Holiday Meal from the Heart

Very cool...

Thanks! Anyone interested in more info on HeartWorks Kids or how to help out with the dinner, please contact me.

Can we have more info here about how people can donate, help, contribute, etc?

Can we have more info here about how people can donate, help, contribute, etc?

I am working on an official press release tonight and after it gets cleared, I will post it here. It will have the info about helping out also.

One note: we are having a food drive at WaterColor Publix this Wednesday before Thanksgiving from 1-5pm. If you would like to help, please contact me and I will let you know how. And if you are doing your Thanksgiving shopping, please support us in this cause. We will be providing a dinner for families, but also sending home care packages for the holiday season.

Also, if you know of places that we can post flyers, please contact me and I will get those to you. I am not able to attach it on here for some reason.

More information on how people can help


Heartworks Kids is teaming with Jim Shirley of Great Southern Caf? and Jane Solomon's contracting company Barlovento, LLC to present "Holiday Meal from the Heart"!! It is our first annual free meal for the community which we are holding on Sunday, December 7 from 2-4pm at South Walton High School. Jane & Jim are providing all the food, and Heartworks Kids are making decorations, providing the manpower to serve and deliver meals, and all of us will be able to share in fellowship with people who need a little help this year. Anyone and everyone is also invited to come and help support this event, they do not need to be a part of one of these organizations. Jim has done amazing philanthropic work in the past and we are humbled and honored to be a part of this.

In addition, we are holding a Heartworks Kids food drive this Wednesday, the 26th of November at the Watercolor Publix from 1-5pm.

The story behind the Holiday Meal
Jane Solomon (of that fabulous new hangout La Botana) approached two members of Heartworks Kids, Lauren Romano & Krista Squiers, with a story about a humbling experience she had through a co-worker at her office in Dothan, AL. It started with a 13 year old boy asking for a can of soup to share with his mother and autistic brother, and turned into divine intervention with Jane and her company adopting this family for the holidays, helping them get set up on food stamps, helping them get set up for aid for the autistic boy, providing them with food, clothes, household items, just beautiful, kind acts from the heart. And this same divine intervention followed Jane back to her home here with us at the beach.

Jane was discussing the hard times with Jim Shirley, who owns Great Southern Cafe in Seaside , and he shared her pain at how many people will not be able to eat over the holidays this year. It's such a magical, beautiful time of year for those of us who have a roof over our heads and food on our plates (even if it's peanut butter & jelly right now for many of us!!), and the thought of not being able to have that is almost too painful to think about.

Heartworks Kids
This is a description by founder Lauren Romano in a recent interview with Jill Gaupin of Sowal Scene.

Heartworks Kids is an opportunity for children and their parents to directly give back to their community in what we call "giving opportunities". The kids are encouraged to share their ideas about possible giving opportunities and it is the parent's role to help bring those ideas to fruition. We have found that adults bring giving opportunities to us as well and, in that circumstance, the children are given the opportunity to brainstorm to find a giving opportunity in those situations.

At Heartworks Kids, we believe children's hearts are pure and full of love. They give unconditionally and with true compassion. Our group fosters this innate ability to give love freely and empowers their spirit. Our goal is to show support and kindness to other's life experiences while consistently challenging our own spiritual and emotional growth, ultimately understanding that we are all connected, we are all one.

The inspiration for Heartworks Kids came from my dear friend Megan McDowell. She had started a women's group called Heartworks in NJ. I had been interested in starting a chapter here in Florida.
The Heartworks mission is for woman to gather together in the spirit of faith and compassion. There are two essential parts to their focus: a commitment to their own spiritual and emotional growth and generating acts of kindness in their community and throughout the world. I loved the idea, but could not seem to commit to starting my own chapter.

I'm a teacher by trade and longed to work with kids again, but still wanted the flexibility to be available to care for my own children. In January of this year I started to write ideas down that would create a kids version of Heartworks. I approached Megan with my thoughts and Heartworks Kids had it's first Meeting April 16th, 2008.

A Meal of Peace, Love & Joy
It's very important that we express this is a Holiday Meal that we are all sharing, not a charity act or feeding the homeless and poor. Some of us could be one of these in need some day, and Heartworks Kids is about illuminating hearts through acts of kindness. We want these people to know that there's nothing wrong with them, and just to feel our open and warm hearts. How could they not with the children everywhere! We'll have decorations, hopefully music, fun...It would be lovely to have a Santa too if anyone can help with that.

For More Information
Please feel free to contact Krista Squiers (ksquiers@aol.com), Lisa McBride (lmcbride1972@gmail.com), Ali Barrett (alixbarrett@embarqmail.com) or Jane Solomon (jane@barlovento8a.com) if you have any questions. The main email for Heartworks Kids is TheHeartworksCenter@gmail.com.

