Welcome our Newest Member of the HFC Family!

Dear Friends and Family,

We are excited to announce the arrival of our daughter, Katherine Sarah! Katie was born on Saturday, January 23, at 8:34 A.M. weighing 8 lbs. 4 oz.

The exciting thing for us is that Katie now shares a birthday with her namesake (Andrew's grandmother Katherine!)

Thanks!

Jenny and Andrew Scott

Santa's Helpers :)

Want to shake things up in the office and help a good cause? Take a hint from the good people who work at Macquarie Cook Energy!

The same great company who sponsored the Houston Holiday Heroes delivery party came through for us again in a big way by proposing an interesting challenge to their boss, Nick O' Kane. If Macquarie employees in Houston and overseas could raise $10,000 for Heroes for Children, then he would join his colleague and Heroes and Handbags host committee member, Brandi Dowell, and come to work dressed as an ELF!
Well, it turns out that seeing their boss dressed as an elf means a lot to those employees and HFC was able to reap the benefits! In about two weeks, the amazing Macquarie Cook team pulled together and raised over $11,000 for Heroes for Children and as you can tell from the picture below, it was well worth it!

To top things off, The Macquarie Foundation, is going to match the employee's donations 100%! So, when all things are said and done, Nick and Brandi proved to be VERY valuable elves!

HFC cannot begin express how grateful we are to the whole Macquarie Cook Energy team and especially to our special "Santa's Helper's"! Your kindness will go a long way for famililes with children battling cancer in Texas.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

To learn about more fun fundraising ideas for your company, please contact Mimi Bates mbates@heroesforchildren.org or Michelle Peacock mpeacock@heroesforchildren.org.

January Volunteer of the Month

Volunteers make the biggest difference for our organization. We know that we will be reliant on volunteers in 2010 and hope you will join us. We have been fortunate over the past year to be involved with our January Volunteer of the Month. Tish Visinksy has been a very integral part of our women's auxiliary, HFC Friends. Tish helps with our Holiday Heroes program, serving as a team captain to coordinate shopping efforts of volunteers with other volunteers. For the past two years, she has served as a liaison between our organization and the Pi Phi Sorority of SMU. Each year, the Pi Phi's have hosted our annual gift party for the families in Dallas adopted through Holiday Heroes. Because of Tish, every detail is remembered. It is a perfect afternoon for the families to enjoy!

Coming up next for Tish and Heroes for Children is a special dinner for cancer families. Our Valentine's Dinner next month provides families with a unique experience--a date night for mom and dad and a fun night for the kids (with childcare provided by Mom's Best Friend). Tish is lovingly chairing the event, preparing for a wonderful evening for the families. We're so honored to have her commitment and love for the families who so deserve a special evening. (If you are interested in learning more about the Valentine's Dinner and how you can help in both Dallas and Houston, please contact Danielle Soffa, Program Services Manager, at dsoffa@heroesforchildren.org).

Name, Occupation:
Tish Visinsky
Wife, Mom, and Volunteer
I also work part time for Clear Direction and Saint Michael and All Angels

How did you get involved with HFC?
Sweet Christie Cahoon (HFC Board Member) invited me to attend a Friends coffee in 2008 and I was hooked!

Do you have any kids and/or pets?
Two daughters – Madison (age 6) and Harper (age 3)
A frog named Tad and a beta named Super

Favorite place to eat:
Club Schmitz (total dive, but they have the best patty melt in Dallas), Jeng Chi (to die for dim sum and green onion pancakes), Ojedas (cheese enchiladas and margaritas – YUM!)

What’s on your book shelf?
Magazines, cook books, and my to-do list

What’s in your iPod/CD changer?
Whatever strikes my kids fancy at the time…a little Taylor Swift, Miley, High School Musical, Disney Movie Soundtracks, The Beatles, The Black Eyed Peas, White Stripes, Michael Jackson and some Frank Sinatra.

Who’s your hero?
Children battling cancer. My cousin, Charlie Story, passed away after battling Leukemia when he was in high school. I was always in awe of how strong he was and how hard he fought. I also think the parents, siblings and family members who have a child battling cancer are heroes too. I am constantly amazed at their strength, never-ending supply of love and support, and ability to see the light during a very dark and trying time in their lives.

