If your children are like mine, birthdays are on their minds 365 days per year. One day my daughter Mia wants a science project themed party, and the next day she thinks a rainbow unicorn party is a better idea. She also enjoys planning a birthday celebration for her almost-two year-old sister. 

Birthdays are important milestones for children and their families. We recognize the growth and maturity the year has brought, and we cherish the memories made. We celebrate one another together.

For this event, families from Gigi’s Playhouse Milwaukee and Toddlers and Kids on a Mission came together for a community birthday party. Together, we baked over 50 cupcakes, filled 24 treat bags, decorated birthday cards and collected many party decorations including hats, banners, candles and balloons. 

With the assistance of the Birthday Party Club led by Jaime Wooten, we will provide Meta House with a Birthday Party in a Bag. Meta House provides support to women to overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol, and they offer a setting where children can remain with their mothers during treatment. Today’s mission provides Meta House with the goodies needed to make birthdays extra special for the children.

Thank you to all of our families who joined us today! Happy early birthday to our friends at Meta House!

-Lynn Raines

Co-Founder and Managing Director of Toddlers and Kids on a Mission
 

This week we traveled to the LaVarnway Boys and Girls Club at 15th and Center in Milwaukee. Lynn found this project on United Way's Volunteer United site , a collaboration with the Non-Profit Center of Milwaukee. We were expertly lead by Volunteer Coordinator Sophia in unpacking, sorting, and boxing groceries for 100 families. The food was provided by donations from corporations and private donors through Feeding America.  Feeding America partnered with the Boys and Girls Club starting in 2015 in an effort to reach greater amounts of Milwaukee families living with food insecurity. 

"Yeah, we were really doing grown-up work."

This project was great for so many reasons. Kids can tell when they're given an authentic task and for this project it was so obvious to them that they were a vital part to the success of the mission. What they did, the teens and adults did. What the teens and adults did, they did. Also the project focused heavily on EQUALLY dividing up different foods. Need I say more? 

Thank you to all who helped. I hope you slept as well as we did that night!

Our family really enjoyed the opportunity to serve food at All Peoples Church. When I think about attributes that I hope my children someday embody, I think of: giving, caring, loving, and kindness. I think we saw all of these virtues displayed that evening. The kids talked about how fun it was to all work together. I hope my children see that serving people in our community is improtant and rewarding. 

-Jamie and Josh Eral

Annie Wegner LeFort, founder of The Mindful Palate joined Toddlers and Kids on a Mission to lead families in a cooking class. We gathered in the great hall of Christ Church Episcopal, Whitefish Bay to prep, cook, and enjoy vegetable soup. Afterwards, we took the remaining 10 gallons of soup to a St. Vincent De Paul Meal Site and served the soup along with sandwiches and dessert to people living with food insecurity. 

Thank you to Suzie Beck for joining us with her daughter and sharing the following reflection:

After our experience with The Mindful Palate, my four-year-old daughter Audrey couldn't stop talking about it. She exclaimed,"Mom, there were so many helpers! Just like we're helpers!" 

The opportunity to meet new friends and work together really resonated with us.  Cooking and playing side-by-side with new faces was such a treat. The children's giant smiles, as they chopped and stirred, showed me how proud they were to accomplish their goal."There were so many veggies. Good thing we all had knives." Audrey's retelling of our afternoon showed me that we're doing something right.

We started off our Saturday morning with the excitement building as everyone gathered in the basement of the St. Casimir Parish Hall.  All the volunteers formed a giant circle to hear a brief description of how the pantry works and find out our job assignments.  

Then we were led in a cheer of sorts - "We are a community of generosity. We are all here to give and we are all here to receive."

What a powerful thing for my somewhat shy 5-year old to hear as we prepared to hand out fruits to pantry guests.  We talked about how we would be helping people pick out fruit. She took great pride in making sure the food was well displayed. People were so generous and patient with her as she helped. She gained confidence as we went and even occasionally warmed up to a smile when people spoke to her.  

The only down-side of our morning:  We had to split shifts between my two kids that morning and, in true sibling-rivalry fashion, my son complained, "It's no fair!  My sister got more time to help than I did!"  Guess we'll just have to go again so everyone has a change to give and receive more!

Thanks to all the families who helped out and made our mission a success!

Bryna- Toddlers and Kids on a Mission Treasurer

We enjoyed our second playdate at Gigi's Playhouse. Thank you so much to Ms. Kristen from Music Together North Shore and Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee for helping this event happen. As a reminder, Gigi's is an open resource and play space for ALL families and they welcome you to visit anytime. 

