FYD teams up with Signature Theatre for Toy Drive

Toy Drive for Foster Kids Spearheaded by Theatre Group

TOY DRIVE!

Foster Your Dream teams up with Signature Theatre in New York City for a Holiday Toy Drive that will continue to give all year long! For several years, foster children, foster families, and group homes have been invited to see live shows in this exciting theatre complex near Times Square. With the holidays approaching, the staff decided to do a Toy Drive for their favorite patrons … Dream Kids from Foster Your Dream!/

What’s unique about this Holiday Toy Drive is that it will last beyond the holidays. Donated toys will be brought from the Theatre to the Children’s Center in New York City. The Center is where children who are removed from their homes … often in the middle of the night … must go if there are no foster families available to take them in. Often these children are in crisis, even traumatized. The toys collected will be available for the child when he or she arrives at the center. FYD founder Sue Wolf says “We hope that choosing a toy and taking it to their foster home will provide a joyful distraction and some warm comfort to the children we are so passionate about serving!”

Ms. Wolf continues, “Foster Your Dream aims to provide extras such as prom dresses, theatre trips, tuition for dance class and karate lessons, to name a few. There are over half a million children in foster care, and we’d love to make a dream come true for each of them. With the help of such generous partners as Signature Theatre, we are one step closer to making that a reality.”

If you would like to donate, please bring a new, unwrapped toy to The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 W 42nd Street during the designated donation hours from now until December 18!
DONATION HOURS BEFORE EVERY SHOW!

DONATION REQUIREMENTS

Signature is accepting new, unwrapped, any ages toys. Signature will not accept clothing or donations that are used, perishable, or dangerous.

http://www.signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Now-at-the-Center/Foster-Your-Dream-Toy-Drive.aspx

Theatre Builders Camp for Dream Kid

Summer 2016 brings one of our Dream Kids to a very special 5 day camp at Riverside Church.

theatre-builders-group

What joy at the end of a 5 day 9-5 theatre camp.

Prep in Pink Sparkles

Prep in Pink Sparkles

Kids arrive …  and the wonderful teacher, Madeline Bender (who is an opera star!) guides the group to write, rehearse and perform a mini-musical!

Pizza Party Rehearsal

Pizza Party Rehearsal

Our client invited me in to an after-camp theatre pizza party where we watched and video taped our client doling out parts to her extended family … many who were visiting from out of town!  As usual, we can not show her face but the family was AMAZING and we all played parts in a sketch called ”The Real Store”.  One of our clients relatives noticed that the sketch was actually ‘real deep’ … which it totally was.  The kids had come up with a concept where children went to a store and asked for “rock candy” and literally got ROCKS for candy.  A request for “gummy worms” got them REAL worms.  The moral of the story?  BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR!  Deep, right?

What a great learning experience for these children.  Then after each sketch the children sang a wonderful song that super-sillified their sketches.

Rehearse Hands Down

Perform Hands Down

 

Rehearse Hands On Hips

Perform Hands On Hips

Rehearse on Point!

Perform on Point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of an enriching and super fun time new friendships were made and unique experiences were had by all.

Goodbye Campers

Goodbye Campers

We hug Ms. Bender goodbye and dream of next year!

Hugging Ms. Bender

Hugging Ms. Bender

Special thanks to our sponsors Mady Julian, Richard Kendall and John Dempsey and to the family of our client who took time and energy to make this all happen seamlessly and with great joy and love! You are all heroes to our mission of providing enriching experiences and dreams come true for our wonderful children and families. July 2016.

 

Christmas At BAM

Hard Nut hosts holiday for one lucky family!  December, 2015.

THE HARD NUT

A cascade of wit and wintry beauty featuring Morris’ lyrical modern dance choreography, this lavish,  love letter to a classic story from the straight-laced 1890s to the swinging 70s, with raucous parties, dancing G.I. Joes, whimsical costumes, and a Waltz of the Snowflakes like no other.

THE HARD NUT 1

 

Tchaikovsky’s complete original score, performed live by the 53-piece MMDG Music Ensemble drives this colorful retelling, which playfully preserves the warm spirit of an essential holiday tradition.

