FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ericka Waidley
714-547-5200, x31
Telling Kids How Absolutely Incredible They Are:
Camp Fire USA’s “Absolutely Incredible Kid Day®”:
March 18, 2010
SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 22, 2010—Telling kids how absolutely incredible they are—with an encouraging letter—is Camp Fire USA Orange County Council’s call to Orange County residents and businesses to mark Camp Fire USA’s Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® March 18, 2010.
Now in its 14th year, Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® is Camp Fire USA’s national call to action asking adults to write letters of encouragement and support to our country’s most precious resource—our youth—students, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and neighbors.
“Putting words into a letter allows the recipient to hang onto those encouraging words,” says Ericka Waidley, CEO of Camp Fire USA Orange County Council, “and in today’s world of texting and e-mail, a letter could be a source of inspiration for years to come.”
The national letter-writing campaign honoring children is celebrated annually on the third Thursday of March. More than 600 million people have heard about Absolutely Incredible Kid Day®. Endorsements from celebrities, athletes, and national leaders have included author Stephen Covey, former First Lady Tipper Gore, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator John Glenn, entertainer Bill Cosby, super model Cindy Crawford, and racecar driver Jeff Gordon.
Camp Fire USA’s goal is to honor hundreds of thousands of children involved in Camp Fire USA as well as those not involved in its programs. Letters can be left on a pillow, in a lunch box or backpack, mailed, read at school, read over the phone, or read in person. Camp Fire USA calls on all parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, educators, and mentors to write letters. It’s a simple and free gesture whose impact can last a lifetime.
WHO CAN GET INVOLVED
Participants in the past have included,
but are not limited to:
Banks
Small Businesses
Senior Centers
Law Enforcement
Corporations
Restaurants
Sororities
Fire Fighters
Retailers
Grocery Stores
Fraternities
Malls
High School Service Clubs
Youth Organizations
HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:
· Spread the word. Place a notice in your company or club’s February or March newsletters; post it on bulletin boards, in break rooms, on your web site, and e-mail employees/club members.
· Make a display. Collect some letters prior to Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® to create an office display with letters written by employees, volunteers, or club members.
· Adopt kids. Organize a letter-writing campaign and deliver the letters to children at a shelter, soup kitchen, children’s hospital, or a classroom at your local school and read them out loud.
· Make your own stationary. Create your own stationary, or use your company letterhead. Or, order Absolutely Incredible Kid Day® stationary, posters, stickers, and more at www.campfireusa.org
· Take 10 minutes. At your next employee meeting, take 10 minutes to write letters and brainstorm creative ways to deliver them.
· Create a decorative “mail box” to encourage participation.
· Put an absolutely incredible message for kids on cupcakes or cookies and deliver them to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or children’s hospital.
· Create an absolutely incredible message with sidewalk chalk.
· Create a giant letter and invite the community to sign it.
· If you’re a grocery store, bakery, or fast food restaurant offer a free cookie, cupcake, or drink to children on Absolutely Incredible Kid Day®.
ABOUT CAMP FIRE USA
Camp Fire USA is one of the nation’s leading non-profit youth development organizations. Founded in 1910, Camp Fire USA currently serves nearly 750,000 boys and girls across the country. As the first nonsectarian, interracial organization for girls in the country, Camp Fire USA today provides co-ed programs in hundreds of communities across the United States. Programs include youth leadership, self-reliance, after school groups, camping, and environmental education and childcare. A slight name change in the ‘70s—from Campfire Girls to Campfire USA—better reflected the organization’s inclusion of boys.
ABOUT CAMP FIRE USA ORANGE COUNTY COUNCIL
Established in 1956, the Orange County Council began providing Blue Bird, Camp Fire Girls programs and camps. Today, programs are co-ed and focus on after-school enrichment, teen education, as well as summer camps. Programs and services are offered in collaboration with over 80 schools, churches, community centers and youth-serving agencies across Orange County. In 2008-2009, the Orange County Council provided 5 million hours of program services to 4,500 children, youth and parents. The Orange County Council supports families and youth in 25 Orange County cities. In November, the Orange County Council was only one of three Camp Fire councils nationwide to receive the Annie E. Casey Foundation/Camp Fire USA Families Count: Family Strengthening Award for exemplary practice in family strengthening. Camp Fire USA Orange County Council’s mission is to build caring, confident youth and future leaders. Visit www.campfireusaoc.org for more information and a complete list of centennial activities in Orange County.
ABOUT THE CENTENNIAL
The Orange County Council’s centennial celebration will last throughout 2010. The keystone event of Camp Fire USA’s centennial will take place on Saturday, July 31, 2010 when Camp Fire USA will mark its 100th anniversary at commemorative centennial campfires held at 7:30p.m.simultaneously across every time zone in the United States. Watch the Council’s website for a complete schedule of centennial events, dates, and locations.
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news release—aikd2010.doc