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“Keep Kids off the Streets this Summer” Campaign Inspires Boys’ Career Goals

Sends children to UBC’s Computer Science Camp

The Keep Kids off the Streets this Summer Campaign, launched by Kids Up Front Foundation on June 29, 2010, the day school was officially over for most kids, was designed to keep kids with too much time on their hands safe and out of trouble. However, only a few weeks into the program, another outcome has already become evident – getting kids off the streets and into healthy alternative activities can develop into new career goals and, in the case of two 12 year old boys, into a passion for studying computer science.

In July, Kids Up Front sent seven children to UBC’s computer science day camp for one week, including two 12 year old boys who are also clients of Vancouver Coastal Health.  Both boys come from very low income, immigrant families, who would never have been able to afford to send them to camp.  One of the children was in hospital for the entire summer last year with serious depression and anxiety.  The other child is partially deaf, has a speech problem, and has a lot of difficulty with anxiety, social relationships and communication. Both children are intelligent and get straight A’s in math.   Although neither child actually owns a computer, they have used computers at school and at the public library. And both boys are passionate about computers.

The computer camp gave the children the opportunity to see what computer scientists can do – such as designing and running robots, programming computers, and designing games.  They met actual professors and volunteer students from the computer science program who were able to communicate their creativity and enthusiasm. Sharon Van Volkingburgh, Child and Youth Clinician with Vancouver Coastal Health, a partner agency of Kids Up Front, attributes the camp experience with providing new career aspirations for her clients. According to Volkingburgh, both boys told her they plan to go to UBC and study computer science when they finish high school.  “I am thrilled that these young people have had this wonderful opportunity, which may make a very significant difference to their future,” Volkingburgh stated.

With school out for the summer it’s more important now than ever to keep the kids engaged in safe, healthy and fun activities and keep them off the streets.  Keep Kids off the Streets this Summer will help  make it possible for underserved children and youth to participate in day camps, sporting and recreational events, live theatre and concerts, art galleries and museums, and cultural and local events. Every $5.00 provides a quality event for a child.

Help Keep 1,000 Kids off the Streets this Summer! 

Send a child to camp 

Kids Up Front’s core business is the distribution of unused tickets to kids in need; however, our unique programs also include the gifting of non-ticketed events such as summer camps. 

This summer, Kids Up Front will send hundreds of kids to various day and overnight camps across Greater Vancouver and beyond. From Camp Howdy on the Eastern Shores of Indian Arm, to Camp Sunrise on the beautiful Sunshine Coast, our kids will experience the thrill and adventure of their first overnight camp. For many children, this will be their first time venturing outside their own neighbourhood. Others will have the opportunity to explore conservation and the environment at FUN Camps, or discover new designs in technology or robotics at day camps offered by UBC. 

The need for Kids Up Front’s unique programs and services has never been greater. The children Kids Up Front will send to camp are from low income families in Greater Vancouver who are unable to participate in events that others in our society may take for granted. British Columbia has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada; while the national average is 17.6%, the BC rate is 23.6% (First Call, annual Child Poverty Report Card, Nov. 21, 2008).  The kids we support also experience other barriers to community participation including: new immigrant groups, disabled groups, children who are chronically or terminally ill, victims of abuse or kids with low literacy rates. 

The Kids Up Front Keep the Kids off the Streets this Summer Campaign, will help provide opportunities for underprivileged children and youth to participate in summer camps that otherwise would never be possible. Help Kids Up Front reach our goal of sending 1,000 kids to camps and other fun, healthy and safe events this summer. 

Please donate now. 

Every $5.00 donation provides a fun, safe and healthy activity for an underprivileged child in Greater Vancouver. $5,000 translates to 1,000 kids! 

Click on the thermometer to make a donation! 

Help Kids Up Front meet our goal of raising $5,000 and keep 1,000 kids off the streets this summer. 

Every $5.00 donation provides a fun, safe and healthy activity for an underprivileged child in Greater Vancouver. $5,000 translates to 1,000 kids! 

Click on the thermometer to make a donation! 

Keep the Kids off the Streets this Summer Campaign

With school out for the summer it’s more important now than ever to keep the kids engaged in safe, healthy and fun activities and keep them off the streets. This summer, Kids Up Front will make it possible for thousands of underserved children and youth to participate in day camps, sporting and recreational events, live theatre and concerts, art galleries and museums, and cultural and local events.

Kids Up Front takes the child off the street and provides him/her with experiences that have both an immediate and long term positive impact. Evidence that our programs offer prevention and intervention for high risk youth is supported in a study by Weiss et al. “youth’s constructive use of their out of school time is a protective factor that has been associated with (1) academic achievement …;(2) a stronger self-image;(3) positive social development;(4) reductions in risk-taking behaviour; and (5) better school behaviour and fewer absences”(Heather B. Weiss, Priscilla Little and Suzanne M. Bouffard.)

