model Head Start programs into impoverished Dallas neighborhoods, to leading a task force to integrate more Hispanic children into the Head Start program, Ann embodied service and commitment. She was the winner of the HSGD 2010 Individual Hero Award for her work with Head Start and her mission to improve early childhood education for the children we serve. We miss her dearly and value her lasting contribution to the children and families we serve.
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