J Day is a nationwide celebration of the power of international exchange. J Day 2017 is officially Monday, August 7. In honor of this great day, many Au Pair in America participants have organized events to celebrate, including a shoe drive at our home office in Stamford.
Terry Bellus, a community counselor in Fairfax County, Virginia, hosted a J Day celebration at a cluster meeting in late July. A group of over 50 au pairs collected over sixty pairs of shoes to donate to an organization called Soles4Souls!
They began the evening enjoying a photo booth and ice breaker games, then had a classic American movie night: Dirty Dancing in Terry’s backyard movie theatre, with s’mores, corn dogs, candy, fruit and more. Terry tells us the event was great fun, and surprisingly, the corn dogs were a big hit!
Here are a couple of collage photos of the cluster, including one from their Formal J1 Day Celebration:
On Sunday, July 23rd, our parent organization, AIFS, hosted a big J-Day event at Camp Morty in North Salem, New York. Participants included AIFS staff, au pairs, local community counselors and camp counselors. This fun-filled event was enjoyed by all!
The group collected, cleaned and sorted 150 pairs of shoes, played games and enjoyed a nice lunch on the camp grounds. The collected shoes are being donated to Person-to-Person, a charity in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Person-to-Person is a community-supported agency that provides emergency assistance for basic needs and offers support for individuals and families as they move toward stability.
Here are some pictures from the day:
While all of this was taking place in New York, another J Day celebration was being held in Michigan. Carol Benton and Linn Kereji’s cluster groups gathered on Sunday, July 23, with a very successful shoe drive at Heritage Park in Farmington Hills.
Many host families and au pairs attended, bringing bags of shoes (over 200 pairs were collected!) and lots of smiles, too. The theme of the event was our cultural exchange program and its benefits to au pairs and host families.
Laura and Michael Gruskin – a host family for more than 2 decades! – were honored at the event.
Here are some pictures from the day:
How will you celebrate J Day? Leave us a comment or connect with us on social media to share your stories and be inspired by others!
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We’re excited to see your pictures and hear your stories in celebration of international exchange!
