Change Linked for Project Change KC

Undie Fundie Results are IN!

2009-04-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Operation Breakthrough is a children’s center devoted to helping children living in poverty. They are currently assisting 670 children in developing to their fullest potential by providing them with a safe, loving, and educational environment. Many of these children rely on donated clothing for their wardrobe but few people think to donate new underwear and socks. The center expressed their need for these items so Team Change Linked set out to collect 700 pairs of underwear and socks, at least one pair for child.

With the generous assistance of Soli Printing, the Team named the project Mission Underpants and tackled this challenge by placing decorated boxes, posters and flyers in various small businesses around metropolitan Kansas City. Word spread and soon churches, Girl Scout troups, offices and families were all working together to collect items.

The team threw an “Undie Fundie” at Vinino and raised 559 pairs of underwear and 195 pairs of socks in only one evening. Many kind people also donated money which allowed the team to purchase additional items and make sure all sizes, ages 2-14 were covered.

Team Change Linked is very proud to announce that, at last count, 1253 pairs of underwear, 777 pairs of socks as well as many bras, undershirts and tank tops were collected for Operation Breakthrough. Donations are still coming in! The team had so much fun that they are planning to turn it into an annual event.

A Very Special Thank you to Soli Printing, Vinino, Paula Hahn, 360 Architecture, JCPS, Foo’s Fabulous Custard in Leawood and Brookside, GoBug, Emily’s Custard, and Anthropologie for helping us achieve and surpass our goal!

~written by sofia

Also...a huge thank you to Artemide Lighting, Hudson Home, PS Sweets, Sunshine Yoga, Brenda Burns Catering and Lillie's Cafe on 17th for donating generously to our raffle at the "Undie Fundie". ~ Carla

Mission Underpants Happy Hour: Tuesday, March 31st

2009-03-29T14:09:00.001-07:00

Host:
Team Change Linked / Sofia Varanka

Location:
Shark Bar / P&L District1340 Grand Blvd.Kansas City, MO 64108 US

When:
Tuesday, March 31, 6:00PM to 8:00PM

Phone:
816-547-3859

Have you ever imagined your life without underwear or socks? This is a sad fact for many children in Kansas City. Please help Team Change Linked, of Project Change, help the kids at Operation Breakthrough by bringing a pair of children's underwear and/or socks or making a financial donation.

Our goal is to provide at least one pair of socks/underwear for each child. Each pair you bring will enter you into a drawing for many great prizes.

We hope you will come and bring friends, family and co-workers with you! Pass it on!

evite link to rsvp

Upcoming Projects....the green team

2009-03-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

Some of the Nurture the Children / Green Team went over to Catherine's Place to start to organize our April and May work days. We had discussed in our previous Change Linked meeting that a community garden would be a worthy project, and Catherine's Place is quite excited about us providing raised beds of edible, organic food and flowers, etc.

Kristopher Dabner is going to champion the effort of getting material and plants donated as well as working out a plan and planting layout. Lisa Schmitz is coordinating a pre-planting day event with the children of Catherine's Place to plant seeds and decorated cups. Children in general are encouraged to participate in this event.

We are setting the date as April 25th, a Saturday. It will take a full day to achieve our goal of building several raised beds and starting the planting. We are also trying to coordinate with Catherine's Place so that some residents work with us so that they have knowledge of how to tend the garden.

In May, we will create a mural while others work to maintain or add to the outdoor planting.

Lots in the works through the Change Linked Team!

~by Dominique

UPdate on Project Change....

2009-03-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Update on Project Change, by Sofia

The first month of Project Change was a huge success!

Collectively Project Change gathered:

Over 200 bags of clothing:

100 pairs p.j.'s
100 coats
300 pairs gloves
300 pairs socks

Enough clothing for over 3,000 of our cities homeless and low income residents!

Additionally:

100 towels
130 blankets
618 children's books
over 10 lbs. toiletries

Over $2700!
Enough food to feed approximately 2,000 people
Pet items and office supplies to aid hundreds of homeless pets in KC

Wow...

