Check out this article in the Sun-Sentinel on our Broward Family Day 2012! Follow this link to see it on their website (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/west-park/fl-cn-carver-0325-20120323,0,1870548.story) or read the story below:
By Jodie Needle, Special Correspondent
March 23, 2012
During the recent HandsOn Broward Family Day of Service, hundreds pitched in to paint, plant and more at Carver Ranches Child Care Center and Kindergarten Inc., which has been operating for more than half a century.
HandsOn Broward, formerly known as Volunteer Broward, partners with 600 other local nonprofit groups, trains volunteers, and then pairs them with groups to serve on various community projects.
“With budget cuts, some of the volunteers we put in are keeping programs alive,” said Dale Hirsch, president of HandsOn Broward. “It’s people helping people to inspire them to help all of our neighbors in Broward County.”
For the recent West Park project, HandsOn Broward collaborated with Broward Family Life Magazine, the Children’s Services Council of Broward County and the Children’s Movement of Florida.
The Children’s Services Council provides funding to HandsOn Broward, as well as to the center’s after-school program. The center serves about 100 children, and 98 percent of them receive state or federal subsidies to attend, said Betty Somerset, the center’s board chairwoman.
“We are in need of financial assistance, and the facelift they gave us on that Saturday was just inspiring,” Somerset said. “We at the day care center are extremely grateful.”
The volunteers included 25 elementary and middle school students who are part of the HandsOn Broward Kids Care Club. They painted murals, made pillows for nap times, and prepared peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to donate to local food banks.
“I have never seen so much accomplished in such a short period of time,” Somerset said.
The event was about volunteerism and providing children with a healthy start to education, said Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, CSC president and chairwoman of Broward’s chapter of the Children’s Movement of Florida.
“This was a fitting way to put our muscles and heart and voices together to show how much we care about our children and challenge our leaders in Tallahassee to care as much,” she said.
The work included painting one of the buildings yellow, creating two murals, sprucing up the playground, and planting a butterfly garden and two vegetable gardens. HandsOn Broward also provided the school with curriculum to use the garden to teach science, math and other subjects, Hirsch said.
“Everyone wants to take turns to water it; it’s teaching them responsibility, and they’re loving every minute of it,” Somerset said.
HandsOn Broward plans to make the center an ongoing place for volunteer opportunities, Hirsch said.
“We’re strengthening communities through volunteerism,” she said. “Hopefully through the work we do, people will pay it forward and start a new generation of people giving back and working within their neighborhoods.”
For more information, visit http://www.handsonbroward.org.
HandsOn Broward 