FYD goes NUTS for the NUTCRACKER!

Posted on December 29, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | 2 Comments

Dewonnie Fredrick invites Foster Your Dream to BAM for a full day of fun including workshops, dancing and tickets to the NUTCRACKER BALLET starring Misty Copeland!

Bright and early at 10:30 in the morning we are at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s dance studio and rehearsal room where the children begin coloring and learn about the story of the Nutcracker Ballet!

ABT, better known as American Ballet Theatre, knows how to talk to kids! Seems they’ve done this before! Mr. Richard explains leaps and moves and terms to our enthralled children.

The Inwood House staff and caregivers look on with joy in their hearts as the kids get up and on their feet to leap and dance the morning away!

After our performances Dewonnie organized a special lunch for us.

We get to eat on plaid picnic blankets while chatting with all our new friends.

We gather our take-away creations …

…and go to the big theatre. As we enter the building the children say oooooo! Can you see why?

We see Misty Copeland be brilliant (sorry, no photos allowed in the theatre) and when the children on the stage do the silly-walk dance that our children learned in the morning, they were so excited since they connected with it in such a special way. Some of them were dancing in their seats!

Special thanks to:

DEWONNIE FREDERICK. She invited us.

Ilex Bien-Aime and Dewonnie!

The creative ABT team.

VALERIE WORTHY who made sure all our children got there. WOW.

RICHARD TODA who was magical with the children.

Remember, a dream can be sparked by a ticket IN.

Signature Theatre invites FYD to see Our Lady of Kibeho

Posted on December 29, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | Leave a comment

Signature Theatre, on world-famous 42nd street in New York City, invited us to see “Our Lady Of Kibeho” which is a thrilling new play.

Based on a true story that the writer Katori Hall heard about on a trip to Rwanda, this play is a conversation starter and quite brilliantly staged and performed.

We had a group from PS 50 come which is connected with Children’s Village. They were a little late due to a brief snow-slush-mush storm but the amazing staff at the Signature Theatre welcomed them with open arms!

Sometimes in theatre, once the show starts, the House Managing Staff has to wait until an appropriate time to let people in.

While we were waiting, Dee the House Manager, took extra time and loving energy to keep our group in-the-know so none of the happenings on stage would be missed!

We also taught the kids what a House Manager does other than wear a cool headset.

What a comfy and friendly place to see theatre by the way! There’s even a cafe!

So even with snow and mush outside, the warm and cozy theatre was a haven for thought, fun and learning. Three of our Dream Kids even decided they might like to become actors!

Thank you to all who give to us because sometimes a dream starts with a ticket IN.

Barrow Theatre hosts FYD to SWAMP JUICE puppet show

Posted on December 29, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | Leave a comment

SWAMP JUICE…what’s that?

Our Dream Kids got invited to a very fun and unique puppet show at the Barrow Street Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York! It was silly and funny and colorful and creative and it had an eye-popping 3-D grand finale!

Using Indonesian shadow puppets made from found objects, Jeff Achtem created a magical journey that inspired our kids to use their imagination and say ‘ooooo’ a lot!

We had some challenges getting the families to the theatre during bad weather and the Thanksgiving Holiday, but the Barrow Theatre staff helped us by being patient and understanding. Foster Your Dream continues to create opportunities thanks to people like Victoria and Amy who understood that the families who DID show up had the BEST TIME EVER!

We even had fun BEFORE the show began when two young and excited FYD theatre patrons enthusiastically handed out SWAMP JUICE flyers so everyone would feel as excited and welcome as they did! Who do you think had more fun?

The Givers?

Or the Receivers?

From the reactions of the other patrons, I believe it was “even-steven!”

The pure joy that we had thanks to Barrow Street Theatre’s kind help, is forever.

This is why we bust our cookies to get theatre experiences for Foster Your Dream. You can take away everything from a child, but you can not take away FUN MEMORIES.

FYD HOSTS VIP EVENT AT DISNEY ON ICE

Posted on December 16, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | Leave a comment

Foster Your Dream hosts its second VIP Event at Disney On Ice!

Three families spent a fun Friday night all bundled up in a Staples Center VIP suite watching all of our favorite Disney characters spin and swirl and leap as they ice-skated all around at Disney on Ice.

While munching on grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs and chilli, and goodies galore, we got to see Lilo & Stiitch have a Hawaiian luau, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse go time traveling, Malificent, Cruella DeVille and the other Disney villians celebrate Halloween, and the Disney Princesses have a Valentines Day dance with their princes.

An informal poll among the nine kiddos that joined us revealed that the favorites, by far, included Goofy and Princesses Jasmine, Tiana, and Ariel. Thank you so much to Bingham McCutchen LLP (now Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP) for generously donating the use of the suite! We all had a blast!

JAY LENO MAKES A FOSTER YOUR DREAM COME TRUE

Posted on October 7, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | Leave a comment

Jay Leno met Trevon on our private tour of his Big Dog Garage. The two of them drove off in a cloud of steam in Jay’s antique 1906 Stanley Steamer automobile. When they’d returned from cruising around Burbank together, the two had bonded. Jay’s huge, constantly-giving heart took over and after hearing that Trevon dreamt of becoming a personal chef, made Trevon’s dream come true.

To have a busy man like Jay Leno take time out of his life and give his energy to Foster Your Dream and to believe in Trevon, is priceless. THANK YOU JAY!

Here are a few photos from Trevon’s priceless experience of a Dream Come True!

JAY LENO HOSTS FOSTER YOUR DREAM at BIG DOG GARAGE

Posted on September 2, 2014 by admin in Blog, Events | Leave a comment

Jay Leno made a special effort to make us all feel like VIP’s when he hosted Foster Your Dream at his Big Dog Garage in a secret location in the Los Angeles area!

Surrounded by history, craftsmanship and beautiful cars, we were able to get a sneak peek of Jay’s amazing car collection. Bob Sales told us so many interesting stories and took a real interest in our youth. Thanks to Gail Stocker and Mavis Leno we had an intro into probably the largest and most important car collection in the world. Oh and by the way, all the cars can be driven and are treated like royalty themselves. Thus, no posting on Facebook and no photos published of the collection here!

Our favorite cars? Colin Powell’s Volga. The super fast McClaren. The Dusenbergs. The Model T. Howard Hughes’ Lamborghini. All the touring cars. But the most fun was when we entered the second building and were told to put our camera’s away. Why? Because Jay was there working with his guys. He went over and quietly started up his 1906 Stanley Steamer. All of a sudden he waved to our Dream Kid to hop on and hang on! The two of them drove away on a special tour around the neighborhood! As we FYD folks stood and watched, Jay and our young man took off in a literal cloud of steam. We were amazed at the generosity of time and spirit that Mr. Leno afforded us. Thank you so much to Mavis, Gail, Bernard, Jim, Bob and most of all, Jay!

FYD

We Make Dreams Come True for Foster Kids! ~ A 501(c)3

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