Crossroads Journal

We got into the newspaper! It was great. They talked about some of our leaders, Jennifer Paulson, my mom, and me (though I'm not a leader but I do like doing our blog). It was a great article about what we do and all the kids that help out to make cool things for people in need. I think it even mentioned how we have guest humanitarians every project and how anyone can get in! It really helped people see how good Serving with Smiles is!

Trip to the Food Bank

Some of the Serving With Smiles kids at the Food Bank!

Notice!

For our project on December 18th we will meet at a different building than usual. It's very close by. The address is 270 W Harvest Hills Blvd. This is the church building that is left at the first roundabout coming into Harvest Hills. Our next project will be on January 22, and we will meet in our regular building.

Watch for us!

There will be an article in the Crossroads Paper about us! It will be the Dec. 2nd issue. So be sure to watch for us. We're famous!

November Project is Cancelled!

Due to scheduling problems, we've had to cancel our November project. See you in December!

Tour the Utah Food Bank with us!

We have scheduled a tour of the Utah Food Bank on November 6 at 10:00am. Parents need to bring their own children. Please let us know if you want to come tour it with us by October 30th! Click here to email us and let us know. Also, here is a link to their website:
Utah Food Bank
Their location is: 3150 S. 900 W. SLC

Information About Our October Project

Saturday, October 16 is our next project!

At this project in addition to our usual fun activities, we'll be collecting food for the Kid's Backpack Program at the Utah Food Bank. This program is designed to help children whose regular meals are breakfast and lunch at school. The Utah Food Bank gives these children backpacks of food so they will have something to eat until their next meal. We will also be scheduling a tour of the Utah Food Bank facility...on a Saturday morning. More information will be coming, but all SWS children and parents are invited to attend.

Here is a list of the most needed items:
Shelf-stable milk (8oz)
Peanut butter (12 oz)
Fruit cups (small cans with pop tops)
Veggie cups (small cans with pop tops)
Granola Bars (healthy varieties)
Boxed juice (6-8 oz)
Soup (pop top)
Tuna (easy open)
Cereal (small boxes, healthy varieties)
Fruit snacks (100% juice)
Kid size apple sauce
Instant oatmeal packs
Crackers
Sun flower seeds
Raisins
Instant breakfast
Trail or granola mixes

Please join us!

Photos and Stats from our September Project

Our project was a lot of fun!
We made 20 Value Bracelets, 51 First Aid Kits,
18 Coloring Pages,
7 Geckos,
1 Hat, (these take a long time!)
3 Fleece Blankets were tied, and 1 Receiving Blanket was sewn.
We also worked on these stuffed socks too. We had worked on these at another project before. They will be going to Indian Reservations in Arizona.
Kathi Andersen came to talk to us about Haiti. She has gone there several times to help out since they had their earthquake. It's tough in Haiti! She said they give our bracelets and geckos to kids when they come into their clinics.
Hope to see you there next time!

September Project

This Saturday September 25th from 9-10 am is our next project! Come to the church at 2181 N. Harvest Moon Drive (our regular meeting place).
We'll be doing projects such as: making bracelets, hats, first aid kits, geckos, receiving blankets, and color a smile!
Also, wear your Serving With Smiles T-shirts to school on Thursday and invite your friends to come. See you there!

Back in Action

We've taken a break this Summer, but we have a meeting in August! Be sure to pick up some extra school supplies as you're shopping for them these next several weeks! Here's the info:

Calling all Serving with Smilers!

We've missed seeing you the last few months and are excited to meet again soon.

Here is the Serving With Smiles schedule for August and September.

• August 21 at 9:00am will be a mini project.
• Come to the church at 2181 N. Harvest Moon Drive (our regular meeting place).
• Bring school supply donations to drop off. (See the list below.)
• We will not be working on projects.

Our regular meetings will start again on September 18 at 9 am.

School supplies that are needed:

Spiral notebooks

Children's scissors

Pencils

Pencil sharpeners

Erasers (not pencil top erasers)

Rulers

Colored pencils

May-August Plans

This is what is happening with Serving With Smiles Saratoga May - August!
(Below is a description from our SWS American Fork friends.)

Remember to mark your calendar for a very special 3 year anniversary project next May 15! This project will be held at an LDS Stake Center at 690 W. 600 N. in American Fork from 9 - 10:30 a.m (note time change). American Fork Serving With Smiles and Saratoga Springs Serving With Smiles are combining this month! We also have a very special guest speaker and singer, Jenny Phillips who will share her experiences traveling with her choir to South Africa plus entertain us!! Of course we will have yummy treats afterward.

