The Good Choices Kids’ Club in Seattle—30 volunteers strong—joined Earth Corps at Duwamish Greenbelt in West Seattle for Earth Day. People of all ages got together and removed Blackberry and Scotch Broom bushes and helped take care of newly planted trees by removing the grass from around them and putting in fresh mulch. Everyone had a great time. Thanks so much to all who helped.

Happy House-Community United San Jose has a fabulous new group partnerships facilitated and led by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF)!

SVCF, the San Jose Earthquakes and their two support groups, Casbah and 1906 Ultras, have embraced the Starbird Community Center kids in an all-in mentoring program in the field of soccer.

Tickets and Team clothing, practice with the team and mentoring with the supporters make for an exciting adventure up in San Jose.  SSFV also provided the Community United centers with soccer nets, balls and equipment!  Here is a photo of the youth on San Jose Earthquakes’ Opening Day in March 2012.

Happy House Founder Nancy Cartwright as well as Executive Director Peter Kjenaas and Executive Consulant Kathie Heard, joined Community United’s Executive Director Donna Stewart and her co-founder Jan Nitikin; top Donors (& Volunteers!), Marie Guenat and Bruce Stewart; and the core team that services the Starbird and Alma Youth Centers to receive the award.

The beautiful crystal sculpture from The City of San Jose (with logo), The Capital of Silicon Valley reads: “2012 Community Honoree Presented to Community United San Jose In recognition of your exemplary dedication and contribution to making San Jose a prosperous and vibrant city for all”

The Good Choices Program was also cited in this important and appreciated recognition!

The mayor made it clear in his State of the City address that the Gang Prevention Task Force, which Happy House Community United is an important part of, was responsible for an overall drop in crime and had performed a great service in keeping youth activities alive during tough economic times.

Happy House Community United is proud to accept the award and with the dedicated staff at the Starbird and Alma Youth Centers is committed expanding its efforts to help more and more children and families who could use a little help.

Nancy signed bookmarks and photos, and took lots of pictures with the kids and their parents and grandparents!  Everyone had a great time and a wonderful turkey dinner thanks to a donation from Trader Joe’s, the community and special contribution from Nancy!    Several kids (and adults) said it was the best Thanksgiving ever!!  And when asked what she thought of the event, Nancy said, “There are lots of things I am thankful for but to see those smiling young faces gobbling down some gobble-gobble was a topper this year.”

On Saturday, August 20th, 35 kids and kids at heart from the Good Choices Kids’ Club Seattle decorated their bikes, trikes, scooters and wagons for the Shoreline Parade just North of Seattle. The theme for the group was “All Things Wheels” and they rolled out in style. They also handed out more than eight hundred Good Choices and Way To Happiness booklets to spectators at the parade. Keep up the great work up North.

Founded by award winning Lecturer and Author, Adisa Banjoko and Hip-Hop graphic artist Leo Libiran, the Hip Hop Chess Federation is dedicated to providing an inclusive setting for individuals to interact, play and develop life skills with people they view as mentors. Along with recreational activities, the Hip Hop Chess Federation also provides workshops and sponsor supported education scholarships.

They hosted their Spring Classic in San Jose, California on Saturday, May 14th. The free event was chock full of great things for kids to do, from B-Boy’ing and Jiu Jitsu to Eskrima and Skateboard Demos and celebrities like Zion I, Casual and T-KASH; NBC 11’s Scott Budman and Chess World Master, 15 year old, Daniel Noroditsky were all in attendance. It was an honor for Nancy to be included in that list and a part of the panel that spoke to more than 100 people in attendance! An outstanding theme throughout the day was “Choose a goal and stick to it.” What a great message and a wonderful event! Thanks to Adisa and everyone for making it such an awesome day.

There were also new partnering programs for the Starbird Youth Center with Community United Happy House in attendance; Tapestry Arts Exec Dir and Board Members , as well as Santa Clara Parks and Rec Director and History San Jose Director.

It was a wonderful day of outreach, information and fun. Celebrity Andy Z joined the event and gave fabulous performance and the balloon maker was a huge hit with kids. Thanks Community United for all of your work in San Jose!