Hello everyone and Happy Valentines Day!

This is an update about the non-profit, but if I may, I want to wander, thought-wise, for a moment.

Yesterday my sister Margaret and I took my Mom, who has lived through 89 Valentines Days, to a winery where we tasted wine, winery-made pizza, and chocolates. She sat by the massive fireplace and had a great day. Not all old folks have such nice Valentines Days-many are in assisted living or nursing homes and spend the day thinking of past days where they had lots of loved ones around. It can be a very lonely day for our elderly. If you have a few moments, could you take a box of chocolates or some single roses and go to a nursing home, or somewhere, and spend a few minutes visiting with an elderly person? You will, I promise, bring a smile to them, and feel like a million bucks yourself.

Onward…

As you know, hopefully, the data that I collected from kids (meaning all the interviews) as I traveled the country last year, was analyzed by Sonoma State and the report was complete late December.

Since then I have been writing the five health programs based on what the kids themselves say they wanted or needed to live healthier, happier lives. I am pleased to say that three of the five programs are complete! WaHoo!

The goal is to be done, meaning I have written them and our advisory team has made any necessary edits, by no later than the end of April.

Our Program Director is Tanya Scott, and she and I hope to have pilot programs in place by mid-summer. Kids and adults going through the program will be tested for health knowledge before and after the program. Grants will then be written, and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and staff have kindly offered to write recommendation letters to accompany all of our grant applications. By fall the permanent programs will be in place.

Many more details need to be explained such as where is the facility and please explain how the program works, but we’re not quite ready to release that information quite yet. Soon!

Meanwhile, any donations you can make to help us purchase props used for teaching aids, would be most appreciated. If you like you can simply purchase the props and bring or have them sent to us. The list of needed props will be posted soon.

After a year and a half of data collecting/program writing and organization, we’re almost ready to begin!!!! So exciting!