Can't wait to see where we go next with our new Gigi's friendship!

It is hard to believe that our second year of our Reading Buddies project has come and gone. To make it memorable, we changed things up a bit and invited in special guest helper Chris Keadle. Chris is a retired social worker who founded Kickstart Cooking for Kids, an after school cooking program in Waukesha. Instead of creating an art project to donate to a local senior center as we typically do, Chris helped the kids learn two recipes they can easily make at home.  In between making granola bars and parfaits, the buddies took out some time to read with each other. Thanks to a grant from Christ Church Episcopal in Whitefish Bay we were able to send home the students with the ingredients to recreate the recipes and also a kid-friendly cookbook for more culinary adventures.

We are so very grateful to the staff and students of Thurston Woods Elementary school. In addition to being wonderful hosts, the fifth grade students are perfect mentors for our young children: Modeling maturity, patience, and excellent reading skills.  These students are so caring that they've decided to embark on one more project with TOAM this year. We are working with them to finalize the details but we're hoping to go off-site for an after school May service project.  Our older TOAM kids will be able to participate alongside them. Stay tuned!

Our visit to Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee was serendipitous. Several families from Toddlers and Kids on a Mission have visited Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee or made friends who visit there frequently. Through conversations about how wonderful the facility is, our board decided to explore a possible event there. Our friend (and now Advisory Board member) Kristen, is a Music Together teacher also was independently exploring possibilities with Gigi's. When we discovered all our connections to Gigi's, we knew we had to do something!

On Gigi's Playhouse Milwaukee (from their website):

I mean.  How can you not be inspired and lifted by that?

On Saturday, new friends met, families found a new community resource, and we all joined in song and dance facilitated by the very talented Ms. Kristen from Music Together North Shore. We will return on March 11 for another Musical Playdate and beyond that, we look forward to many more collaborations.  In the meantime, we would like to pass on the open invitation from Gigi's: All are welcome to stop in and play anytime. 

Our MLK National Day of Service project was BIG in so many ways. Over forty families participated, we partnered with The HELP Project, we made 200 bags to donate to our Milwaukee homeless neighbors, and we met so many new people!

Children are born for this kind of work. They are naturally compassionate and showed us that so beautifully on this day. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" And this event was one way to answer that question.  Families worked and laughed together to alleviate, for a short while, the suffering of others.

Thank you to Kim from Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge, Sarah and Brooke from The HELP Project, Fox6 News (special shout out to Deandra who entertained little Annie), North Shore NOW's photographer Mary, the teen volunteers from Carmen High School, our parents/nannies/aunts/uncles/grandparents, and especially to our young helpers. You made our hearts feel HUGE on that icy Monday morning!

For more information on Mr. Bob's Under the Bridge please click here.

If you would like to continue to make On the Go Bags, please click here for our packing list and talking points for children.

If you would like to organize an On the Go Bag Pack for your organization, please contact us and we would be happy to let you know how we got it done!

Last year, my father went into rehabilitation care and we spent our first Thanksgiving without him. His health’s quick deterioration and his eventual death left me feeling heartbroken and devastated, but it also served as a time of reflection and teaching. With a four month old in my arms, a spunky three year old at my side and a very confused father not understanding his terminal diagnosis, I found the need to embrace each small moment as it was. Annie's constant need to be close, Mia's dance routines, my nephew's Star Wars chatter, and my dad's gentle chuckles were small moments at the time and now are memories that I hold dearly in my heart to this day.

The generosity of others during those days also filled my heart with love and gratitude. A childhood family friend and her daughter came to sit with my dad and daughters and nephew so my mom, brother, sister-in-law and I could share a dinner out. Another family friend sat with us and shared many stories from “back in the day,” which brought light and joy to all of us. Meals filled my mom’s refrigerator from family members. These kind gestures reminded me of the precious impact of reaching out to others.

All that we have to give at any given moment: the true meaning of the holiday season.

A few months ago, a TOAM board member suggested a December activity for residents at long-term rehabilitation facility. I felt compelled to realize this mission because I knew just how much it could mean to both the residents and their families.

I reached out to Kelcey at Cloud 9 Workshop to help us with this project.  Kelcey can bring out artistic creativity in every child she meets. I know because I’ve seen her do it with my daughter and countless other children. She eagerly partnered with us to create holiday lanterns to share with TOAM’s playgroup friends at St. John’s on the Lake, an assisted living facility in Milwaukee.

