NovatoSpirit Celebrates 10 Years of Devotion

The boy pictured here is devoted to karate and he’s happy.

Our other NovatoSpirit students are devoted to their sports, and their lives are changing for the better. Devotion—of our children, their parents, and our teachers—is the magic that transforms.

This Thanksgiving, during our 10th Anniversary, we’re thankful for all our donors and volunteers who have made it possible for our children to boost their mental and physical health through athletics.

Most kids are referred to us so that they can exercise and have fun. But some are referred to us for more serious reasons. Doctors and social workers send us children challenged by health issues, such as obesity, pre-diabetes, asthma, anxiety and depression.

The homeless children we serve are under additional stress and may be more vulnerable than Novato children who have homes. The American Institutes for Research reported that “compared to their housed counterparts, homeless children are four times more likely to experience physical illness, four times more likely to experience delayed development, and are twice as likely to have learning disabilities,” writes Novato resident Linda A. W. Miller in her book A Guide for Teachers Working with Students Who are Homeless.

Regardless of the different reasons they are referred to us, our students make the same discovery: Movement makes them happy.

One of our teen dance students says, “What I’ve learned in dance is that it’s not just a routine, it’s a passion, and you can just get lost in it, and feel the emotions with the music. Dance has helped me through the rough times, and the way it helps is that I get lost in the music with all the pain and I let it out with my moves and it just expresses how I feel about it. Dance has actually benefitted me with my health by helping me to lose weight and maintain it, and it is making me more flexible.”

Another teen karate student says, “I do think that karate is improving my health mostly because I no longer just sit at home doing nothing. Instead I go to karate three times a week. My life has changed because I am now healthier and am more involved in events such as potlucks and helping set up for tournaments. It has also helped my social skills apart from the exercise I get from going to the classes, tests, and tournaments.”

And one of our teen tae kwon do students says, “I’m really grateful for this scholarship, because I have learned not to be shy and share more and know more people and also not get scared when someone insults me. I feel like people don’t bully me anymore that much, and I think that this all works out to go on with my life.”

Every gift to us has touched a young person’s life. We’re grateful for the gifts from individuals and from charitable foundations, including Marin Charitable, the Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund, Unity in Marin, The Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, Wells Fargo Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, The Lansdowne Fund of Vanguard Charitable, and our partner One World Children’s Fund.

We were also given the gift of publicity. Soroptimist International of Novato produced a television show about NovatoSpirit hosted by Barbara Hurwick. To see the TV show, please visit www.soropnovato.org and look at the Sounding Board section for the video titled “Athletic Scholarships for Novato Youth.” Or you can click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sp19lZAqc4

Our partner One World Children’s Fund, which serves impoverished children in more than 20 countries, has done wonders for us by hosting fundraising events and seminars.

And the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership of Marin offered us a variety of helpful services and hosts the Heart of Marin Awards, where NovatoSpirit has been nominated for “Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence.”

We are also grateful for the Novato Police Department and the Novato Fire District, which have welcomed our kids into their outstanding educational Explorers Programs.

Thanks to all these blessings, NovatoSpirit has served a record number of children this year. We hope to keep each new child active with us for 5 years, so our fundraising efforts are ongoing. Please consider giving to us this holiday season or during our upcoming February Fundraiser 2016.

To give a tax-deductible donation, please visit our website www.NovatoSpirit.org and go to the “Contact Us” section.

NovatoSpirit Board Members Suzanne Daggert and Alison Moore join me in wishing the Novato Community a Happy Thanksgiving, and we thank you for caring about the children in our town who live in poverty.