Event: Holiday Meal from the Heart
Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008
Time: 2-4pm
Place: South Walton High School

This is really very nice & a real inspiration. The 'charity' I like the best isnt a self promotional "event"...but an annonymous effort with spectacular visual results. We've had years where we were wondering where the bead was coming from...builds character; but hard to explain to the wee people.
Youve always been a sweetheart;from the moment I had to jump up & wave at cha.
India is cooking her first thanksgiving chicken w/ some New orleans 'love'(spices) laid to it & she's gotten aot of grandmas recipies.....
If the day works out;& your short handed,we'll see what we can do.(I used to cook in a overcrowded grace-under-pressure restraunt)....I'm also good at lifting impossibly heavy objects & digging holes.
Without a brush...I'm your basic tomato picker...(not a bad vocation in the grand scheme of things)
Thanks
Your really pretty swell
m

This is really very nice & a real inspiration. The 'charity' I like the best isnt a self promotional "event"...but an annonymous effort with spectacular visual results. We've had years where we were wondering where the bead was coming from...builds character; but hard to explain to the wee people.
Youve always been a sweetheart;from the moment I had to jump up & wave at cha.
India is cooking her first thanksgiving chicken w/ some New orleans 'love'(spices) laid to it & she's gotten aot of grandmas recipies.....
If the day works out;& your short handed,we'll see what we can do.(I used to cook in a overcrowded grace-under-pressure restraunt)....I'm also good at lifting impossibly heavy objects & digging holes.
Without a brush...I'm your basic tomato picker...(not a bad vocation in the grand scheme of things)
Thanks
Your really pretty swell
m

Mark, it's not just me. There are about 80 families involved in Heartworks Kids. I'm just one of them but very lucky to know the beautiful souls of people who live here, of all walks of life.

This is close to my heart, as we have talked about before. We hope to see you there!

I want to help!

I am working the 7th and going to a funeral on Wednesday. Please tell me what I can do to help. I love this idea and really would like to do something.

I am working the 7th and going to a funeral on Wednesday. Please tell me what I can do to help. I love this idea and really would like to do something.

Thank you! We can use help distributing flyers to churches, social organizations, etc. If you pm me with your email. I can send the flyers to you.

Updated press release

One main sentence in the first paragraph has been changed:


It is the first of what we hope becomes an annual FREE meal for those in need in the community, and will be held on Sunday, December 7, 2008 from 2-4pm at South Walton High School on a First Come, First Served basis.

Good seeing all the food being donated at Publix today.

Good seeing all the food being donated at Publix today.

That was amazing today. Thanks for all the support from SoWal with a very successful food drive today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bump!

Holiday Meal from the Heart is this Sunday. All are welcome, and please pass the word to people who may want to enjoy a holiday meal!

And if anyone wants to help serve or greet, we need people in just hour shifts from 2-3 and 3-4. We have enough food to feed 500 people.

And that's to all the restaurants that have jumped on board, Stinky's, Cafe 30-A, JamBone... to help cook all the food! You guys are so key in this taking place!!!!

Thank you, OM, for letting us know about the volunteering and sharing opportunity. I'll be checking back.

Thank you, OM, for letting us know about the volunteering and sharing opportunity. I'll be checking back.

If anyone plans to help serve, pm me with the hour and I will send the info to Krista Squiers.

can one just show up and get put to work?

can one just show up and get put to work?

Yes, you can.

I didn't write this, but wanted to let everyone know what happened yesterday. This is a message that was sent to Heartworks Kids families by Krista Squiers:


It's important to me to tell you how very touched we are that you and your families took the time to come out and help us at the high school today.
I realize that our first reaction to very few showing up is one of sadness. But I want you to know, and I mean this with all of my heart, that what you did today mattered. It mattered a great deal. And it turned out exactly as it was supposed to. We truly had no idea what was going to happen today, and after having personally canvassed the entire Walton County area distributing flyers, I can tell you that the people in need are out there. It's just much more difficult to reach them than we anticipated.
But you know what, they found us!! We have the most touching stories flowing in from families who delivered meals today. If you have a story that we don't know about, please share it with us, we want to hear it. For example...
- The Klinger family was the first to arrive at the Panama City rescue mission with more food than they had ever seen. The line of people needing a hot meal was out the door, and they didn't even know if they would have enough food to feed everyone. And then the Klingers arrived. And then the Mitchells arrived with more food. Can you imagine their faces when they saw all that food!!
- Lauren & Wade delivered 20 meals to the Haven House north of 98, where people are staying to try and get their lives back on track. I for one didn't even know this home existed.
- Julie Rookis delivered a hot meal to an elderly shut-in, who was so grateful to just see someone.
- Someone came up with the idea of delivering hot meals to the men & women at the Fire Stations, so Kim & Karis Edererer, and Kathy & Wil Donelson were their Santas for the day. Diedre Brightman delivered food to the fire department on 393. Thank you Diedre!!
-Kathy wanted to tell us that she & Wil delivered both meals & the Christmas trees to the Freeport Fire Dept. They have a collection of used bikes for needy families and the 7 trees (donated by the Seaside Rep) will go to them as well. They then headed to the PC rescue mission and were probably the last family there. She said "...and let me tell you there were still people everywhere waiting to be fed. Honestly I was amazed at the amount of people. Bless you Bless you was repeated many times..."
- Brenda Rees took 4 containers full of meat to Good News United Methodist church.
- Many families took boxes of the bagged groceries and will be delivering them to Caring & Sharing this week. They desperately need food, they just didn't have any means to deliver the hot meals. So we were able to provide them with exactly what they need.
We learned many lessons today and over the past few weeks of planning this event, both about how to do things differently next time, and most importantly about just how huge the hearts are in our community. Today God had a bigger plan than our eyes could see, and I know he's smiling down on us right now with joy in his heart.

blessings for a very Merry Christmas!

Beautiful!