Next up 700 pairs of underwear and socks!

Happy Hour Benefitting Operation Breakthrough

2009-03-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HOUR BENEFITTING OPERATION BREAKTHROUGH

Host:
Team Change Linked / Sofia Varanka
Location:
Shark Bar / P&L District1340 Grand Blvd.Kansas City, MO 64108 US View Map

When:
Tuesday, March 31, 6:00PM to 8:00PM Add to my Outlook Calendar

Phone:
816-547-3859

Have you ever imagined your life without underwear or socks? This is a sad fact for many children in Kansas City. Please help Team Change Linked, of Project Change, help the kids at Operation Breakthrough by bringing a pair of children's underwear and/or socks or making a financial donation.

Our goal is to provide at least one pair of socks/underwear for each child. Each pair you bring will enter you into a drawing for many great prizes.

We hope you will come and bring friends, family and co-workers with you! Pass it on!

evite link to rsvp

Reading and Tutoring with Operation Breakthrough

2009-03-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Change Linked intends to 'Nurture the Children' by enhancing Operation Breakthrough's reading and tutoring programs with more volunteers.

The time of day volunteers choose determines which age group they work with. The mornings are geared towards toddlers & pre-school children. The afternoon is more for reading and homework help for K-12 kids. Volunteers need to fill out applications (email us for an application) and turn them in. All volunteers will be contacted to arrange attendance of the orientation days that we're coordinating at the beginning of April.

Our volunteer focus is during the months of April and May, but we hope that this will continue well beyond those months. Additionally, for people who are too busy to volunteer, they may donate a new or gently used Dr. Seuss book. We hope to get enough books to send home with each kid on Dr. Seuss Day next year. Flyers will be posted around town and distributed through Anthropologie on the Plaza.

~Written by Jamie.

If you are interested in volunteering through us for these programs, feel free to contact Jamie at this email address: changelinkedkc@gmail.com

BackSnack Program through Harvesters

2009-03-04T18:40:00.000-08:00

Team Change Linked kicked off our volunteer efforts and began to 'Feed the Hungry' by assisting Harvesters with their BackSnack Program.

BackSnack provides nutritious and fun foods for needy children to eat on the weekends. More than 100,000 children in the Kansas City metro area depend on subsidized school lunches as their one nutritious meal of the day. These children are left hungry over the weekend and Harvesters steps in to help this situation.

We chose to help Harvesters for our “Feed the Hungry” challenge because they are trying to expand the BackSnack program from 650 children to assist 8000 children by the end of this school year.

We foraged out to friends and family and gathered a great group of volunteers. We met at Harvesters on a Friday morning, and each found our own place on the assembly line. The group laughed, joked and sped their way through 800 snack kits before we ran out of pudding. The group was amazed at how quickly time passed and how much fun we all had. We can safely say that this won’t be the last time these volunteers are seen at Harvesters.

~Written by Sofia.

Meet "Change Linked"

2009-01-24T21:03:00.000-08:00

We're "Change Linked", one of 15 volunteer teams contributing to Project Change- Kansas City, a non-profit that brings professionals from the design and architectural fields together to create community service projects to meet local needs.

We have 4 Challenges that our team must creatively address:

Challenge One - February 2009

Warm the Homeless

Challenge Two - March 2009

Feed the Hungry

Challenge Three - April 2009

Save the Planet

Challenge Four - May 2009

Nurture the Children

Project Change provides a platform to "connect people, share our knowledge, use our talents to fuel our passions, and simplify the act of giving" in order to raise awareness in our communities for those in need.

Our team chose the name "Change Linked" to symbolize one of our self-sustaining volunteer projects which begins with one volunteer contributing their time to a child, who then chooses another volunteer to donate their time, who then chooses the next volunteer to spend time with a child, and so on..... Once the chain begins, it links to another person, then another and will continue indefinitely.

We chose Operation Breakthrough and Catherine's Place as the recipients of our four challenge projects. We'll document our experiences on this blog so visit our site often for current updates!

~Laura