Service Partners
The following are some service partners of the K-Family. We encourage you to incorporate some of your projects with these groups. Check out their sites for more information and service project ideas.
Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, nondenominational Christian housing organization. Since 1976, Habitat has built more than 175, 000 houses, providing shelter for nearly 900,000 people worldwide. Now at work in 100 countries, they are building a house every 26 minutes. By 2005, Habitat houses will be sheltering 1 million people.
The Children's Miracle Network is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children?s hospitals across North America. Each year the 170 Children's Miracle Network hospitals provide the finest medical care, life-saving research and preventative education to help millions of kids overcome diseases and injuries of every kind.
The United Nations Children?s Fund is the driving force that helps build a world where the rights of every child are realized. They have the global authority to influence decision-makers, and the variety of partners at grassroots level to turn the most innovative ideas into reality. That makes them unique among world organizations, and unique among those working with the young.
Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. In 2004, the organization served more than 225,000 youth ages five through 18, in 5,000 communities across the country, through a network of 470 agencies. National research has shown that the positive relationships between Big Brothers and Big Sisters and their Little's have a direct, measurable, and lasting impact on children?s lives.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America was founded in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. A small group of people helped a very ill little boy achieve his wish - to be a state trooper for a day. Since that time, the Foundation has grown into the largest and most professional wish granting organization in the world with 75 chapters in the United States and its territories, and 27 international affiliates on five continents.
The Ohio chapter fulfilled the individual wishes of 379 children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions in its fiscal year 2002-2003. Since this chapter's inception, more than 2,800 wishes have been granted. They are projecting over 400 wishes will be fulfilled this coming year.
The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects and infant mortality. They carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight.
OhioReads is Governor Bob Taft's major education initiative to improve the reading skills of Ohio's K-4th grade students so they can read at grade level before leaving elementary school. The initiative was created by the first piece of legislation Governor Taft signed upon taking office in 1999. OhioReads is a statewide, grassroots reading initiative that brings volunteers into the classroom to serve as reading tutors to K-4th grade students. The initiative is a partnership of schools, businesses, community organizations, libraries, parents, educators, and students working together to improve reading skills.