Niteo Kids

Fat Cat Festival Volunteers

2009-05-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

The Fat Cat Children's festival is coming up this year, on June 12 & 13. We are currently looking for volunteers of all ages to help man the booth and assist with the childrens' activities. There are many two hour shifts availible.

If you are interested, please email Erika Van Oyen through the "Biography" page listed above.

Raise Your Voice

2009-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Corey Mazurat

Glenmore students and staff put on a great show at the Raise Your Voice Concert. All money raised will be going towards the "Book-Mobile". In total, Raise Your voice has raised over $11,000. Great job! Thank You, everyone who was involved, for helping exceed our expectations and doing your part in the making of the "Book-Mobile".

Here are a few more pics =)

Corey Mazurat

An amazing piece of music

2009-04-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Check out the "multimedia" section of the Niteo website to hear a song composed by Madison Kloss, a grade 5 student who wants to make a difference in the world.

Madison sat down at the piano one day and just started playing chords and making up the lyrics to this beautiful song. She has another verse which may be recorded eventually. It's her dream to make a full CD and then to sell it with all the proceeds of the sale to go to charity.

Madison has sent the song to all her friends and relatives, telling them about the Niteo Kids bookmobile project and asking them to donate.

Way to go Madison! You are an amazing girl. Niteo Kids is lucky to have you as one of its champions!

Our latest press release

2009-04-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

Student-driven funding drive almost halfway to goal
By C.D. Mazurat

Madison gave up the money she earned from her paper route, Evan chose to forgo the purchase of a video game he’d been desperately waiting for, and even Molly the dog went without doggie treats – all to help Glenmore Elementary students trying to raise enough money to buy a bookmobile for resource-impoverished students in Uganda.

The Raise Your Voice challenge is Glenmore Elementary School’s latest social awareness event and continues with the theme of “Glenmore Cares”. Students and staff organizers are trying to raise enough money to purchase and fund a mobile bookmobile through Niteo Africa (www.niteoafrica.org), a Kelowna-based NGO. In addition to the usual donations and pledges, students hit on an innovative way to raise money: they would give up something special or important for a month and donate the money to the drive.

Candy, movie rentals or Milk Bones – all was fair game. Teachers and parents were encouraged to give up their lattes or other small luxuries. Students were given pledge forms to take home to family and friends, and since starting the challenge on March 12th, organizers at Glenmore have collected over $7000 towards their goal.

The drive culminates with a gala evening at the Kelowna Community Theatre on Tuesday, April 14 with two shows at 6 and 7:30. Directed by Governor General Award-winning music teacher Rhonda Draper, the performances will feature African songs, a mass choir and thrilling solo artists. It will also include two separate raffle draws with prizes generously donated by local businesses including IGA, Bowering, and Starbucks.

Everyone is invited to attend these performances. Tickets for the event are still available and can be purchased at the door for any size cash donation. Tickets are also available at the school. Through a combination of donated ticket price, corporate sponsorship and raffle income, organizers hope to raise a total of $20 per seat for each of the two shows. All money raised goes directly towards the purchase of the bookmobile.

Anyone needing more information is asked to call Glenmore Elementary at (250)762-3509.

Glenmore's Doing It Again!

2009-02-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

Glenmore Elementary -- the school that raised $2000 for us and our goal of buying a mobile resource center -- is going to do it again.

This time, they're holding two benefit concerts at the Kelowna Community Theatre on April 14th at 6 and 7:30 p.m. The goal is to raise $20 a ticket for each seat -- for both shows -- so that we can make our mobile resource centre dream come true THIS YEAR!

Tell everyone you know about these concerts. Let your teachers and family members know just how important it is to support this effort. Together, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of students in Kampala.

We can do it!!

Niteo Kids at Care and Make It Fair

2009-02-15T21:26:00.000-08:00

This past week, Niteo Kids was at "Care and Make It Fair". Its day full of workshops for socially aware grade 5 students all across SD23. Niteo Kids was there to present, and teach kids about what we do in Uganda, and how they can help.

