Tag Archives: Sending Smiles

August Cluster Fun – Bert’s Diner and Sending Smiles

This month, we met up at the iconic Bert’s “fabulous 50s” American Diner for a cool American experience. We made funny and uplifting postcards to send messages of love and hope to children and their families battling cancer and other serious illness. Our au pairs created over 50 post cards for children in need at this event. 

We also continued our collection of new socks as part of our participation in Exchange Day, a nationwide celebration of the power of international exchanges! International exchange participants are joining their American hosts to “eat, play, and give” — sharing cultural diversity and American customs, to give back to their communities, and to have some fun. Click here for more information about the Sending Smiles

 

 

Cluster Fun – American Experiences Corn dogs and Rootbeer floats!

We stopped by Sonic drive in for an American experience! Rootbeer floats and corn dogs! We also played games and worked on our Sending Smiles community service project! A poll of the au pairs found that 5 of them found the corn dogs yummy while 2 found them to be strange! On of our au pairs, from Jamaica, said they were, “Mmmmm, mmmmm, good!” We had four positive votes for the rootbeer floats! This week the au pairs hailed from Peru, Germany, Namibia, Jamaica and Poland!

Cluster Fun – Frozen Yogurt & Community Service

This month we met at the Sweet Frog in Charlotte Hall for a sweet treat and some community service fun! We continue our partnership with Sending Smiles, a local charity that sends postcards to sick and injured children across the country! To date, they have distributed over 30,000 postcards to cheer up these sweet children! This is our third year partnering with them!

American Experiences – Kindness Rocks and Community Service

This past weekend we gathered to have a classic American 50’s style diner experience! While we enjoyed the unique decor and the heavy presence of Elvis, we ordered sundaes and milkshakes and got down to creating art for our community service project! Each year we dedicate some of our time to doing something that benefits the local community.

New to us this year is the Kindness Rock movement! What is the Kindness Rocks Project? Goal #1: Inspire others through randomly placed rocks along the way. Goal #2: Recruit every person who stumbles upon it to join in the pursuit of inspiring others through random acts of kindness. Rocks bring happiness, meaning, comfort, etc to their recipients. Mostly, they bring a sense that they matter, they they are loved. By participating in this project, the au pairs are expressing their creative side, joining in an activity that fosters happiness, lending support, and brings people outside and connecting.

Our au pairs created special country flag rocks along with artistic, supportive and happy rocks. Each au pair left the gathering with finished rocks to hide somewhere in their specific community. As we were preparing to depart from Bert’s Diner, we spotted a Kindness Rock sitting outside. We picked it up, napped a picture and placed it back for someone else to find and share a smile! Our au pairs know all too well how important a random kindness can be, how much a smile can change a day. #fearlessglobalcitizen

This year, we are continuing to support Sending Smiles. Sending Smiles is a local 501C3 charity started by local sisters and their cousins! Their mission is to send messages of hope to sick children and their families. We want to help those who are battling cancer, sickness, or other conditions to SMILE by sending them crazy fun postcards!! To date they have sent over 25,000 postcards to children and families across the United States. You can check out the amazing work Sending Smiles does by visiting their Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/SistersSendingSmiles/

Cluster Fun – Bert’s 50’s Diner and Sending Smiles Community Service Project!

We spent a fun Sunday afternoon enjoying tasty treats at Bert’s 50’s Diner while continuing to work on our community service project for Sending Smiles.

Sending Smiles was created by local children to bring happiness to sick children and families. Postcards are decorated by Smile Makers (children and the young at heart) and sent across the USA.

This week we welcomed four of our newest arrivals – May from Thailand, Tania from Spain, Anna from Germany and Sophie from Austria!