Author: Kelly

Thank you to the nearly 90 volunteers that joined Caring Cubs on Martin Luther King Jr. Day!  We held events at The Gathering Place (Westlake and Beachwood locations) and decorated 141 gift bags for The Gathering Place to use at retreats for cancer patients, survivors, and their families throughout the year.  It’s wonderful to see the dedication and creativity of our “cubs”.  Thank you to the children and their families for volunteering and to The Gathering Place for hosting us!

Visit our Facebook page to see pictures of the event.

Caring Cubs spent Saturday, November 2 completing two important service projects.

Caring Cubs collected 253 stuffed animals and toys in our annual collection to benefit the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).  DCFS lets children in crisis choose one to keep when they first arrive at DCFS and also allows parents to select an item to give to their children during visitations.

Caring Cubs also decorated 277 holiday cards for the American Red Cross of Greater Cleveland and their Holiday Mail for Heroes program.  The holiday cards that will be delivered to veterans, military families and active-duty service members at hospitals and installations around the world.

Thank you to Cuyahoga Community College for hosting Caring Cubs and to the Education Department for volunteering at the event!

The wonderful pictures were taken by Shannon Ahlstrand of Shannon Ahlstrand Photography (www.ShannonAhlstrandPhoto.com).  Thank you to Shannon for donating her time and talents to Caring Cubs!

Caring Cubs purchased the supplies for this event as part of a generous grant from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeastern Ohio.  Thank you!

Photos of the event can be found on our Facebook page – Click here!

Caring Cubs spent a beautiful October morning volunteering in the forest, prairie and marsh habitats of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes.  Our families of volunteers divided into three groups and, under the guidance of a Nature Center staff member, set off to different locations throughout the park.  Our families continue to impress us with their dedication and enthusiasm to make a difference for the organization Caring Cubs is volunteering for!

Our youngest cubs and their families helped to plant trees and shrubs along a trail to protect it from erosion.  Along the hike, they were excited to discover a box turtle with an old tracking device still attached.  We’re looking forward to learning more about the history of the box turtle!

The two other groups of Caring Cubs collected seeds for future propagation and pulled invasive plants to help maintain the health of the wetland.  The volunteers had their choice of the less muddy prairie or the really muddy marsh!  Those in the marsh also enjoyed washing their boots off in the stream!

The mission of the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes is to conserve a natural area, connect people with nature and inspire environmental stewardship.  The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes was founded in 1966 as the result of a grassroots community effort to preserve the Shaker Parklands from becoming the route for a new freeway connecting Cleveland’s East Side to downtown. Thanks to the community effort ten thousand children participate annually in more than 30,000 hours of curriculum-related school programs, including a strong early childhood program for several East Side school districts and the Cleveland Public Schools. Additionally, an estimated 10,000 walkers, runners, and bird-watchers use the trails and grounds for exercise and enjoyment of nature.

Click here to view pictures of this hands-on event!

Caring Cubs volunteered at the Cleveland Kids in Need Resource Center on Saturday, September 21, 2013.  Caring Cubs participants generously donated many much needed school supplies to help local children.  The Caring Cubs families also volunteered their time to sort pens, package chalk, prepare glue sticks and highlighters, and help stock the shelves with a variety of school supplies.  The “cubs” were able to put their individual donations on the shelves as well as help with other corporate donations that needed to be displayed for teachers.

     

Thank you to the 57 people who attended our volunteer event at the Cleveland Foodbank!  Caring Cubs families donated 101 pounds of food and decorated 229 brown bags!  The bags will be used by the Foodbank to distribute food in.  As the pictures demonstrate, our “cubs” were very thoughtful and creative artists.  We were also able to take tours of the facility and learn more about the services that the Cleveland Foodbank provides.

The Cleveland Foodbank partners with more than 600 agencies that serve the needy and supply a majority of the food used in local hot meal sites, shelters, and food pantries. They also provide food to child care centers, group homes, and programs for the elderly.  Visit www.clevelandfoodbank.org to learn more!

Caring Cubs purchased the supplies for this event as part of a generous grant from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeastern Ohio.

More pictures of the event are on the Caring Cubs Facebook page!

The rain held out just long enough for our 45 volunteers to plant 31 flats of impatiens, begonias, petunias, and marigolds!  The cubs and their families worked diligently to plant the flowers around the Great Hall, in the front planters and in the central yard that everyone passes when they arrive at Camp Cheerful.  The flowers and gardening tools were purchased by Caring Cubs as part of a grant from the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeastern Ohio.

Thank you to the students and professor from the Tri-C early childhood education program who volunteered at the event.  The college students greeted every family, managed registration and then pitched in to get all the flowers planted.  Caring Cubs is lucky to have such wonderful volunteers – they were the first to arrive and the last to leave!

At Camp Cheerful, children and adults with disabilities participate in a variety of recreational activities that encourage confidence and independence, and create opportunities for lifelong friendships while having fun and improving their quality of life. They also offer year-round Therapeutic Horseback Riding sessions and a state-of-the-art, fully handicap accessible High Ropes challenge course during camp sessions.

Nearly 100 volunteers braved the cold on Saturday, April 20, 2013 to plant trees in the Cleveland Metroparks!  We are now proud to say that there are 50 trees in “Caring Cubs Forest” (our unofficial name) at Little Cedar Point Picnic Area in the Rocky River Reservation.

Thank you to the students and staff from Tri-C’s Early Childhood Education program who volunteered at this event!

Thank you to the Sierra Club and the Cleveland Metroparks for making this event possible!

Click here to view our entire event photo album!

The pink flags mark where Caring Cubs can plant trees…

The 50 trees are waiting for Caring Cubs to plant them…

“Caring Cubs Forest” in the Rocky River Reservation….

The Cleveland Metroparks are an outstanding feature of our community.  The mission of the Cleveland Metroparks is to conserve significant natural resources and enhance people’s lives by providing safe, high-quality outdoor education, recreation, and zoological opportunities.  The Cleveland Metroparks offers programs for the entire family and their Kids Club program is specifically designed for children 12 and under.  Kids Club provides opportunities to enjoy activities, exploration and fun experiences year-round in the Cleveland Metroparks and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Founded by legendary conservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is the largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the country. The Northeast Ohio Sierra Club has partnered with Caring Cubs to assist in this event, helping our youngest friends learn to explore, enjoy, and protect the planet.

Caring Cubs volunteered for the Cleveland Sight Center on Saturday, March 16. Our cubs decorated 454 occluders for the Cleveland Sight Center to use in their Prevention Screening program, colored nearly 70 pictures which will be used to create a festive atmosphere at the center’s Easter egg hunt, and we traced and cut fabric squares for future collage projects.

While at Cleveland Sight Center, the Caring Cubs families also learned some simple and fun ways that people with vision loss do daily tasks with adaptive devices and skills, received their name and the alphabet in braille, and met a seeing eye dog.  One of the most interesting adaptations was learning how a person with vision loss could still play adapted baseball.  During the event, the Cleveland Sight Center also offered vision screening for any child age 3 to 5.

The Cleveland Sight Center has been helping the blind or visually impaired in our community since 1906. They provide a wide array of services for clients of any age. Each year Cleveland Sight Center screens thousands of area preschoolers for preventable vision loss and refers kids who seem to have a vision problem to area eye doctors so they can start school with the best vision possible.