Happy House » Events

Happy House’s Community United Honored by City of San Jose

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:07:15 +0000

San Jose Mayor, Chuck Reed, delivered his annual State of the City address at the San Jose Civic Auditorium before a packed house on Thursday evening February 9^th. Attendees included the City Council, other elected officials, city employees and volunteers as well as Happy House chapter, Community United, which had been selected by City Councilman, Pete Constant, to receive an award for the important volunteer work being done with the children and families in his District 1 at the Starbird Youth Center, and expanded to the Alma Youth Center.

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.

Children’s Day 2011 Raffle Winners

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:54:39 +0000

And The Winner Is…

Happy House is happy to congratulate three lucky people on winning decked out Simpsons baskets at Children’s Day 2011. Hundreds of people entered the raffle to win one of three baskets, but only three could take home the prize. Congrats to Jorge Aguilar, Enrique Velasco and Jessica Ruelas on a basket full of cool toys and Simpsons gear. If you wish it were you, get on down to Children’s Day 2012 for your chance to win. See you there!

Happy House Attends Heritage Weekend

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:17:19 +0000

The North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, along with the Kiwanis Club joint sponsored Heritage Weekend at Northridge Park. There was a full blown carnival, games, cheerleaders, fireworks and much more. Happy House had a booth where they handed out booklets and talked to guests about the Good Choices Program.

Nancy was there and chatted with some local community members, including several volunteers from the LAPD Cadet program. She autographed a couple booklets each and let the young men know that their own program is very much aligned with the Good Choices program. Upon finding that out, one of the Cadets asked for a couple more booklets to give to his brothers and sisters.

That is the beauty of the program. It is meant to be “passed forward” and on and on.

They walked away, with their booklets and big smiles on their faces.

Happy House Poker Fundraiser a Huge Success

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:56:07 +0000

The 6^th annual Happy House Poker Fundraiser and Family BBQ at Nancy Cartwright’s home was the largest ever. One hundred and forty Texas Hold ‘Em players faced off poolside while at least an equal number of non-players and children enjoyed family fun including face painting, a bouncy house and water slide, bingo, ping pong and a wide array of arts and crafts.

Providing a back-beat were Tony St Tone and his band as well as DeeDee O’Malley and her new band Size 7 Hat. Even Nancy jumped up and sang a bit.

The winner of this year’s event was Henry Engle and he chose the Simpsons table read basket as his grand prize. It couldn’t have gone to a more deserving recipient because he not only beat a very talented field that included poker pro Kenna James and poker celeb Camryn Manheim, he is also perhaps one of the greatest Simpsons fans on the planet. His story is amazing. Diagnosed with a serious illness, he made it through by going home from harsh treatments and watching the Simpsons.

Our thanks go out to the nearly 40 volunteers who helped with this event, all the players and contributors and to this year’s top 14 (from 14th to first): Jana de la Cerra, Victor Hooper, Camryn Manheim, Josh Scott, Chriscilla Guyer, Joe Langer, Kittie Aleman, Kirsten Mellinger, Kim Schneider, Aaron Kapitan, Mike Armstrong, Anthony Turner, Brad Harris, and of course Henry Engle.

Click on any image above to see a larger version.

The proceeds from the event benefit the Happy House Good Choices™ Program. Key contributions came from Innovative Artists, Origin Oil and LA Racing Experience. Happy House Good Choices is an after-school program for youth that gives them a very simple way to make better choices in life and survive in a dangerous environment. To find out more go to www.goodchoicesprogram.org.

See you next year!

The San Fernando Valley Heritage Festival Is Almost Here

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 04:05:15 +0000

Nancy Cartwright and her Happy House team are proud to be participating in the San Fernando Valley Heritage Festival at Northridge Park on Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5. Organization of the event—formerly known as the Salute to Recreation—has been taken over by the Northridge Kiwanis and the North Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the festival will play host to more than 30,000 people over two days.

Join us along with the great people of the Northridge Kiwanis and the North Valley Chamber of Commerce for line dancing (among other kinds of dancing—there is a live DJ), carnival rides, children’s shows, and arts and crafts. And be sure not to miss out on Saturday night’s fireworks extravaganza.

Happy House will be hosting an arts and crafts booth, there will be a raffle for a giant basket, and we will also be handing out free copies of The Way to Happiness and How to Make Good Choices booklets.

As always, the event is free; so come out between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, or 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, and enjoy all the festivities.

See you there!

Good Choices—Good Citizens

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:08:50 +0000

If good citizens make good choices and good choices make good citizens then the Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club is creating the best citizens of all.

What an incredible night! The Happy House Good Choices team was invited to attend the annual awards night put on by Executive Director Carolyn Brown and her team of superlative staff and extraordinary volunteers. We filled a table and felt more than honored to be a small part of what was clearly a very big acknowledgement for the staff, Board, volunteers, coaches and kids that make this club such a resounding success.

