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Dear
Friends,
Welcome to
the first Action News Online from the Robert F. Kennedy Children's
Action Corps!
Our
quarterly e-newsletter will provide you with highlights on recent success
stories of the boys and girls in our care, program vignettes and updates on
upcoming events. We will also share ways in which you can advocate for children and opportunities that will allow you to
support and help the RFK Children's Action Corps.
I hope you
will find our news updates to be a useful resource to learn more
about our cause and how you can support our children.
Thank you
for your interest in the RFK Children's Action Corps. Together we can ensure all children have the possibility for a brighter tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Edward P.
Kelley
President
& CEO
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Turn $10 into $20
This October, JustGive.org celebrates 10 years of online charitable giving! To mark the occasion, starting October 10, they will add $10 to every donation made for 10 days.
Donations as small as $10 are accepted. Visit www.justgive.org/10years.
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Hannaford Helps Schools - You Can Too!
Now through
December 5, purchase participating products in the Hannaford Helps
Schools program, and you'll earn school dollars that our Lancaster school can use to purchase sports
equipment, art supplies, computers, books, musical instruments and more!
For more
information click here.
Mail certificates to RFK Children's Action
Corps, 11 Beacon St Ste 200,
Boston, MA 02108. |
Make Winter Wishes Come True!
The winter holidays will be here before we know it and with them comes our Annual Winter Wish gift drive. Our goal is to provide all of the boys and girls in our care with at least one gift.
Click here to learn how you can make Winter Wishes come true! |
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Announcing John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award
The Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps is honored to announce that we have been awarded a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This grant provides the core support for the Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice Initiative.
This initiative is an effort to create successful and replicable models of juvenile justice reform. Models for Change seeks to accelerate progress toward a more effective and fair juvenile justice system that holds young people accountable for their actions, provides for their rehabilitation, protects them from harm and manages the risk they pose to themselves and to the public.
This work reinforces the agency's commitment to focus on national policy and advocacy work and to prioritize issues impacting the reentry of juvenile justice-involved youth back into the community.
For more information on the Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice Initiative, click here.
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Former Student Returns to Give Back
and Inspires others to do the same
Aaron Manley, a former student at the RFK Experiment with
Travel School (EWT) is back at the program - only now teaching students how to
play the guitar. He currently tutors
three students at EWT and will be performing at the School this November. Aaron, 20, a music  student at Holyoke Community College,
entered our special education day school seven years ago as an extremely
depressed and shy young man after his mother's death in 1999 left him deeply
traumatized. The EWT program is designed to care for youth with
emotional, educational and behavioral issues. Music therapy is one part of the education program at EWT. While at RFK, Aaron found studying music to
be a creative outlet for relieving stress and became an avid reader of books
involving music and guitar instruction. This past June, Aaron performed at the agency's Embracing
the Legacy Awards where his father watched proudly as he entertained 350 guests
with classical music selections on his guitar. Aaron's story, however, reached
much further than the audience in the room that night.  Prior to his performance, The Boston Globe featured an
article on Aaron, "Rock 'n' roll saved his life". Aaron's inspiring story prompted a young man
from the Rivers School in Weston to get involved. This month, he is asking the guests of his
Bar Mitzvah to donate musically-inspired gifts to the agency in lieu of
personal gifts. The generous gifts will be given to the EWT School where
they will be used to inspire future success stories like Aaron's. |
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Ride for Kids Celebrates 20 Years
45
agencies.
1,400 riders. 700 volunteers. 1
common  cause. On
the steamy fall morning of Saturday, September 25th, hundreds of individuals gathered together to support at-risk children
throughout the state by celebrating the 20th annual Rodman Ride for
Kids. With RFK volunteers checking in the riders,
Ed Kelley at the start line, Don Rodman riding the route and the Road
Crew
ensuring everyone's safety and return, it was a well-oiled machine. The
cow-bells rang as the riders went out on
their routes, the water stops re-fueled the cyclists' energy with
Gatorade and
music, and the cheerers reigned in these athletes with noisemakers as
they
triumphantly crossed the finish line. To view photos from the event click here.
The afternoon culminated with food
and
festivities at Ride Headquarters: ribs worth waiting in line for, much
anticipated cold beverages, and samples galore. But more importantly,
the BBQ allowed us to celebrate the reason we are
all brought together, helping children, and thanking everyone for their
efforts.
 The Ride
for Kids was created by staff at the RFK Children's Action Corps in
1989. The
100-mile cycling tour started in Boston and
ended in Clinton
raising $6,000. In 1991 it was adopted by Don Rodman and became known as
the
Rodman Ride for Kids, and this year, the Rodman Ride for Kids will raise
over
$7 million for youth-serving organizations in the Commonwealth,
including the
Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps. The "Ride" continues to grow
each year and has cumulatively raised over
$44 million since its inception.
We still have work to do to get to our $250,000 Finish Line Goal!
To see how you can help visit our Team page.
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Our Supporters in Action
A Spotlight
on:
SMMA and
its employees are committed to enhancing not only the built environment through
design, but also communities and society at large through their personal and
professional actions.
 "SMMA is
committed to improving the lives of disadvantaged children and their families
as part of our overall corporate charitable giving program. We firmly believe that child welfare and
juvenile justice programs make a substantial difference in improving the future
for so many youngsters in need today. We
have biked and contributed to Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps as part
of the Ride for Kids for 19 years to underscore this commitment. Two years ago, we lost one of our very own
champions of the RFK cause, Phil Brooks, who passed away preparing for the
ride. We ride with a little extra
enthusiasm for the cause in Phil's memory." (Michael Powers, SMMA)
SMMA
employees have also joined forces for the past three years in helping provide
holiday wishes for hundreds of our children through the Winter Wish program.
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Children Deserve Better.
Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps is a private
non-profit licensed child welfare agency with approved private schools,
foster care and adoption services. More than 800 children and families
come to one of our 19 residential and community-based programs across
the state each year.
At the Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps
we have seen remarkable transformations others deemed impossible.
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