New Year's Resolutions

One week into 2010, have you already made your New Year's Resolutions? Maybe one of them is to get more involved with your favorite charity? :)



Well, we would love to help you out! We've compiled a list of all the ways to get involved (some traditional and some notsomuch) with Heroes for Children this year.



1) Do you have a talent or business that would benefit Heroes for Children? Anytime we can find printers, designers, photographers, entertainers, caterers, or venues to donate their services, Heroes for Children can re-direct those funds to program services instead.



2) Are you a member of a Mom's Club or PTA looking for a speaker? Co-Founders, Jenny Scott and Larissa Linton, are available for speaking engagements.



3) Have you joined the Heroes for Children Facebook cause at www.causes.com/hfc? Are you following our Twitter account - www.twitter.com/heroes4children? Stay connected to Heroes for Children all year long!



4) Do you have a lot of friends? Do you like to have parties? Would you like to host a party/fundraiser with your friends to introduce them to Heroes for Children? You host, we help, families benefit from the money you raise for Heroes for Children.



5) Would you like to volunteer to help Heroes for Children with its social assistance programs? We are looking for more women to join our women's auxiliary, HFC Friends. Dues are $40 - $80 annually or $1,000 for lifetime membership. The dues help support our social assistance programs like the Valentine's dinner, movie night, and Holiday Heroes, plus you can volunteer as much or little time as you have available to implement these programs.



6) Are you in Fort Worth or Austin? We are expanding our fundraising efforts to these areas in 2010 and we need your help!



7) Do you sit on the board or committee for an organization who raises money for charity? We LOVE when organizations/events raise money for Heroes for Children. Let us know about your organization so that we can apply to be a beneficiary.



8) Do you have spare time each week (don't we all)? We LOVE office volunteers! Like, really, it is not natural how much we love them. Can you type? Stuff envelopes? Type and stuff envelopes? Perfect.



9) Do you like Handbags? Running? Walking? Golfing? Playing poker? Awesome. We have an event for that. Plus, you help us raise money by participating. And getting your friends to participate. Join us at one of the fundraising events in 2010.



10) Do you have school-age kids? Do they participate in fundraisers at school? Would you help us set up a fundraiser at your kid's school for Heroes for Children? Yes? Great! We are creating a NEW fundraiser for schools!



Okay... this list may not be complete... so let us know how else you would like to help! We need your help!



Email Michelle Peacock at mpeacock@heroesforchildren.org for more information about any item listed above.



Thank you for being involved with Heroes for Children. We appreciate you so much.

Delivering the Holidays

With the help of about 200 volunteers we delivered the holidays to 41 families! HFC Friends members shopped for and wrapped hundreds of gifts for children battling cancer and their siblings. Thanks to all our Holiday Heroes volunteers. This program is my favorite and I am very blessed that I was able to be a part of so much of it.

The shopping was a blast and watching those teams fill up 2 to 3 shopping carts full of toys, clothes, bikes, video games and even bedding filled me with excitement. Excitement that these families are going to have a wonderful Christmas because of this program. Filled with even more excitement for those families that weren’t going to have a Christmas if it wasn’t for Holiday Heroes and the wonderful volunteers. Thanks to our Holiday Heroes chairs, Jacquelyn Ghorayeb, in Dallas and Chrissy Lewis and Vanessa Bailey in Houston for all their hard work coordinating so much.

Early in December we hosted the families to holiday parties where the volunteers were able to meet “their” families. Thanks to all our parties hosts; Tish Vininsky and the women of Pi Beta Phi Sorority at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Alpha Epsilon Delta Premedical Honor Society at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and Macquire Cook Inc. in Houston. Each party was so much fun, filled with treats, crafts, Santa, holiday cheer and of course lot of presents! Seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces and hearing the thank yous makes all the hard work all worth it.

One social worker wrote to me about the families she submitted for the program.
“My two families that came to the holiday party had nothing but wonderful things to say. One dad said that he was so overcome by the generosity that he had to step outside and collect himself. Another mom called me today to tell me how kind everyone was, and she will be making a thank you card that she would like me to pass along when she brings it to me. So, once again - thank you so much! All three of these families are wonderful wonderful people and you help make their holiday!”