It all kicked off with music and more music. There were many highlights in this evening which included professional quality recitals capped with a positive message rap by Christian “C Rush” Pearson that brought the house down. This guy is pro quality! The Board was honored for their service as well as the Alumni Association, many of the program directors, the athletic coaches, the new Women’s Auxiliary and the capper was the ribbon cutting of the new Pat Van Every Teen Center.

This new center is a fantastic place for teens. I want to be a kid all over again. Check out these amenities: brand new computers, satellite access on the giant flat screen, places to hang out and, most importantly, mentorship and leadership programs lead by Tyler Forshey, a gentle giant who is dedicated to these kids.

Richard Nunnelee—who introduced our organization to Carolyn Brown last year—and Happy House were honored to receive awards for our Good Choices Program. We look forward to many more nights around the table with the Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club.

Our hats are off to the team of committed leaders. You Rock!

3rd Annual Children’s Day Just Around the Corner

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:03:57 +0000

It’s nearly November, and for the third year in a row, that means Children’s Day and a chance to celebrate our local children. Join Nancy and the Happy House team at Woodley Park in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday, November 20th from 8 AM to 4 PM. There will be carnival rides, games, music, food, a petting zoo, climbing wall and a ton more. The event will, once again, be sponsored by Radio Disney, so bring the whole family for a celebration of children.

And of course, Happy House will be in attendance with tons of resources, some of Nancy’s voice over friends, crafts and other great activities. See you there!

Here’s some images from last year’s event.

Huge Fun at Happy House

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 03:31:08 +0000

More than 200 men, women and children came out to enjoy a beautiful afternoon and support the launch of the new Good Choices Toolkit. The event kicked off with nearly 100 poker players eagerly awaiting the start of a very competitive tournament. Nancy issued the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal” call and the action was underway. When the dust settled, only Erik Aude was left standing, with Mark Hart, Shelly Preston, Tom Hill and Bill Methvin Jr rounding out the top five.

Outside the poker area, there was some great food, live music, bingo, face painting, hat making, and a giant slide. It was a wonderful time for everyone and the event was a fantastic success, made even better by the fact that we had an opportunity to debut our new after school program, The Good Choices Toolkit, to which the proceeds of the event will be going.

The Children’s Day Raffle Winner

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:31:54 +0000

Happy House recently had the privilege of delivering a basket full of goodies to Aaron Morales. The four-year-old, pictured here with his mother Sonia, won the basket at Children’s Day last weekend at Woodley Park. It was raffled off at the Good Choices booth and all were welcome to enter. The winner was ecstatic to learn that he had won and accepted his prize with joy.

Here’s Nancy picking the winning entry.

The Children Have Their Day

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:52:53 +0000

On November 21^st in Woodley Park, located in the San Fernando Valley, the anti-gang coalition of the Los Angeles Police Department and associated agencies, put on their 2^nd annual Children’s Day, a Salute to Kids.

The all-day event is about kids and for kids with activities to keep the day fun and entertaining as well as over a hundred resource booths where local non-profit organizations displayed their programs designed to provide services for children and families.

Tens of thousands of kids and adults filled the nearly one half mile long park and enjoyed the rides, the creative activities, the police helicopter and the song and dance.

Happy House hosted three features. We had a resource booth, ably run by Marty Kassowitz and Tim Melchior, for the release of our new Good Choices Program which features a simplified version of The Way to Happiness for children. Here families could find out about our Good Choices Toolkit, which gives a clear program on how to improve character and the quality of choices. They could also enter a raffle for a giant animation basket.

We also hosted the annual Arts and Crafts tent, an open-air 40×40 canopy run by Bobbi Brunoehler, which was touted by one event organizer as the top feature of the year. The biggest hit in Bobbi’s world was the paper hats that were fashioned to fit by Happy House volunteers.

A third offering was our new Giant Happy House, where families could get photos taken for free and really get the feel of what Happy House is all about.

Last, but certainly not least, Nancy Cartwright once again brought her voice-actor friends in to entertain the kids on the children’s stage. They followed this up with a signing of special photos featuring the characters they are famous for.

There were other features that Happy House helped bring to the party. One was a Jumbo-tron which lit up the day behind the main stage. It was the back drop for the likes of Dave Kos and many others and during act change-overs several of The Way to Happiness PSAs played on the giant screen. Another were theatre extraordinaire performers of the Teenage Drama Workshop, led by Doug Kaback and Ronnie Sperling. And also gracing the stage was A Faery Hunt, Deborah Rothstein’s wonderfully entertaining and magical troupe of fairies, which also painted faces, strapped on fairy wings and made us all smile.

It was truly a day for the children and one where parents could feel safe and secure and really let their kids be kids.