To say that 2020 was a challenging year is an understatement. Just like most people and businesses, here at Root for Kids we had to get creative (and very virtual/remote) to keep going! We continued to serve hundreds of families during the pandemic and thankfully had the support of amazing people in the community. Check out our top 10 moments of 2020!

Drive-Thru Radiothon

Every December, Mix 103.1, Coyote Country 102.9, Kool 98.9 and Zion 104.1 come to Root for Kids and broadcast live from our lobby during the annual Radiothon, volunteers join us for special projects, donors come in to take pictures with their donations and tour the building… except in 2020. With social distancing and safety concerns in mind, the traditional Radiothon turned into a drive-thru! The radio stations broadcasted from their studio and people from all over town drove by to drop off donations and their change. Online and Venmo donations were extremely popular too, and we were able to raise over $20,000 in one day!

The Secret Garden Gala: Home Edition

The annual gala quickly became a favorite event at Root for Kids. We were excited to make The Secret Garden Gala bigger and better in 2020, but again we had to adapt. The Secret Garden Gala: Home Edition took place on Saturday, September 12, 2020 with the support of 18 sponsors and 132 guests who joined us online from Washington County, Salt Lake City and Idaho. Between sponsorships, ticket sales, auction and monetary donations the unprecedented virtual event raised $68,128, exceeding our $60,000 goal! We broadcasted live from Root for Kids and guests joined us via Zoom. All guests received gift cards to purchase dinner and party hosts also received a centerpiece to bring the magic of the gala into their home.

Virtual Home Visits

All families enrolled in Early Head Start, Early Intervention and Parents as Teachers receive weekly, bi-weekly or monthly home visits, depending on the child’s needs. Starting in March 2020, the visits moved online in order to keep the families and our staff safe. It was definitely challenging to get the ball rolling, but it was so important to keep providing services. We even did Speech Therapy sessions online!

Food and Diaper Deliveries

More than ever the families we serve benefited from receiving diaper bundles and food boxes from the Utah Food Bank. Typically, the families would come to the center once a month to pick up their food box but in the interest of avoiding crowds, the home visitors delivered the boxes every month at their door step.

Donors

It’s humbling to think about how many people and businesses were willing to give and support young kids in our community in 2020. When COVID-19 hit, we weren’t sure what to expect but our donors showed up and helped us keep providing services. We are so lucky to be part of such a giving community!

Volunteers

It’s always inspiring when people donate their time to our organization. Our volunteers didn’t hesitate about the changes and were happy to take projects with them when needed! They helped put together the block puzzles our little graduates receive, doing activity kits for the children and bundling diapers.

Graduation

It’s so fun to celebrate the little kids aging out and graduating from Root for Kids programs! We usually invite them with their families to celebrate with dinner and a graduation ceremony. Last year, the home visitors delivered a “graduation kit” for each child with a graduation hat, their diploma, block puzzle and other donated gifts.

One Utah Child Care

The Caterpillar Clubhouse was one of the few childcare centers that remained open in our area. We realized it was an essential service to provide for the parents who weren’t able to work remotely. In addition to the regular 0-5 classrooms, we partnered up with One Utah Child Care program to provide free childcare for first responders families.

Benefit Concert

It seems like forever ago that we all could get together in an indoor venue for a concert. But before quarantine, we had the pleasure to welcome Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night at the Cox Auditorium for an amazing concert! The event was generously presented by The American Dream Foundation and all ticket sales proceeds benefited Root for Kids.

Health Day

With a lot of coordination and creativity, our Health Services team was able to resume free health clinics for clients in July 2020. Families were assigned time slots with plenty of time between appointments for proper sanitizing. Services provided included vision and hearing screenings, blood lead and hematocrit tests, and fluoride.

We are grateful for everyone that made 2020 a little lighter and brighter at Root for Kids! Thank you for your support. To keep helping young kids have the best start in life, donate here.

When COVID-19 hit earlier in the spring, we had to quickly adapt to continue to provide services for hundreds of children in Washington County and the Arizona strip. The same adjustments (and experiments) extended to our signature events such as graduation and annual gala.

The Secret Garden Gala: Home Edition took place on Saturday, September 12, 2020 with the support of 18 sponsors and 132 guests who joined us online from Washington County, Salt Lake City and Idaho. Between sponsorships, ticket sales, auction and monetary donations we are excited to announce that the unprecedented virtual event raised $68,128, exceeding our $60,000 goal. See how The Secret Garden Gala: Home Edition came to life.

Root for Kids Main Stage

With a little help from our friends Fred Walker and Tyler Hunsaker (“The Lounge Lizards”), Brother’s Keeper Sound Production and our wonderful staff , we broadcasted the Gala program live from the Conference Room at Root for Kids. We would also like to thank Haylee Cazarin from Southern Pop Designs for doing the beautiful tree for the background!

