Dear Friend of For the Need,

June has been super busy, and we couldn’t wait to bring you up to speed! Let’s start by introducing you to our brand new Program Coordinator: Taylor 🥳

People Making it Happen 🥳

After months of searching and over 200 applicants, Taylor stood out as someone who brings not only expertise but also an infectious enthusiasm and an amazing go-getter spirit. In her first month, she has already made waves in helping us reach our goal of launching our second location in 2025.

Speaking of amazing people, let’s give a big shoutout to Bree, our friend at WM.

Recently, she stepped in to take an even bigger role in our program development meetings, bringing fresh ideas and a wealth of experience. Her dedication and support have been invaluable to us, and we’re excited to see all the great things we can achieve together.

Thank you, Bree! 🎉

Another round of applause goes to Black Opal Automotive!

They’re doing a fantastic job running a school supply drive for the kids, helping them gather everything they need for the upcoming school year!

👨‍💻 Program Development Going Well 👩‍💻

During June, our program development team got to work and has put together an amazing event for August 10th titled “I like to move it, move it! Healthy bodies day,” which is all about building healthy habits around exercise, not giving up, celebrating those small victories, and more!

The program development team’s goal is to develop three years’ worth of unique events to be “kitted up” and brought to our new locations. This team is instrumental toward our goal of building a long lasting and scalable foundation with events all around the country.

Here’s a quick breakdown of our Bow & Arrow Program event themes:

• 🚀 Event 1: Rocket Day (goal setting)

• 👯‍♂️ Event 2: Friendship (3 unique events: how to be & how to choose good friends, openness & boundaries, getting advice)

• 🧠 Event 3: Mental Health & Mental Toughness (3 unique events: managing stress, more) 

• 🏃‍♀️ Event 4: Building Healthy Habits (3 unique events: exercise, hygiene & rest, nutrition)

• 💼 Event 5: Future Focused (3 unique events: jobs, careers, banking) 

• 🎄 Event 6: Holiday Party (giving back)

🏊 Pool Day was a hit! 🏊‍♀️

For The Need Foundation (FTN) along with WM and the Simi Valley Family YMCA hosted “Pool Day! Sail into Summer” on Saturday, June 8th, to empower families experiencing homelessness and unstable living conditions with the tools to manage stress while providing fun activities and friendships they will cherish forever. Using their newly learned skills of digging deep to communicate, hammering out a plan, and having a positive perspective, the teens worked together to build boats from cardboard and duct tape to race across the pool. Younger children too participated in their own boat-building competition on a smaller scale and learned the basics of swimming and Safety Around Water (SAW). FTN also featured a parent session, where they dove deep into how they can implement the skills of managing stress within their families. To top it off, each lady received a self-care package thanks to Priyal Choudhary of CSI. A huge shoutout to WM, SVPD, the YMCA, and our team of volunteers for making this event possible!

And we made it into the Simi Valley Acorn, AGAIN! Cooling off, relieving stress (simivalleyacorn.com)

Click here to read more about our fantastic Pool Day!

And click here to read our feature in the Acorn, which you can also find on page 17 of the latest edition!

Although Team Skibidi Sigmas lost the boat race, they took the win for best theme of our boat building competition at Pool Day and had a blast doing it.

🌱 Upcoming Future Focused Event 🌱

In other exciting news, we’ve partnered with Premier America Credit Union to plan an awesome event for October. 🫣This future-focused event will teach our kids about banking, making wise financial decisions, and how to apply for jobs. 💸💸We’ll even have mock interviews and applications to give the older kids a real taste of the working world. It’s all about gearing our arrows up for a bright future! 

⛺ Camp is underway! 🔦

In the meantime, Summer Camp is in full swing, and we’re thrilled to have pledged our support to 19 kids this year! However, we’ve only raised enough to send 14 kids. Thank you so much to those who have donated and shared so far. Your efforts are appreciated, and they are working!Please don’t stop now as we only have until the 17th to reach our goal.Every donation counts, so let’s make this camp experience unforgettable for all the kids!

🏕️So, what do you say? Will you help us help them? 

Thank you,

Allie Spaccarelli