 

Thanks to our most wonderful and generous benefactor Dewonnie Frederick, we were ably to send one lucky family to this enriching experience!  Once again we can’t show you our lucky child … but here is that happy smile beneath our hand hewn hide-a-face box!

hard-nut-BAM

Signature Theatre Sponsors Dream Kid

Foster Your Dream has made a theatre dream come true.   December 2015-2016

colleen-hughes

Colleen Hughes

FYD went to bat for one of our Dream Kids.

Thanks to our longtime friend, Colleen Hughes who is the Arts Administrator at our favorite Signature Theatre, we received a full gratis subscription for our teen client who is in college for theatre!  Thanks for always helping us, Colleen!

 

 

We first met our client Nancy when she showed up at “Ann On Broadway” and met Holland Taylor in June of 2013.

ann-nancy

That’s Nancy in the glasses and Jean jacket!

After losing track of her for nearly 2 years … (that happens a LOT with our clients due to “The System” ) … she showed up at our Dames At Sea Theatre Project Event and I pounced on her with such enthusiasm that she nearly took my temperature!  🙂  You see, Colleen had many tickets over the 2 years that were inappropriate for young patrons but totally appropriate for a young teen.  It was breaking my heart that we couldn’t find Nancy due to such stringent privacy concerns (for good reasons) … so wow was I glad that she heard about our “Dames At Sea” event and showed up so I could pounce.  🙂

dames-talkback

Shy client! Can you find her?

She stayed for the talk-back at the end and we got to talking. You can see her here in this very bad photo listening to a cast member answer her very smart question about how he gets in to each ‘character’ while playing two different characters.  It was exciting that she was still in school studying acting and the arts.  She said she would love a subscription to the theatre and we immediately called Colleen Hughes who pitched it to her superiors and made it all happen!

signature theatre exterior

10th Avenue and 42nd Street!

 

Not only is the Signature Theatre doing amazing vibrant work, but they are a haven for visitors who just want to take a break, have a snack, be in a beautiful setting and enjoy free wifi!

IMG_4708

Happy Young Theatre Patrons!

 

 

 

 

Nancy is able to take a friend to every performance so she can chat about the experience and feel as special as we KNOW she is!

Foster Your Dream Goes Inside Broadway

Creating the Magic is what Inside Broadway does.   December 2015.

Foster Your Dream was lucky enough to be invited by Michael Presser to go see how the broadway show “Finding Neverland” is made.

FYD-Finding-Neverland

Inside Broadway busses in classes of school children from all over NYC.  We brought several ACS workers and several very lucky children with us and were treated to the VIP section.  Once again, we can’t show you our underage children where no parent approves the use of photos on the internet so you’ll just have to take our word for it how ‘wowed’ our kids were!

finding-neverland-inside-broadway

The children were treated to a super special behind-the-scenes look at how all the magic happens on Broadway.  Right in front of their eyes, the scenery moves, the lights swing around and all on the command of the stage manager who stands out front and explains everything.

presser-finding-neverland

We will be  working with the folks at Inside Broadway and the Admin of Children’s Services to figure out how to get more of our very special clients to these very special daytime events.

December 2015.  Many thanks to Donald Yonker, Michael Presser and Nicholas Sala for your time and energy in getting us there.

Law Firm Hosts Foster Your Dream VIP Circus Event

Ringling Brothers Circus is a Foster Your Dream come true!

FYD-circus

Morgan Lewis & Bockius (formerly Bingham McCutchen) donated their box at Staples Center so some of our families could enjoy a fun filled Ringling Brothers Circus VIP event!

“What a great bonding experience for us!” said one of the Foster Parents!  We are ever grateful to the lawyers (who wish to remain anonymous) who consistently think of us and our families!

FYD-WANGS-aug-14-2015

In addition to a wonderful and special time the food was AMAZING!

Thanks to Morgan Lewis & Bockius, we were able to host TWO MORE FAMILIES but no photos were taken during these other two events.  But a total of 3 families were able to go and enjoy a safe, happy place with a VIP flair!

Thanks to all who made this dream come true!!!