Kids Up Front is witness to the long reaching effects of providing healthy alternatives to kids’ leisure time. A particularly convincing story comes to mind of two 12 year old girls who got to go to a Vancouver Giants hockey game for the first time thanks to receiving tickets from Kids Up Front. The girls are members of Watari Youth, Family and Community Services, an agency that serves high risk children and youth in the downtown eastside, and one of Kids Up Front’s partner agencies. A social worker with Watari who accompanied the girls reported that the habitual behaviour of these two girls on any given evening was to get drunk, but that thanks to the opportunity to attend the Giants game, the girls did not have the chance to consume alcohol. According to the social worker, the girls were so caught up in the thrill and excitement of their first hockey game and being inside the Pacific Coliseum for the first time that they didn’t feel the need to drink. For the first time, they were stimulated by something other than alcohol and discovered a new possibility for fun.

By providing these girls with tickets to a hockey game, Kids Up Front opened a door and steered them in a new direction that offered them insight into a whole new world of possibility. We created a healthy alternative to their leisure time activities, thereby providing inspiration to lead positive fulfilled lives and become contributing members in our communities.

To help Kids Up Front Keep the Kids off the Streets this Summer, donate now:

It only takes $5.00 to keep a child off the street!

1,000 BC Lions fans eagerly await first game of the Season

June 18, 2010: Kids Up Front (KUF) sends children to a fun and exciting event somewhere in the Lower Mainland every day on average. This means every day we have the privilege of making kids happy by providing them with memorable experiences that would otherwise not be possible.

This week, the one event that generated much excitement in the office, and amongst our 102 Partner Agencies and the children in their programs, was the receipt of 1,000 BC Lions tickets to the season opening game on Sunday, June 20^th.

The BC Lions offered the tickets to KUF on Tuesday, by the time we received them in our office on Wednesday morning, the Ticket Coordinators of our Partner Agencies had already requested close to 1,000 tickets. Lions fever has begun!

Click the image to view our video of the 1000 BC Lions tickets!

The Hair Farmers were presented with a plaque from Cindy Graves, Executive Director, in recognition for their 2^nd Annual Benefit Concert in support of Kids Up Front on June 4, 2010 at the Backstage Lounge. $4,700 was raised for Kids Up Front. For more pictures, please visit our Facebook page.

Kids Up Front would like to thank all of our generous supporters! To date, our programs have distibuted over 160,000 tickets to kids and families across Greater Vancouver – a total value that surpasses $4.5 million dollars! “THANK YOU!“

Kids Up Front is excited to be sending 1400 kids to the Vancouver International Children’s Festival!

Kids Up Front is thrilled to announce that it has been chosen the recipient charity for Amuse Consulting’s 5th Year Celebration Party! Join Amuse for a night of fun, innovation & good times! Click here for more info http://amuse5year.eventbrite.com/.

April has been a very exciting month for Kids Up Front with the completion of several key projects including a new website and video. We continue to receive incredible gratitude from the kids and families who experienced the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

In February and March, Kids Up Front sent a total of 16,231 kids and their guardians to the Games!

A big “THANK YOU” to VANOC for donating over 9,000 Olympics and Paralympics tickets to Kids Up Front!

In addition, Kids Up Front also received 97 tickets from individual and corporate donors providing once in a lifetime experiences for children and families to live the Olympic dream!

If you wish to donate 2010 Olympic tickets, please contact Joyce Louie at 604.266.5437 ext.1 or via email at joyce@kidsupfrontvancouver.com. Tax receipts will be issued as long as ticket purchase is provided.

Volunteers & Staff at Kids Up Front Vancouver would like to wish everyone all the best for the New Year!

Kids Up Front would like to extend its sincerest thanks to all of our generous supporters! To date, our programs have distibuted over 136,083 tickets to kids and families across Greater Vancouver – a total value that surpasses $3.3 million dollars! “THANK YOU!“

Kids Up Front Vancouver would like to thank the Face The World Foundation for their generous donation of a $10,000 grant. The grant will go towards Kids Up Front’s Community Access – Sport and Culture for All Kids.

Another big thank you goes to Vancity for awarding Kids Up Front Vancouver with a $7,000 grant for the Positive Ticketing Surrey project. The project will award social responsibility in youth with community centre passes and event tickets.

The 19th Hole fundraising event held at Terminal City Club on October 29th was a big success. The guests at the golf and spa themed event had a great time going through the “9 Holes”, and more than $40,000 was raised for Kids Up Front!

To view photos from the 19th Hole event please click here.

Thanks to the KRG Children’s Charitable Foundation and Today’s Parent, Kids Up Front won Today’s Parent Reader with a Cause Award and $2,000 in prize money. For the full story see “In the News” below.

Kids Up Front would like to extend a big “THANK YOU!” to all of our supporters.  To date, our programs have distributed over 126,000 tickets to children and their families across Metro Vancouver – over $3.1 Million of great sporting, cultural, and entertainment experiences!