The Kidoinfo family has certainly grown over the last year and there are now over twelve regular contributing writers. Our computers, Wi-Fi, and email allow us all to work virtually anywhere and anytime—especially helpful if juggling multiple jobs, childcare or sick kids. The downside is since we don’t need to see each other to get our articles written and posted on the Kido blog, we often don’t see each other. I am a big believer in face time and connecting offline—and although I love my computer and use it quite a bit—I decided it was time to meetup in person with the other Kidoinfo writers.

We met at Jake’s in the jewelry district, conveniently located for people driving from all parts of the state and a groovy place to have food and drink inside with a great jukebox or outside on the patio. They have free Wi-Fi as well in case you need it. What a blast. People met for the first time, found out more about each other, decided on ways we can all stay in touch, shared ideas about future stories and more.

Kidoinfo writer meetup (pictured above L to R, except for Martha Iachetta (thinking mom) who had not arrived yet): Jill Davidson (education), Maura Keating (product reviews), Michelle Riggen-Ransom (nature/nurture), Anisa Raoof (publisher), Erin Goodman (it’s a date), Nancy King (editor), Marianne Ruggiero (risd artplay), Katy Killilea (grocery news, food, general), Jaci Arnone (general)

Snacks and dollars for the jukebox—since it was so nice outside we decided to save our dollars for the next Kidoinfo meetup.

Other Kidoinfo contributors who were not able to attend: Mark Binder (story of the month), Megan Fischer (providence children’s museum), Adam Darowski (general), Geoff Griffin (general), Hope Foley (audubon society), Katie Mulligan (nutrition), Christina Mitchell (pediatrician), Melissa Brusso (sports mom), Jen Morin and Kirsten DiChiappari (wellness).

Claire Duckmanton, originally from the UK and a former East Side resident, lives in Seekonk, MA, with her husband and three children (ages 2, 8, and 13). Below she shares her experience as a Fresh Air Fund host family and her role as the local chairperson for the Fresh Air Fund.

A few years ago, my family and I moved from the East Side of Providence to Seekonk, MA. The time had come to give our growing family the outdoor space they really needed and wanted. Walking around Thayer Street and stopping for coffee gave my kids less pleasure than it did me! With the move came a sort of mid-life crisis thing. We bought a dog, a rabbit, and even six egg-laying chickens. My husband put his foot down when I talked about a goat. Our new home environment was everything we had hoped for, and it seemed selfish to keep it to ourselves. A friend told me a little about the Fresh Air Fund and I was excited to find out more. After some online research, we decided it was just what we were looking for—an opportunity to give something back.

The Fresh Air Fund has been providing free vacations to inner-city kids from low-income neighborhoods in New York City for over one hundred years. Families are invited to open their home and hearts to a child for two weeks during the summer. Once we decided to become a host family, our wondrous journey began. Our first visitor was Alsheek (in 2005), a nine-year-old boy from Brooklyn. He left New York on a bus with thirty other Fresh Air children, escorted by volunteers, leaving his parents behind at the city bus stop. Can you imagine taking a six-hour bus ride and arriving to meet a family you’ve never even seen before? Some of these children are as young as six years old. Alsheek quickly settled in and the fun began. It was wonderful for us to see Alsheek enjoying the simple things we take for granted like riding a bike, swimming, and going to the beach. Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. The experience can be a challenge as the kids and families adjust to one another—my children struggled with Alsheek wanting to play twenty-four hours a day and waking them go swimming at 6:00 a.m. It took patience and understanding, but the rewards for all of us far outweighed any hiccups. We did not host a child in 2006 because I gave birth to my third child a month before the Fresh Air kids’ visit. Since then we have hosted Kyra, 10, and a young boy named David in 2007. And this year we are excited to welcome Kyra back for another visit. Children who are re-invited by host families may continue with the Fund until they are eighteen years old.

Four years later, and I am now the local chairperson for the Fresh Air Fund. I see my role as ambassador, publicist, and recruiter of families who are ready, willing, and able to make a difference in a child’s life.

If you would like to learn more, please contact me at 508-761-8242 or 401-301-4090.

Details:
Fresh Air Fund website: www.freshair.org
Trip dates this year for local area: July 10 – July 23
Deadline for applications: Early June
Application process: Interested families call Claire on the phone to discuss program details, followed by an interview in the family’s home. Families fill out an application, including four references, and undergo a background check. There are no fees. Children on first-time visits are six to twelve years old. Host families can pick the age and gender of the child they’d like to host.

Photo Credit: Claire Duckmanton. Top L: Kyra with Felix. Top R: Kyra with Georgie and Isabel. Bottom: Alsheek.