Home Parties

We had 26 parties spread across Washington County, Salt Lake City and Idaho, from individuals and couples to parties. Guests were invited to join the Gala remotely however they felt more comfortable. A few parties decided to combine tables at their place of business, while other hosted guests at home. They all connected to the Gala program via Zoom and participated in the auction through an online platform. On the days leading up to the event, all guests received a printed program and a Root for Kids coaster made locally by 2112 Memories with a handprinted Thank You card from the kids at the Caterpillar Clubhouse. Party hosts also received a Secret Garden centerpiece by Botanicals.

Supporting Local Businesses

Another fun fact about The Secret Garden Gala: Home Edition is that on top of benefitting hundreds of families served by Root for Kids with the money raised, we as an organization were able to involve many local businesses in the process and support them as well. Guests had the option to select a local or locally-owned restaurant to purchase their meals from for the event. For dessert, our friends at Nothing Bundt Cakes donated their amazing White Chocolate Raspberry cake and delivered them to all guests!

Local businesses involved:

• Katering Koncepts (donated tables, chairs and linens to larger parties)
• Nothing Bundt Cakes (donated desserts)
• Botanicals (donated a large portion of our centerpieces)
• 2112 Memories (purchased Root for Kids coasters from)
• Steamroller Copies (printed programs and table tents)
• Adrian’s (donated tuxes for emcees)
• All Seasons Garden & Floral (purchased centerpiece for Idaho party)
• Native Flower Company (purchased centerpiece for Salt Lake City party)
• Southern Pop Designs (balloon tree for stage)
• Brother’s Keeper (sound production)

Local restaurants supported by purchasing dining gift cards:

• Cliffside Restaurant
• Benja Thai & Sushi
• Anasazi Steakhouse
• Rib & Chop House
• Magelby’s
• Sakura Japanese Steakhouse
• Red Fort Cuisine of India
• Royal Thai Cuisine
• Riggati’s Wood Fire Pizza
• Paula’s Mexican Food
• Morty’s Café
• Café Rio
• Main Street Café in Hurricane

We are grateful to everyone who helped make this special night happen. Check out more event photos on our Facebook page! Thank you to our wonderful sponsors and guests who believe in our work and want the best for the kids in our community. We hope to see you again soon at our Drive-Thru Radiothon on December 14, 2020.

With most of our services being home-based, Root for Kids had to quickly adapt to a new reality when the social-distancing and quarantine guidelines hit mid-March. Since then we have moved our home visits online to ensure our staff and clients stay safe and healthy. But how does that work? Emily Sonzogni, M.S., CCC-SLP, shared a few insights of what a virtual speech therapy session looks like.

Pretend Birthday Party

Elmo has had lots of birthday parties the last few months! We get to build a cake for him, sing to him, blow out his candles, blow up balloons for him, wear party hats, and open presents to practice naming objects. I just had a family today say, “Ever since Elmo’s birthday party, he’s been talking about Elmo all the time!” Memorable activity that allows the family to carryover celebrating Elmo’s birthday all day!

Building Tower

A child will help me build a tower by saying “up… up… up!” and then when they say “wham!” I knock it over. They love hearing a big crash! It’s great to use simple toys to show families ways to practice language with toys they have at home.

Know Your Animals

We have been practicing lots of animal names and sounds the last few months. Kids will tell me to “open” this clear container, tell me which animal to get out, give me directions to put the animals “in” or “on” or “under” the container, and sing “Old McDonald had a Farm.”

BOOKS! 

I can’t get enough of reading books to young children! I love reading books to children virtually to model some simple reading strategies and give parents tips on how to engage their children in book reading more often. Teaching families about the value of reading to their children and problem solving ways to increase their child’s attention span is probably one of my biggest passions as a speech-language pathologist.

Learning Routine

Today I used my daughter’s dollhouse for a session for the first time. The child got to tell me which figures he wanted to play with, open and close the garage doors, help me feed the family, tell them to walk “up” and “down” stairs, take a bath, and go “night night.” Great way to model simple language strategies for families, and fun interactive way to engage with the child.

We are grateful for Emily and all of our wonderful staff for rising up to the challenge during these uncertain times. To support the work that we are doing, join us on September 12 for The Secret Garden Gala – Home Edition!

Root for Kids serves pregnant women and children from birth to age five in Washington County, Utah and the Arizona Strip. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, fill out our referral form.

 

Our priority is keeping staff and clients safe and following State and CDC recommendations. Since March 15, we have been practicing social distancing by transitioning to virtual home visits and limiting the number of staff working in our buildings. See how Root for Kids is supporting families and children during COVID-19.

Virtual Home Visits

Our wonderful home visitors transitioned to virtual home visits back in March and we keep practicing social distancing to help protect the children and the families we serve. We are also hosting virtual playgroups and other helpful activities to support parents during these challenging times.

