Welcome to Hillside Elementary

Pictured (in alphabetic order): Jeremy Bielski, Scott Crawford, Dr. Davis (Hillside Principal) Chris Darr, Jayme Fry, Charlie Kiesling, Karen Ligas, (Executive Director) Sara Mitchell, Caleb Pearson, Corey Weeklund

Everybody Wins! Iowa has been working with the West Des Moines Leadership Academy of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce to start a Power Breakfast program at Hillside Elementary in West Des Moines starting in the fall. This will be a new school district for Everybody Wins! Iowa and we are excited to welcome the school and the district into the Everybody Wins! Iowa family. 

One of the Hillside teachers and a few of his students made this wonderful video for us.

Post by Hillside Elementary (WDMCS).

West Des Moines Leadership Academy received funding from the following sponsors:

3E Electrical Engineering & Equipment Co

HyVee

Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines (West Des Moines Community Enrichment
Foundation Enrichment Pass-through Fund)

ITA Group Foundation

RDG Planning & Design

West Bancorporation Foundation

Hillside PTO

Animal Doctors Veterinary Clinic, PC

LPL Financial

McGowen, Hurst,Clark,and Smith, P.C.

Merit Resources, Inc.

Jeremy & Shannon Bielski

Stephan & Janet Fry

David & Lori Sanders

Caleb Pearson

Make Reading Fun!

Reading with a child is only as fun as you make it. Be excited to read aloud with your student and they will be excited to read. Here are a few steps to make reading more exciting for everyone!

• As you read, follow the text with your finger.
• Read with expression.
• Children need to hear changes in your voice to indicate when you are reading dialogue
• Vary your pace.
• Slow down to build up suspense.
• Speed up during exciting scenes.
• Create voices for different characters.
• If you are reading about that silly character in the story don’t be afraid to use your silly voice.
• Be enthusiastic.
• If you are bored, your student will be bored
• Discuss the book.
• Ask questions!
• Enjoy the illustrations.
• Take the time to really understand the pictures.
• Change books.
• If the student isn’t enjoying the story pick a new one.  
• Change the story.
• Change a part of a familiar story and see if they notice. Also, change a new story by swapping in a word that is wrong and let them correct you. 

Showing kids that reading can be fun will inspire them to read on their own in the future!

April Showers bring May Flowers!

Hello, 

April was an exciting month for Everybody Wins! Iowa. Here are a few updates:

Everybody Wins! Iowa 

1. has almost 500 mentors signed up this school year. We have already surpassed last school year's (2012-2013) numbers and hope to reach our goal of 500 by the end of May. 

2. was awarded the Experiential Learning Community Partner Award from Drake University on April 15. This is a great honor for Everybody Wins! Iowa. Thank you, Drake University, for your tremendous support of our program. 

3. had two mentors recognized at the LIVE UNITED awards on April 22nd through United Way of Central Iowa: Hal Rusk, mentor with Children and Family Urban Movement and Kate Allen Jones mentor with Edmunds. This was a great honor for EWI and the nominees. The LIVE UNITED Recognition is United Way of Central Iowa’s tribute to philanthropic efforts and measurable community impact. This event honors the exceptional commitment of organizations and individuals.  

 4. received funding  from Warren County Philanthropic Partnership on April 24th to help grow our Indianola & Norwalk elementary schools. Norwalk and Indianola have only been a part of the EWI family for two years and with this grant, we will to reach out to attract more mentors to better serve Indianola and Norwalk and provide more books to their respective bookcarts. 

Make a Pledge to Help Kids Read!

Make a Pledge to Help Kids Read!

Birdies for Charities is a multi-level fundraising program designed to give  charity organizations the opportunity to receive contributions based on the  number of Birdies that Champion Tour players make during the  Principal Charity Classic golf tournament.            Click here to see where YOU can help Everybody Wins! Iowa:    You can give a one-time donation to Birdies for Charities, selecting Everybody  Wins! Iowa as the charity of choice, so students can continue to receive the help  with their reading skills from a caring adult.  Make a pledge for the tournament, based on the number of Birdies scored. For  example, if you pledge $0.05 per Birdie, for 500 Birdies, you would donate $25  to Everybody Wins! Iowa. Pledging $0.10 per Birdie for 500 Birdies would get  Everybody Wins! Iowa a donation of $50!   If Everybody Wins! Iowa reaches at least $1500 in flat donations, we will qualify  for Bonus Bucks, which means that we would receive an additional 25% match.  Copy and Paste the link to donate: https://events.r2it.com/birdies/DefaultPage/BirdiesDefault/Default.aspx?site=principalcharityclassic&siteId=55&charity=RebuildingTogetherGreaterDesMoines&charityId=56972

COLOR VIBE 5K RUN

COLOR VIBE 5K RUN

The Color Vibe 5K Run is coming to Des Moines on June 28th and is partnering with  Everybody Wins! Iowa!  For every runner that signs up, the Color Vibe will donate $1 to  Everybody Wins! Iowa.  Click HERE to register now!

Everybody Wins! Iowa at the Iowa Cubs game!

Come out to Principal Park the night of August 6th to support Everybody Wins! Iowa at the Iowa Cubs game as the I-Cubs take on the Fresno Grizzlies.