Presentations.

2008-12-02T16:24:00.000-08:00

Dec 1 I was at Glenmore Elementary to speak about Niteo Kids and how kids can make a difference. There, we met a girl in grade 5, Chelsie Obst, who asked people for money for her birthday, and donated it all to Niteo Kids. We are very happy to be touching people in ways that make them want to give, and EXTREMELY appreciative of Chelsie's generous donation. Thank you Cheslie! There is a picture above myself and Chelsie at Glenmore.

As well, Dec 2 we were at Kelowna Christian School for a Leadership forum, with local student leaders, as well as adult leaders from the community. I had a chance to speak at the event and explain about Niteo Kids, while another group of kids talked about Niteo and what they do. THANK YOU! It was a very exciting event to get to talk to some students taking charge in Kelowna.

Fat Cat Childrens Festival

2008-11-25T16:36:00.000-08:00

This past June, Niteo was at the Fat Cat Childrens Festival. The festival booth was orgonised by myself and a couple friends. We set up a booth with a bullitain board, and with the help of volunteers (many of which were kids, like myself) we had a ceramic tile and post card colouring booth. Both of which will be making their way to Uganda for the Resource Center. We had a variety of things from Uganda on display, which included a handmade soccer ball, some books, and many other hand made objects. Our goal for the festival weekend was to inform people of Niteo and what we do. We look forward to setting up another booth at the festival next June.

What is Niteo Kids?

2008-11-25T16:32:00.001-08:00

Niteo Kids is a branch of Niteo Africa that is run by kids completely. Our current goals are to inform people (kids in particular) of what they can do to help, and how they can do it, and to raise $20,000 minimum for a mobile resource center. The mobile center will be used to deliver books to more urban and rural areas of Uganda. We are currently open to ideas about fundraising and are looking for a corperate sponser.

Upcoming Events!

2008-11-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Niteo Kids will be doing a presentation at Glenmore Elementary on Monday, Dec. 1 all about what kids can do to help. There will also be a short presentation at a leadership forum on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at Kelowna Christian School about Niteo Kids' goals and what we want to do to inspire kids.

Let the Fundraising Begin!

2008-11-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang are joining in to help youth in Africa.

Students at Glenmore Elementary School are donating the proceeds from two special SD23-only dress rehearsals of their adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas to Niteo Africa’s Niteo Kids project. The current goal of the Kelowna-based NGO (non-governmental organization) is to raise enough money to purchase and outfit a mobile library – a bookmobile – to service schools and villages outside Kampala, Uganda.

Rhonda Draper, director of the play, is a Glenmore Elementary music teacher and 2007 winner of the Governor General’s award for excellence in teaching Canadian History. A self-described ‘keen supporter’ of Niteo, she approached Niteo board of directors member – and fellow Glenmore teacher – Erika van Oyen with the idea of charging SD23 students a twoonie apiece to view the full dress rehearsals earlier on the day of the performance.

“There are often events at the Community Theatre that SD23 students are invited to attend for a reduced ticket price,” van Oyen said. “So we put the call out to the schools in the district and asked if teachers wanted to bring their classes to the dress rehearsals at a cost of two dollars a student.”

Van Oyen says the response from teachers has been very positive.

“I’ve had teachers email me and tell me that they think it’s a great project and a great cause,” she said. She said the organization believes that the bookmobile project will cost about $20,000 and that the dress rehearsals – which are sold out – will raise about $2000 towards that goal.

The play, based upon the animated holiday classic, will be performed for the general public at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on November 20^th, 2008, at the Kelowna Community Theatre in the Arts District. Each performance will have a separate cast of grades four to six students from Glenmore Elementary. Tickets for the performances are $10 per seat, with proceeds to fund arts and music programs at Glenmore Elementary.