Families can still enroll in all of our programs! Parents and medical providers can fill out a referral form online.

Online Collaboration

On top of virtual home visits with the families we serve, we are still meeting with our community partners online. These collaborations help us stay connected and informed while strengthening  relationships with the community.

Food Pantry Drive-Thru

Every month we host a food pantry event in partnership with the Utah Food Bank for enrolled families. Our staff had to get creative to be able to provide this important service while practicing social distancing. Special thanks to our hard-working staff for putting together food boxes ahead of time for 136 families last month! This allowed families to stay in the car while our staff loaded the boxes for them.

Diaper Delivery

Many young families are forced to choose between keeping their babies in dry diapers or putting food on the table, especially during the pandemic. Root for Kids brings diapers to their home visits to help families who may be struggling financially.

One Utah Child Care for First Responders

The Caterpillar Clubhouse was the only child care center outside the Wasatch Front partnering with the One Utah Child Care program, providing free childcare for first responders families April through June. The new classroom had capacity for 16 children.

Volunteers

We continue to have the support of many volunteers that are serving Root for Kids in different capacities. We have also provided face masks, hand sanitizer and wipes to our office volunteers who at the moment are helping us with scanning, digital filing, organizing. Our remote home volunteers are coloring, cutting, organizing pictures, making sensory books for the children we serve.

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We currently have some student volunteers  from DSU who are working alongside the home visitors with some of our programs, depending on what their skill level and academic goals are. They are volunteering within the boundaries that are available at this time. We are grateful for their commitment to make a difference in the lives of the children and families!

How You Can Help

• Attend The Secret Garden Gala – Home Edition
• Help us continue to provide important programs and items such as diapers, wipes and formula to families by making a donation online or via Venmo (@rootforkids / verification code: 9494)
• Donate an auction item or double your impact: support a local business by purchasing a gift card and then support a local nonprofit (us!) by donating it to our Secret Garden Gala – Home Edition coming up this September! You will receive a tax deduction for the gift card amount as well as the satisfaction of knowing that you helped TWO local businesses through this difficult time. We are happy to arrange a “socially distant, porch-friendly” pickup of your gift card anytime or gift cards can be mailed or delivered to:

ATTN: Monica Jones

Root for Kids

2044 S. Mesa Palms Drive

St. George, UT, 84770

Thank you for supporting Root for Kids and the children we serve! Stay up to date on all things happening around here through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

We could not do everything we do without the service provided by our wonderful volunteers. April 19-25, 2020 is National Volunteer Week and we are celebrating by highlighting different group of volunteers. Our volunteers come in all ages and types! The impact of volunteering with Root for Kids benefits hundreds of young children in Washington County and the Arizona strip.

Families

We love when families visit us and join in a project such as bundling diapers, painting blocks and coloring matching games. We have projects for all ages! It is very special to have one family support another family.

Individuals

We have individual volunteers that have been with us for many years. Brad Hafen has been volunteering with us for over 20 years, Naomi has been with us for nine, and Susan joined us just last year. These dear friends of ours have given countless hours to support our mission.

We also have committees you can join to help with our community impact and plan our annual fundraising events, such as our Secret Garden Gala. You can read books & rock babies in our Caterpillar Clubhouse, bundle diaper packages for our enrolled families, create matching games and activity books for the children, and more.

School & Youth Groups

Our hallways are always buzzing with activity when we have a school or youth group on campus. They are active and willing to do just about anything! We’ve had boy scout and girl scout troops, WCSD Youth Leadership, and numerous church youth groups join us for an afternoon of service. We’ve enjoyed their work in our garden and yard area, our playground and fencing, and assembly projects such as building sensory bottles and fishing games.

Local Businesses

We are so grateful to the many businesses that donate to us each year. Especially those who also donate their time volunteering with us. Some of the businesses we’ve had volunteer with us are American Family Insurance, Enterprise, and our dear friends at Guild Mortgage. As part of our Early Head Start grant we are committed to offer volunteer opportunities. We have an average of 15,000 volunteer hours to meet each year and businesses like these help us match this commitment year after year.

Community Groups

Three hurrah’s for the best community! We are so grateful for the many community groups that join us throughout the year. They tackle tasks like our yard work, painting projects, and building and coloring educational toys. We’ve enjoyed partnering with AUCH, Rotary Club, SUHBA, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, AGC- and many more.

University Students & Athletes

Our partnerships with university students are some of our favorites. When they volunteer, they are always eager with wiling hearts to giving all they can to our mission. Last year we enjoyed having the DSU football team come by to help with our yard work and creating puzzles for our graduating children.

Each semester we have DSU nursing & dental hygiene students, U of U physician assistant students and students in leadership from RVU join us at our various family events. Many of our families primarily speak Spanish, and we often need Spanish Interpreters. The DSU Spanish Club has been helpful at our dental days and other family events. We also have student interns each semester. Last year we had Abby join us as a health communication intern and Ashleigh as a community involvement intern.