Please note that after the June 5 project, we will not have a July project and the August project will be a mini-project to only collect school kit supplies (we like to take advantage of the mega sales of school supplies at that time of year).

April's Project

Today we had our Serving with Smiles's April Project. It was a very accomplished project!! We were able to make:
2 blankets sewn,
5 bead geckos,
1 quilt tied,
6 fleece blankets tied,
33 Coloring Pages to make someone out there smile,
1 hat crocheted,
25 hygiene kits,
We also did a very special project where we made 100 hygiene kit socks. This is how we made them: Each table got 15 socks, and stuffed them with multi-colored toothbrushes, toothpaste, a comb, lotion, shampoo, and a tiny soap bar. We will make school supplies socks in our June project. Then we will give these socks to Circle of Love (another service group) and they will take these socks to Arizona and give them to children on Indian Reservations.
We also had about 40 kids there. You should come to our next projects. I'm really glad we have Serving with Smiles, it's been such a great experience. It's a really good feeling to know that we're helping people in the world. My mom wishes she had this opportunity when she was a kid.

P.S. Remember our next project (May 15th) will be in American Fork but, it will probably be our best and most fun project this year because it's going to be a celebration of the 3 year anniversary of Serving with Smiles! You better come!!!!

The Next Projects

It would be great if everyone could come to our May and April's Projects even though our May project is in American Fork. We're going to have SO MUCH FUN! It will be the best project ever! The reason is, we're celebrating the 3 year anniversary of Serving with Smiles. The SWS group in American Fork and our Saratoga Springs group are going to combine for a very special activity! I would love to see everyone there. So please show up!

March Project

We had another fun, successful, activity! Yet again, the Serving with Smiles Group were able to help many people out! On, March 13th, lots of kids showed up at the Serving with Smile's March Project. They (including me!) were doing a very special project along with the usual projects, this project was a teddy bear, an Easter egg with a piece of chocolate in it, a picture frame, a flower seed packet, all in an Easter basket. Why did we do this? This was our gift to the siblings of recently lost stillborn or miscarried infants. We were able to make 28 of those and take them to the American Fork Hospital. We also made: 6 file folder games, 15 finger plays, 6 matching games, and 2 sensory bins for the Harvest Hill Elementary's Autistic Preschool, 5 fleece blankets, and 2 quilts. What a successful project, huh? I can't wait 'til April's Project!

February Project

On February 20th we had our Serving with Smiles activity. Lots of kids showed up. We made 39 bracelets, 5 bead geckos, 26 sets of rhythm sticks, and 26 sets of sand blocks. We tied 5 fleece blankets and one quilt. We were able to send 18 donated coats, the 5 fleece blankets we had tied, and 20 hygiene kits to a road home in Midvale. Our meeting was quite a success!

Preparing for February's Project

During our project in February, we'd like to collect coats of all sizes to donate to the shelter in Midvale, Utah.
If you have any coats you can spare, bring them with you!
See you Feb. 20th!

Images from our December '09 and January '10 Projects

An explanation for kids; written by a kid like you. (10 years-old)

Is it just me or does it sometimes feel like the world is going to fall to it's knees if we don't work to help it? Destruction seems to never end. Hopes fail sometimes. Don't get depressed though! There is a way to help! In Saratoga Springs there's a children's program that wants to prevent that from happening. They work once a month to help a part of the world where the human race needs a lot of help! Such as Haiti, destitute places in Africa, even a homeless shelter in Salt Lake City! This program is called Serving with Smiles. This is a program for children. Here's how the program works: The Directors (or grown-ups) and children gather once a month in a church building in the neighborhood. The directors of the projects had bought the supplies for their project beforehand. Then they set up some tables around the gym. By the time the the children arrive all the tables are set up and each table has a fun project for the kids to do. The projects are things such as making bracelets, bead geckos, hats, story books, etc. Each kid can pick ANY of the projects available! It's our choice not the grownups! After most of the projects are done, we clean up and listen to a guest speaker and then sometimes make kits. We make Humanitarian Kits, Baby Kits, Hygiene Kits, etc. After that it's time to go home. This process only takes 1 HOUR! What do we do with the kits, then? We send them to a part of the world in need. The same goes for the projects we make. Guess what, it's also free! They love donations though so they can buy more supplies for kits! How do I know so much about it? Well I happen to go to this program! Believe it or not, I'm just a normal 10 year old girl!