I spent a lovely long weekend away with my family to attend a wedding. My mind is still filled with visions of the luscious colored saris the women wore during the Hindu ceremony and the intricate henna pattern (Mehendi) on the bride’s feet and hands.

I am just now catching up with email and blog posts—I was pleasantly surprised to see that Linda from a la mode, awarded Kidoinfo one of her top five blogs. I am flattered. I will share the love and name some of my favorites:

Rag & Bone blog: A great place to feed your mind and creative soul with everything paper

IKEA Hacker: Endless creative ideas for your IKEA finds

Angry Chicken: Amy shares her creative life with kids

Scrumdilly-do: More fun things to make, read and do with our kidos

Social Media for Social Change: A VERY new site with the mission - exploring how technology can promote good in the world

It has been a happy day.

photo credit: Douglas Itkin

Today is National Arbor Day. Two of my favorite books are The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. These stories remind us how important our tress are.

Get in a tree mood: Listen to C is for Conifers by They Might Be Giants on itunes.

Celebrate locally: RITree invites everyone to join in celebrating Arbor Day by watching the beginning of a forest, and by honoring the important work of arborists in Rhode Island. The staff at Goddard Memorial State Park and a team of RI arborists, with help from a small army of Tree Stewards, will plant up to 100 trees.

Everyone is invited to the Arbor Day Fair and tree planting. The event will showcase demonstrations by arborists, displays by tree-related organizations and information about proper planting and mulching methods. Raffles every hour, to give away a free tree. Come and learn what it is that arborists do, and meet the people who do it. This is a fair for all ages, so pack a picnic lunch and a blanket, bring the whole family, and enjoy this beautiful park on a spring day.

Details:
Arbor Day Fair and tree planting, sponsored by RITree
Saturday, April 26, 2008 from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm
Goddard Memorial Park, Warwick, RI
401-764-5885

More Events: Earth Day Cleanup
Clean up events across the city take place throughout the week. Visit What Grows on RI for a listing of locations.

Although Earth Day was officially Tuesday, our trees need a healthy environment in order to grow everyday.
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I would like to introduce Jaci Arnone, a new contributing writer for Kidoinfo. Having grown up in Southeastern Massachusetts, Jaci chose the Ocean State to raise her family after stints on the West Coast, Southern Florida, and a few cities in between. Although she works part time as a prospect researcher in the nonprofit world, most of her time is spent trying to keep up with her four active kids, ages 10, 5, and 3-year-old twins. With the slivers of spare time she finds, Jaci enjoys writing, taking peaceful runs (ideally, not pushing the triple jogger), and combing local thrift stores for treasures. I welcome her perspective on life and kids.

With the summer just weeks away, it’s time to start lining up activities to make the most of our kids’ summer vacation… camp, beach trips, opportunities to make our world a better place. Well, maybe the last one’s a stretch, but it’s something I try to include in our annual summer to-do list.

Community service has always been an important part of my life, one I hope to share with my children. And the summer is a great time to focus on a community service project, since our schedule is less chaotic. As the mom of four kids, however, it’s a daunting task to find projects that are manageable, educational, and most importantly, age appropriate (in our case, for ages 3 – 10).

Fortunately, there are various local resources which help match volunteers with opportunities that suit their family’s needs. A great place to start is databases such as Volunteer Match, the Volunteer Center of Rhode Island, and Volunteer Solutions. These sites allow volunteers to search opportunities by particular age ranges and areas of interest. In addition, the Providence Journal lists volunteer opportunities in their LifeBeat section.

Some of our family favorites:

Rhode Island Community Farms: We visited one of the state’s eight Community Farm sites, which provide fresh produce for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. Although volunteers must be 14 years or older to volunteer in the Food Bank itself, the Community Farm is a fun way for younger children to join in the effort. My kids were thrilled to see their baskets bursting with fresh vegetables, soon to be shared with Rhode Island families in need. For more information visit www.rifoodbank.org.

Suitcases for Kids: Through the RI Council of Resource Providers for Children, Youth, and Families’ (RICORP) website, we learned about the ‘Suitcases for Kids’ program, which provides gently used luggage for children in residential placement. Otherwise, most foster children carry their belongings in plastic garbage bags, a degrading message for any child. In the summer of ’06, we made this project our focus. The kids painted a sign for our front lawn notifying neighbors we would be collecting suitcases throughout the summer. In addition, we set up a lemonade stand and used the proceeds to buy toiletries and other small items to be donated along with our suitcases. Our older sons were especially proud to deliver their hard-earned suitcases to the foster care facility. For more information visit www.ricorp.net.

Our goal for this summer, Coastline Conservation!

