Author: Kelly

The children of Caring Cubs demonstrated their committment to helping others and their generousity this month.  Caring Cubs donated over 350 new and used stuffed animals to the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) on Saturday, December 10!  DCFS lets children in crisis choose a stuffed animal to keep when they first arrive and also allows parents to choose stuffed animals to give to their children during visitations.

The Lake Erie Nature and Science Center hosted our event and rewarded the children with a program about live animals.  We were visited by a turtle, opossum, screech owl, hamster, and bunny!

Thank you to the families who attended the event as well as the many families that delivered their donations in the week prior!  Happy Holidays!

Caring Cubs families visited the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Saturday, November 19.  This event was so popular that registration reached capacity almost a month prior to the event!  The families learned about the animals in the wildlife collection, the animals’ importance in the wild, animal training, and animal enrichment.  Families collected and donated household items on the museum’s “wildlife wish list” and the tour taught the children how their donations would be used.

Founded in 1920, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is one of the finest natural history museums in North America with an emphasis on scientific research, conservation and education. The museum boasts a collection of more than 5 million artifacts and specimens, including the Hamann-Todd Osteological Collection, which is the largest, most researched and published collection of modern human and non-human primate skeletons in the world.  Thank you to the Natural History Museum for hosting Caring Cubs and providing free admission and free parking!

Caring Cubs held our largest event of 2011 in October!  Nearly 70 children and parents joined us on October 1 at the Cleveland Sight Center.  The children created over 200 fun fish occluders for the organization’s Prevention Screening program. An occlude is a cardboard fish about 5 inches long that is held in front of each eye to block it so the other eye can be tested.  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.

While at Cleveland Sight Center, the Caring Cubs families were also able to see their names in Braille and learn some simple and fun ways that people with vision loss do daily tasks with adaptive devices and skills. A guide dog, our special guest, was also present to introduce the kids to “what to do if you meet a blind person”.

Thank you to the families who participated and the Cleveland Sight Center for be wonderful hosts!

Caring Cubs held two events in July.  The east side event was at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens Urban Learning Garden in Cleveland and the west side event was at St. Thomas Episcopal Community Garden in Berea.

The Cleveland Botanical Gardens event was a great opportunity for the children and parents to learn about gardening and get their hands dirty pulling weeds.  The children cleared weeds from the main garden path and enjoyed being able to see the difference they made.   Look for vegetables from the Botanical Gardens at your local market!

The children also volunteered at St. Thomas Episcopal Community Garden.  In addition to pulling weeds in the raised gardening beds, they were very excited to harvest radishes and water the entire garden.  The fresh vegetables are donated to local foodbanks.

Thank you to all the Caring Cubs who made these events successful! 

Cleveland Botanical Gardens:

St. Thomas Episcopal Community Garden:

Caring Cubs spent the morning of Saturday, June 4 helping Cornerstone of Hope prepare for their summer programming.  We decorated a welcome banner for their summer camp for children and cut out pictures for use in art therapy.   The Caring Cubs children (and parents) enjoyed doing projects that will help grieving children to feel better!

Thank you to Cornerstone of Hope for inviting Caring Cubs into your beautiful location and taking the time to teach us about your mission!  Cornerstone of Hope is dedicated to providing support, education and hope to the grieving.

In May, Caring Cubs also volunteered at Camp Cheerful in Strongsville.  The children enjoyed planting and watering flowers to help the camp prepare for the upcoming season.  The rare sunny day made this event even more special!

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 new state-of-the-art, fully handicap accessible High Ropes challenge course during camp sessions. Caring Cubs will enjoy a walking tour of Camp Cheerful and meet the horses that are used for therapy after the flowers have been planted! 

A little rain didn’t keep Caring Cubs from pulling weeds and planting flowers at Camp Ho Mita Koda in May!  The children and parents both enjoyed this hands-on event and being able to see the difference Caring Cubs made in just two hours!  Camp Ho Mita Koda is a subsidiary of the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland and is one of the oldest residential camps for children with diabetes in the United States.  The camp’s programs are designed for children with diabetes to have fun, make friends, and learn about diabetes.

Before Caring Cubs:

After Caring Cubs:

Caring Cubs was excited to visit the Beachwood and Westlake locations of The Gathering Place this March.  After touring the facilities and learning about the services provided, the children decorated bookmarks that will be put in books distributed at The Gathering Place’s library.  The bookmarks will be a special touch for individuals in need of the services and information provided by The Gathering Place.

The Gathering Place is a non-profit, community-based cancer support center that serves all individuals with any type of cancer.  The mission of The Gathering Place is to support, educate and empower individuals and families touched by cancer through programs and services provided free of charge.

Caring Cub families spread the love this Valentine’s Day by making cards and signs for the residents of Kemper House in Olmsted Falls.  We personally distributed 50 handmade Valentine’s Day cards and brought many smiles to the faces of the seniors.  The children also listened to a story about caring for seniors and Sean Murphy, 11 years old, talked to the group about ways children can volunteer in senior communities.  The children learned that a small gesture can make a huge difference in someones day.  Thank you to the families who participated and to Kemper House for hosting Caring Cubs! 

The last Caring Cubs event in 2010 was a bouncing good time!    Nearly 50 parents and children attended the event and we collected over 100 pairs of shoes to be donated to Soles4Souls.  Soles4Souls distributes donated shoes, free of charge, to people in need around the world.  Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 10 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes. The shoes have been distributed in 125 countries, including Haiti, Kenya, Nepal and the United States.  Thank you to The Jump Yard in North Royalton for offering discount admission to Caring Cubs participants.