Thirteen families joined in Cloud 9 Workshop’s studio space, and the gifts shared in this one hour far surpassed the beautiful lanterns that we will give to our friends at St. John's. The glowing smile of a daughter looking to her mom for affirmation, the child meticulously painting each space on the jar with glue, the little boy finding just the right piece of tissue paper to add color to the lantern, the sweet baby “squawks” and “coos” in the background, the mom who got very little sleep the night before realizing “I made it out of the house today!” and the grandma who led her granddaughter to her first Cloud 9 experience. The studio space was filled with all that we have to give in that moment.

As our little ones share the finished products next week at St. John’s, I plan to put aside my “to do lists” and my hurried thoughts to simply soak in the gifts that will shine brightly in the resident’s rooms. The full circle of giving and receiving the lanterns will be complete, but the ripples of joy and love will carry on.

Lynn (mom of Mia and Annie)

Today we had a very special mission with the Thurston Woods fifth graders! In addition to creating Aurora Borealis art for the Clinton Rose Senior Center, we also welcomed Fox 6 News to our event.  The kids were all excited that other people in our city recognize the good work they're doing! It's neat to think that through this news segment, more people might learn about what we do at Toddlers and Kids on a Mission. We would absolutely love new members to the TOAM family but we also hope that people will see that reaching out into their community is completely doable (and essential). 

If there is one thing I consistently hear from our TOAM parents after a Reading Buddies event, it's that they are overwhelmed by just how wonderful the Thurston Woods students are. It was evident today as soon as we entered the school. We were "officially" greeted by Student Council members and escorted down to our reading spot. Today, one parent told me that she hopes her children are as poised, kind, and thoughtful as the students she met.  I agree, they are shining role models for our young children and we are ever so grateful for our partnership with them. 

We give special thanks to Deandra Corinthios and Del Canon from Fox 6 News for joining us. Del, we wish you a happy retirement!

-Jean

Here is the story that aired on the news: "Do something that is important: Kids as young as toddlers learn the value of volunteering"

It was sunny and nearly 60 degrees on the early November Saturday TOAM families (along with the Harambee Great Neighborhood Initiative (HGNI)) gathered in the Harambee neighborhood in Milwaukee. This particular mission was to help elderly homeowners prepare their yards for winter. The TOAM mission was part of a bigger event that day sponsored by Interfaith Older Adult Programs in Milwaukee. All in all, more than 1,100 volunteers ended up helping over 220 homeowners in need!

TOAM families worked (and played) together to provide raking, hedge trimming, brush-hauling, weed pulling, and small tree removal. Everyone worked so efficiently that they were able to expand their help past the two homes originally assigned! TOAM families raked other neighbors' yards and even helped remove garbage from an empty lot. The children even befriended a kitten who was recently orphaned. At the end of the day, much more was accomplished than caring for the landscape needs of the properties.

One of the homeowners beamed with happiness just as we were saying goodbye. The love and pride she had in her home was evident by her carefully tended potted plants, rose bushes, and trees throughout her yard. She mentioned how it was now too difficult for her to physically manage these things on her own. She was so grateful for the time and love we put into sprucing up her yard and exclaimed, "It looks so different! Thank you so much."

Another mission has been accomplished! I am so grateful for these opportunities to show love to  our community. These moments are so important to parents, kids, and the people we serve. Thanks for joining us!

Debby Berenz

Toddlers and Kids on a Mission is now old enough to have traditions?!?! In 2014, our first mission ever was to spread cheer on Halloween at St. John's with our little ones. Two years later, some of our original trick or treaters who were in baby carriers skipped through the hallway greeting residents and holding out their basket to collect candy. It felt so special to be there. 

We are very grateful to St. John's for continuing to invite us in to their community at Halloween and with our monthly playgroups. 

Yes! Another year at Thurston Woods has started. We are so grateful that we have FOUR scheduled visits with our reading buddies this year. At our first visit, we listened to a story read by Lynn (with toddler Annie strapped to her back, can you spot her in the photo?). The fifth grade students were patient and kind to our littles as they read their story. Nicole led us in a beautiful fall art project with cray pas that will once again be donated to the Clinton Rose Senior Center. 

We had a special visitor with us this time, Jeff Rumage from North Shore Now. You can read his experience of Reading Buddies here!

Please check our upcoming page to find our next dates. We hope you can join us.