Game time is 7:05pm.

Tickets are $15 each.

Please mail cash or checks payable to Everybody Wins! Iowa along with your email address and phone number before July 29th to:

P.O. Box 691 Des Moines, IA 50303

Tickets will be available at will-call on the day of the game.

***Interested in participating in on-field promotions during the game? Let us know!***

If you have any questions please call us at:

(515) 277-7590

Everybody Wins! Iowa Welcomes Amanda Fletcher!

Please welcome Amanda Fletcher as the new Executive Director of Everybody Wins! Iowa!

Amanda comes to Everybody Wins! Iowa with more than 11 years of leadership and fundraising expertise; during that time she has been a leader, delegator, communicator, planner, organizer, and problem solver. Amanda most recently served as the Director of Gift Planning at Hope Ministries, but has also had roles in fundraising and program management at Mercy Foundation and Wesley Retirement Services (WesleyLife).

"I am thrilled to serve as the new Executive Director of Everybody Wins! Iowa. I look forward to working alongside a dedicated board of directors and many devoted volunteers who have a mission to 'increase children's success in school through reading and mentoring experiences'. I have spent my working (and volunteer) life finding ways to raise funds and engage volunteers to make a difference in the lives of others. I am excited to put this knowledge to use in order to expand the Everybody Wins! program to reach even more students."

Amanda will be at Everybody Wins! Iowa on Friday, June 24th. She will work with current Executive Director Tyler Weig to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities. Tyler's last day is Thursday, June 30th.

Amanda lives in Norwalk with her husband and three children and enjoys scrap booking, reading, exercising, and cooking.

Welcome, Amanda!

Thanks for the Feedback!

Everybody Wins! Iowa asks its volunteers to complete a brief confidental survey at the end of each school year.  

 

These survey results are used to improve our program and to ensure that our volunteers, schools, and students are having a high quality experience that is effective, safe, and fun.

 

After reviewing the volunteer survey results, volunteers cited the biggest room for improvement is the need for additional physical space.  "The area I read in is not too crowded or loud" received low marks.  We have worked with our schools over the past year to address this worthy concern and we see our work is not done!  We have been able to secure larger (and quieter) rooms within some schools, and we will continue to work on this issue. 

 

One area in which volunteers gave high marks is to the question "I enjoy my Everybody Wins! Iowa Power Lunch experience".  We work hard to help our volunteers, students, and schools enjoy this experience and we're pleased that folks "highly agree".

 

Most importantly, what do the children think?  The photo below says it all! 

 

Thank you for taking the time to help us improve our program!

Everybody Wins! USA

Everybody Wins! USA is comprised of locally managed Everybody Wins! Affiliates and Power Lunch Partners, each with its own board and staff. From Vermont to Iowa, New York to Los Angeles, our programs are the same everywhere you go.

To see an interactive map of the Everybody Wins! USA network, CLICK HERE.

Everybody Wins! Iowa Elects New Board Members

We’d like to congratulate our newest members elected to serve on the Board of Directors for Everybody Wins! Iowa. The new board members include: Chris Mason of Norwalk, Kate Winzenburg of Clive, and Dan’O Brien of Des Moines.

The announcement took past this week during the Everybody Wins! Iowa Annual Meeting.  The meeting capped off a year of highlights for Everybody Wins! Iowa including giving away more than 10,000 books and reading mentors donating nearing 10,000 volunteer hours.

Everybody Wins! Iowa Partners with Des Moines Community Playhouse

Everybody Wins! Iowa and the Des Moines Community Playhouse partnered for a joint literacy enrichment project at Capitol View Elementary. 


The primary goal of the project was to provide a personalized, interactive reading experience that made use of both reading aloud and performance to reinforce basic language arts skills.

The volunteers in Everybody Wins! Iowa read the book "The Red Balloon" over a period of 2-3 weeks, asked students thought-provoking questions related to the book, and helped the students visualize the storyline by drawing illustrations in the child's book.  When the book was completed,  volunteers from The Des Moines Community Playhouse came to Capitol View Elementary to perform a radio script based on the story.  The students and volunteers had a great time bringing the story to life.  Oh, and the students got to keep their personally illustrated book!

Remembering Our Roots



You might find it shocking to discover that nearly five years ago this month Everybody Wins! Iowa was still looking for a place to call home. Not until Westminster Presbyterian Church reopened their doors in spring of 2006, after an extensive building renovation, were we able to establish official headquarters in the community. And ever since Westminster graciously offered Everybody Wins! Iowa office space, we have both witnessed the benefits.  





 “We are very happy to partner with Everybody Wins! Iowa,” says Lynda Albaugh, Westminster’s director of mission and justice ministries. “We support their overall mission, promoting literacy and educational goals of Des Moines area schools.”

Without a doubt, all the progress Everybody Wins! Iowa has made in the Des Moines community could not have been made possible without Westminster. That’s why this month, we would like to acknowledge and humbly thank Westminster Presbyterian Church for all that they have done for the Everybody Wins! Iowa program. By providing us with a stable place to call home, they are also playing a significant role in increasing children’s prospects for success in school and in life.