Health Heroes & Clinicians

We love our health partners! They each provide a service that greatly impacts the families in our programs. Last year at one of our parent nights our enrolled parents enjoyed learning from Danyelle Evans, a Registered Dental Hygienist in our community, about the importance of oral health for their families. We are so grateful for the DSU dental days each semester with the DSU dental hygiene program. Each semester, a local Dentist from our community volunteers his time to oversee the dental days. Alongside the DSU students the Dentist provides free dental checkups for our enrolled families. The U of U physician assistant program provide free well child exams & immunizations for our Early Head Start families.

We have an ongoing partnership with Stefani Watson from USDB to provide hearing testing, and Dr. Joshua Schliesser offers vision screenings for our program children. Our partnership with Stapley Pharmacy provides our staff with flu shots and necessary immunizations.

Lastly, we are so grateful for our Health Services Advisory Committee that is comprised of a dozen or so local health provides that meet twice a year on their own time to discuss the health of our families. Without the donation of these clinicians’ time, our families would continue to fall between the cracks in necessary health services which can lead to effects on the child’s development.

We are thankful for our volunteers’ dedication and desire to improve the lives of hundreds of children. Interested in volunteering with us? Call our Volunteer & Community Partnership Coordinator to get started! (435) 673-5353, ext. 123

Our first year as “Root for Kids” was filled with nurturing partnerships and growth. We served 1,252 children and 58 pregnant women in Washington County and the Arizona Strip! There were a lot of memorable moments in 2019, but here are top 10:

10. Washington County Fair Baby Contest

This year, Root for Kids sponsored the Washington County Fair Baby Contest for the first time. Over 80 babies ages 3-36 months entered the contest online and 30 finalists moved on to the live judging phase at the fair. Each contestant received a Baby Contest t-shirt and an Early Childhood Activity Book created by Root for Kids.

9. Fit Kid Fair

A healthy life is a happier life! And that goes for babies and toddlers as well. In April, we hosted a Fit Kid fair event for families enrolled in Early Head Start and Parents as Teachers. Staff prepared and served a healthy dinner, planned obstacle courses for the kids and offered parent/child yoga classes.

8. Community Appreciation Day

The St. George Children’s Museum hosts a Community Appreciation Day on the first Thursday of the month. Admission is free for Washington County residents on that day. Root for Kids joined in on the fun and our staff is at the museum on that day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. doing free hearing, vision and developmental screenings for children 3 and under.

7. Alumni Event

In November 2019, we had our first ever alumni event! We invited everyone who has graduated from our programs, their families and community members that support our mission for a private screening of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. The event gathered over 160 people and was held at the Sunset Megaplex Theater in St. George. The Friends of TLC Foundation generously sponsored the event. 

6. New Business Partners

St. George is one of the fastest growing communities in the country. So many wonderful businesses are coming to St. George and Root for Kids had the pleasure of partnering with several of them in 2019. Hash House a Go Go, Nothing Bundt Cakes and Axiom Chiropractic are among the new businesses in town that donated to Root for Kids. 

5. 4th Annual Radioathon

The most wonderful time of the year is even more wonderful at Root for Kids. Our annual holiday Radioathon quickly became one of our favorite events! It’s so heartwarming seeing the community come together to donate, make financial contributions and volunteer. In 2019, we raised over $20,000 in cash and in-kind donations!

4. Class of 2019

We love the children we serve and there’s nothing more fulfilling than seeing them healthy and ready for Kindergarten. Over 200 children graduated from our programs in 2019 and we celebrated with two graduation events (spring and winter).

3. Kindermusik

Our Music & Play Studio became Kindermusik® certified in 2019 and gained a brand new room! On June 3, we invited the community to the ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate with us. Kindermusik classes are open to the public and classes are open enrollment.

2. U of U Physician Assistant Program

Every year we provide free dental clinics to children and families enrolled. In 2019, we were able to expand our health services reach thanks to a new partnership with the U of U Physician Program! They provided oral cancer screening at the dental clinics and Well Child exams at the 2nd annual health fair. Early Head Start parents also received a variety of screenings such as blood pressure, BMI, vision, hearing and depression at the health fair.

1. The Secret Garden Gala

Our biggest fundraising event of the year was a magical night in the Secret Garden. We had a record of 25 sponsors and we were sold out more than a month before the event. Over 240 people attended the gala and between sponsorships, silent and live auctions, and ticket sales, we raised over $100,000. The gala keeps getting bigger and better every year, and we cannot wait to see what the 2020 event will be like.

We are grateful to be part of an incredible community and provide essential services to the little ones and their families. Thank you for another amazing year and helping us nurture strong beginnings.