  WHAT'S NEWS- Steve Otte On Dec. 11th, 2018 I had the pleasure of spending time with 3 different sophomore classes enrolled in the AVID program at Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley. Los Amigos is the high school where most of our scholarship recipients come from. The AVID program is a nation-wide program that encourages and equips students to attend and graduate from a 4 year university. LMK decided to be more hands on with some of the students that will apply for one of our scholarships, so we began a conversation with the director for AVID at LAHS, Mrs. Erin Chase. She invited me to speak with her sophomore classes and to share with them the scholarship process from the LMK perspective. I shared with them how we came to be and why we do what we do. I also explained to them how we raise funds that become our scholarships and the passion our donors have for LMK and the students we support. And I gave them some insight into how we select the students that will receive a LMK scholarship. At the end of all of that I answered some pre written questions from the students which ranged from, “How did you decide on a career”, “What are some important things we should now about being interviewed for college admission or to receive a scholarship”, “What advice would you have for someone who will be the first person in their family to attend college”, and “What advice would you have for a student who want to go to college, but isn’t documented." There were many other questions, too many for me to answer in the time permitted, which lead me to believe that these students are determined and driven to achieve the kind of success in life Tracy always tried to inspire in her grade school students. In addition to our desire to be more hands on with these students, LMK also made the decision to offer scholarships to high school juniors. We hope this will be a good experience for them when they apply for scholarships in their senior years, inspire the underclassmen to work hard to earn a scholarship before they graduate, and potentially help cover college application expenses during their senior year. It was a great experience and I look forward to spending more time in these student’s classrooms, getting to know them better, offering them some helpful advice and hopefully inspiring them to believe in themselves and dream big dreams! I am privileged to represent all of our donors and supporters and our Board of Directors! After all LMK wouldn’t be able to do what we do without the generous support of folks like you! I thank you on behalf of the Board for making all of this possible, helping us glorify God, inspire students, and honor Tracy’s legacy! Alone we would have a minimal impact, but together you all have made it possible for us to literally change lives!  Interested in donating your birthday to Love My Kids? Birthdays are a great time to bring attention to a charity that is near and dear to your heart. Here at Love My Kids, we are happy to work with you to create a birthday fundraiser to help raise scholarship funds for the kids we support. Contact us at [email protected] and we'll be happy to set up a personalized fundraiser!  Last Friday at Marshall Elementary 4 special students were awarded the Tracy Otte Lifetime Achievement Award! It was such a special assembly and we could all hear in our hearts Tracy's approval and excitement for the 4 who were honored this year. Hello Partners. June 9th was a big day for Love My Kids! That evening, at Los Amigos High School, the fruits of a year’s worth of labor was realized as we announced that $48,000 in scholarship money had been awarded to 10 very worthy, hard-working seniors! The scholarship awards ranged in dollar amounts from $1,000 to $20,000. We had dozens of students who applied for a scholarship and all were deserving and all had a significant financial need, but through prayerful discernment we were able to come to agreement on those we will support financially in the 2016-2017 school year. We will continue to support the others with our prayers. We are all amazed that in 2015, our 1st full year of existence, we were able to raise such a significant amount of money! The scholarship money is important and very much appreciated, But Love My Kids is about more than awarding scholarship money. It was stressed to all the graduating seniors that our efforts are fueled by a passionate belief that they all have the potential to be successful and make a huge difference in this world. Quite simply, we know that God has given them all the ability and gifts to be successful and we believe that through hard work and perseverance they can be successful. Tracy Otte, our inspiration, had a passion for the students she taught and she was perhaps their biggest cheerleader and the loudest voice of encouragement. We are striving to do our best to be that voice that tells these students, “We believe in you!”. We don’t do this on our own, though. Thanks in large part to the generosity of the many that supported us in 2015 through the prayers and financial support we made a huge difference in the lives of 10 graduating seniors! We pray for your continued support and hope that next year is even better! Thanks be to God! It is an honor to announce the 2016 Love My Kids; The Tracy Otte Foundation’s scholarship recipients: Kenia, Dung, Alejandra, Francisco, Jazlyn, Delenie, Miguel, Jasmine, Margarita, Melissa On April 30th, we hosted our Love My Kids 2nd Annual bowl-a-thon fundraiser and we had a great time! Again, with the help of some awesome bowlers we raised thousands of dollars to help under-resourced students offset the high cost of a college education. A great time was had by all as people of all ages and skill levels came together to knock down some bowling pins, share a few laughs and some lively fellowship. The scores didn't matter much, though we did have a few ringers. What matters the most is the difference the money raised will make in the lives of some very deserving high school seniors. Bowling for fun and for a great cause....what could be better! Thank you to all of you who supported Love My Kids! We look forward to seeing you all at our next event, a wine auction on August 6th. Look for more details on our website and FB page. Mother's Day is the day we celebrate moms, grandmothers, aunts and anyone else who has a positive influence on our lives. Tracy was, in many ways, like a mother to the hundreds of kids she taught. She wasn't a replacement mom, more like a mom away from home. In honor of mothers and those who are motherly, Love My Kids spent a few hours at the Bentley Parke Apartments with kids from the Garden Grove School District helping them express their love and gratitude to all the moms in their lives. As we continue to strive to serve low-income families in the GGUSD by encouraging and empowering kids to reach their full potential, events like this one are crucial in helping us build relationships with the families we serve. We thank you all for your support and request your prayers and continuing support. Join us in helping is make a difference in the lives of these kids! Easter is a time for hope. Love My Kids seeks to instill hope for a successful future for students in the Garden Grove School District. On March 28th we were at the Bentley Parke Apartments where many students from the Garden Grove School District live. We brought over 1,000 plastic Easter eggs filled with candy, stickers and other goodies for an old fashion Easter egg hunt. You might be asking what an Easter egg hunt has to do with instilling hope. We believe that doing these kind of fun events help us to get to know the families we serve better and also to show them that we care about them and that we are serious about helping them build a better future. We had about 100 kids scrambling and searching for these little plastic treasures. It is amazing how quickly these kids scooped up hundreds of plastic eggs. They searched high and low until every egg was found. A great time was had by all! Especially our volunteers who got to witness the joy on the kids faces. We'll be back at the apartment complex for Mother's Day. You're all welcome to come and see first hand how much fun these events are. Check back with us in a few weeks for the details. Steve February is the month of love. Every year in the middle of the month we celebrate Valentine's day in a variety of ways, expressing our love with flowers, candy and cards. Usually Valentine's day is reserved for 'romantic' expressions of love, but not exclusively. Love, this past Valentine's Day came to the kids at the Bentley Parke Apartments in the form of arts and crafts supplied by Love My Kids; The Tracy Otte Foundation. Several of the Board members, teachers from Marshall Elementary and other supporters spent a couple hours helping kids make and decorate Valentine's day cards for their parents, siblings and friends. It is amazing how the simple effort of bringing card stock, crayons, glitter and glue can impact the lives of these children. Many of us may take such things for granted, but these kids live in a world were resources are very limited and an opportunity to tell the special people in their lives how they feel aren't as readily available as they are for those of us who are living above the poverty line. The joy and happiness expressed by the kids was priceless and well worth the investment of or time and resources that have been generously donated by you, our supporters. Will you consider helping us love Tracy's 'kids' by volunteering or with a monetary donation? Our next event at the Bentley Parke Apartments will be on Saturday, March 28th from noon until 1 pm. We will be doing an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Come and join us. You won't be sorry. Blessings! |
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