Tutoring Program adds New Element

Ambassadors for Children has begun a wonderful partnership with The Ozarks Literacy Council to enhance the Tutoring Scholarships program we offer for Greene County foster children! In addition to funding tutoring sessions, we will be providing tutoring "starter kits" to each foster child as they begin tutoring. These kits will be assembled by The Ozarks Literacy Council and will contain brand new books and other educational resources specialized for each child's educational and emotional needs.



There will be a benefit car wash to support this project at the In & Out car wash (North Glenstone, just South of Kearney in Springfield) on November 19th. All proceeds will benefit this program. Sondra Uzzell, Ambassadors for Children Director, has also been invited to participate in a radio interview from 4-6pm on November 19th (at the Car Wash benefit) with Paula Shumaker, the Director of The Ozarks Literacy Council.

Free Haircuts for Foster Kids!

Our Kid's Clothes Closet program is now offering a free haircut coupon to every foster child each time they visit to pick out new clothing (2x/year). This is made possible through an extremely generous donation from The System, a Paul Mitchell Partner School in Springfield. Special Thanks to Christy Sandwell, friend, staff member at Ronald McDonald House of the Ozarks, and student at The System for initiating this fantastic partnership! Special Thanks also to Mr. Greg Kellogg at The System for being so generous and pleasant to coordinate with!

2008 Business Expo

Ambassadors for Children was successfully represented at the 2008 Springfield Business Expo sponsored by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce on October 2, 2008. Our booth was staffed from 8:30am-7:00pm and we had the opportunity to share our Adopt-a-Caseworker program with many people in the community.

This was a fun event and we are thrilled to continue expanding community awareness about our programs, especially Adopt-a-Caseworker. Special Thanks to the following members of our Advisory Committee who volunteered time at our booth: Karenanne Miller, Connie Condict, Cynthia VanBuskirk, Denise Bredfeldt, and Mary Casada. It couldn't have been done without your help and support!

Pictured above: Sondra Uzzell, Agency Director poses just after booth set-up



Pictured at Left: Sondra Uzzell & Cindy VanBuskirk, Advisory Committee member, pose at the Expo



Pictured Below: Two side views of our Expo Booth

"The Adopt-a-Caseworker program is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims oice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with HALOS. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of HALOS or the U.S. Department of Justice."

$19,500 Grant Awarded by Community Foundation of the Ozarks

Ambassadors for Children was awarded a $19,500 grant from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks on October 1, 2008 as part of their 2008/2009 Health & Social Services grant cycle.

These funds will be used to purchase brand new clothing for The Kid's Clothes Closet program and to fund tutoring sessions for Greene County foster children through our Tutoring Scholarships program. There were over 819 foster children in Greene County in FY 2007 (source: Greene County Children's Division FY 2007 statistics), and these programs served 337 of those children. With this great support from The Community Foundation of the Ozarks, we can continue to provide these wonderful services for foster children in our community.

Thank You Community Foundation of the Ozarks!

Pictured at right: Dr. Gary Funk, Community Foundation of the Ozarks, and Sondra Uzzell, Director of Ambassadors for Children

Fun on a Friday!

I finally finished putting several finishing touches on the Ambassadors for Children booth for the Springfield Business Expo! I put special effort into making the booth appealing, as to stand out among the other non-profit booths. This will be a major recruiting effort for business Groups to participate in our new Adopt-a-Caseworker program. Several members of the Ambassadors for Children Advisory Committee will be volunteering at the Expo to facilitate discussions about the program and a fun game to enter the drawing. No more spoilers...you will have to come check out our booth to learn more.

Click this link to our September newsletter and print page 2 for a free ticket. See you on Thursday at the Expo!

"The Adopt-a-Caseworker program is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims oice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, in cooperation with HALOS. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of HALOS or the U.S. Department of Justice."

Win 2 Dixie Stampede tickets!

Email Sondra at suzzell@ccozarks.org to get your free ticket to the Springfield Business Expo on Thursday, October 2nd at the Springfield Exposition Center (9am-7pm). This is a $10 value!

Come and "party" with Ambassadors for Children in booth 803 for a chance to win 2 tickets to Dixie Stampede in Branson. These tickets were generously donated by Dixie Stampede for our booth drawing. Our theme is "Every child deserves a Happy Birthday!" Come find out how you can support this cause thorough our Adopt-a-Caseworker program.

"The Adopt-a-Caseworker program is supported by grant #2005-VF-GX-K009 awarded by the Office for Victims oice Programs, U.S. Department of Justic, in cooperation with HALOS. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of HALOS or the U.S. Department of Justice."

Junior League of Springfield goes Shopping...

Volunteers from The Junior League of Springfield went shopping for The Kid's Clothes Closet on August 29th as part of their Done in a Day project. The timing of this project was perfect, as it took place the day following the rotation of winter clothing into the Closet by Great Southern Bank volunteers (see next post). This allowed us to make sure winter clothing was well-stocked in preparation for the season. Thank you so much Junior League of Springfield!