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When it comes to clothes and shoes that my family no longer wears or never quite fit us, we have always given them away to friends and to area shelters. However, sometimes our sneakers are so well worn, they seem worthy only of the trashcan. Well, I have a new plan for our old sneakers now that I learned about the Nike Reuse-A-Shoe program, which recycles old and unusable shoe material into basketball and tennis courts, soccer fields, and running tracks. This program means less trash in the landfills and more places for kids to play. Did you know it takes between 2,000 and 2,500 pairs of athletic shoes to recycle enough material to build a basketball court surface?

If that isn’t enough incentive, National Geographic for Kids is working towards its third Guinness World Record for the longest chain of shoes. Once the magazine reaches its goal, it plans to donate the sneakers to the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe program.

Thanks to Andres Salmeron, a seventh grader at the Wheeler School in Providence who has organized a local effort, you can easily participate. Just drop your worn athletic shoes into the containers outside Providence’s City Hall or the Center for Environmental Studies at Brown University.

Deadline for Guinness World Record: January 22, 2008.

September 23, 2007

Locally, The Peace Flag Project invites you to celebrate today from 3 - 5 pm
Davey Lopes Rec Center Park, 227 Dudley St. at Prairie Ave., Providence, RI

Here is a follow-up to our post, Toys for Iraqi Kids. The boys and I rounded up stuffed animals they were given as infants that they never used (most still with tags on them). We used the shipping supplies we received free from the United Postal Service and we shipped eight stuffed animals in a medium-sized box (weighing 3lb, 12 oz.) to an APO address for $6.65. You only pay for domestic shipping, insurance, and confirmation for your package because it is going to a U.S. Army base. From there, the U.S. government takes care of getting packages to Edmay Mayers, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who is currently stationed in Iraq and distributing toys to Iraqi children. She is there until November 2007 and will accept donations up until she leaves.

We wish for the safety of all those currently in Iraq.

Doing some spring cleaning and looking for a place to donate your kid’s gently used toys and stuffed animals? Consider sending toys to Iraq. I saw a post in Parent Hacks that explains how. Edmay Mayers, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who is currently stationed in Iraq, has taken on this mission to collect and distribute toys to children living in Iraq. Iraqi kids are not responsible for our current political situation, so why not help them play? My boys and I are going to start packing up a box of toys to send to Edmay. She is stationed in Iraq until November 2007 and will accept donations as long as she is there.

You can request a FREE mailing supply kit for sending items to U.S. military personnel. The kit includes boxes, tape, labels, and customs forms. (Note: Supplies are FREE but you are responsible for the postage.)

• The U.S. Postal Service provides information about supporting troops and free mailing supplies.

• Call 1-800-610-8734 (Packing Supply) and then:
- Choose your language (1 for English, 2 for Spanish).
- Choose option 1 (for Express Mail® service, Priority Mail or Global Express Guaranteed®).
- When you reach a live agent, request CAREKIT04.
- Allow 7-10 days for delivery.

Mail toys to:
Edmay Mayers
USACE - GRS
APO AE 09331

Here are some everyday things to do.
• Keep our air clean - Walk or bike when you can, instead of driving.
• Save electricity - Turn off lights, appliances, and computers when not in use.
• Help the trees - Read books from the library. Recycle newspapers, magazines, and cardboard.
• Learn how to reuse and recycle the right way.

Earth Day is April 22, 2007.
In 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin helped pass legislation to establish a special Environmental Teach-in called Earth Day every Spring. More from Wikipedia.

Activities to celebrate our environment:
• Read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, play the online game.
• Read The Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin.
• Join the Environmental Kids Club.
• Get connected to more great environmental kid sites.
• Shop at a local thrift shop. (Check Shopping at Kidoinfo).
• Keep stuff out of landfills, see free and barter sections on Craigslist.
• Donate old toys, clothes, and furniture to a local organization.
• Watch Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth.
• Grab a bag and put on gloves: help clean up your local park or beach.
• Start a “Trash” box. Save cardboard tubes, selected broken toys, etc., for future projects.
• Make “Treasures from your Trash” with your kids - create a robot, a house, etc.
• Play games with Max Man.
• Have kids design their own Earth Day Super Hero - draw it, sculpt it, build it with LEGOs.
• Take a walk in the woods.
• Have a picnic outside. Listen to the birds.

Local events:
• Attend the Party for the Planet at Roger Williams Park Zoo.
• Visit the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.
• Clean up your community. Find a list of dates and places to help clean up Rhode Island.
• Earth Day Spring Cleanup: April 7, 8 am - 1 pm. Narragansett Town Beach, North Pavilion Parking Lot. More info.

Tell us (click comments below) about your favorite everyday Earth Day activity or submit a local Earth Day event.