I have had many kids come up and inquire about our age limitation for volunteering at Friendship Circle. For the past 16 years, the age minimum is 12 years old, however, after greeting the many eager faces of our pre-teens looking to get involved at Friendship Circle, how could we NOT cave in and create [...]
Looking back at the last 16 years it is amazing and heartwarming to see the unbelievable growth that Friendship Circle has a achieved! To think that a small idea has created something so big is truly amazing. Because of this growth The Friendship Circle International Office was created with the goal to provide resources and support to [...]
The grand opening of the Florene Elkus & Edward Elkus Memorial Gym presented us with an opportunity to brainstorm new ways to expand our sports programs. Playing sports encourages the players to learn teamwork – a vitally important “life lesson” for both individuals with special needs and their teenage volunteers. Our current sports program, run [...]
Friendship Circle’s LifeTown walls received a dash of color and life this summer from Artist Jennifer Maiseloff. The Friendship Circle commissioned Jennifer to create two murals inside of our Ferber Kaufman LifeTown facility. The first mural can be found in the hallway entrance of the new Florene Elkus & Edward Elkus Memorial Gym. The shadow-figures on the wall are [...]
You have all heard it before. “Make a Difference” “The Ripple Effect” “You have the power to change the world” – but here is my question, do you really believe it? Our ears are bombarded with these clichés every day – infomercials, radio ads and newsletters from our favorite organizations. We have almost built up [...]
Rosh Hashanah starts tonight at sun down. And one of the many traditions associated with this Jewish New Year is the blowing of the Shofar. A Shofar is a horn of a kosher animal with the marrow removed. Each year, Rabbi’s around the world blow into the shofar with a calculated sequence of breaths not only as [...]
In winter of 2010, we launched a brand new program aimed at training our volunteers in “Play Therapy.” Play Therapy is a technique used by therapist to promote closeness and connection among volunteers and their child with special needs. As with all new programs, we were unsure of the success but confident in the plans that had been [...]
A letter sent out to friends and family from a Walk4Friendship Participant Dear friends and family, To say this year has been tough would be an understatement. These unfortunate circumstances have shortened our summer and pressed us for time. Back in the spring, I committed to raise $1,800 for The Friendship Circle in their annual [...]
Flash Mob (noun) (fuh-lash muh-aab) 1. A choreographed stunt where hundreds of participants simultaneously freeze in a public space at a pre-arranged time. On August 18th, one thousand Friendship Circle supporters will perform the largest flash-mob freeze in recorded American history! In the middle of Somerset Mall in Troy, Michigan shoppers will freeze at the [...]
@SMCD RT #140C- Does that mean anything to you? Allow me to translate. This scramble of letter and characters are codes for using Twitter. And for the longest time, we thought someone just fell asleep on their keyboard. But during the Chase Community Giving Campaign, we realized that social media presented an unequivocal opportunity to expand our message [...]
