Photo Shoot!

Hello Heart Friends!

We are getting together for a professional photo shoot! Alyssa Smith of A & S Photo Design http://www.aandsphotodesign.com/ has offered to take our group photos. She will be taking pictures of the heart kids so that we can use them for fliers, posters, thank you notes, website, etc. She has also offered to waive her $250 sitting fee for any families that want to take family portraits at the same time. If you choose to have your family portrait taken you will be given a link to a website where the pictures will be uploaded. You can then order photos of your child/family (prices start at $6 for a 4x6) from her website.Please show up on time and have all CHD'ers wear red (they can wear a plain red shirt / dress or their MLH shirt) and blue jeans.This is a great opportunity to take your family photos for your holiday cards!

There is an entrance fee to get into Woodward park:$3 for Fresno residents (must show drivers license)$5 for non-fresno residents

We will have a sign posted as to where we are or you can call Lisa or Carlie that afternoon to find out the actual location (the photographer will need to see which spot has the best background and lighting).We hope to see you there!

Please let us know if you think you will be able to make it!

September Meeting

September Meeting:
When: Saturday September 6, 2008
Time: 2 pm - 4 pm
Place: Faith Community Church of the Nazarene 430 Peach Ave. Clovis CA
Topic: Debbie Truhett from the American Heart Association will join us to let us know what the American Heart Association is doing on a local and national level to help CHD. We will also be forming our heart walk team. The heart walk is coming up in October and we hope to have a great turn out!**As always children are welcome at all meetings and childcare will be available.

Heart Heros

This is Evan Turk. He is a heart hero! If you've ever met this little guy you would know how special he is. He is well spoken, friendly and easy going. He has also been through more in his 10 years of life, than most adults. Even though Evan had surgery coming up this year, he took the time think about others. He was tired of seeing all poor quality food that people donated to local food banks. He wished that people would donate better food to the people who really needed it. Evan did not sit around and hope that things would change....he went out and made a difference. He was on a mission! He went out and collected 3,883 cans and turned them in for money to buy good quality food for the food bank. Here is a picture of him with the food that he donated!!

What an inspiration Evan is. A few weeks ago Evan came home from having pace maker surgery. He is doing well and I'm sure he's already thinking about what his next project is going to be.....well after he gets back from Camp Taylor!

Zoo Trip

Instead of our annual picnic, Mended Little Hearts hosted a zoo day this year. The heat kept a lot of people at home this year, but those who went had a great time. We were also lucky enough to have Susie (heart mom to a 20 yr.old) come and give us information about the education system at our picnic lunch. Thanks Susie! And thanks to everyone who came out into the heat to see the animals!

Camp Taylor

On June 6th 5 families from Mended Little Hearts were able to attend family camp. Mended Little Hearts was happy to pay the registration fee for these families so that they could experience "The Seasons of The Year" at Camp Taylor. My family had a blast and I heard from other families that they also had a great time. Camp Taylor is a wonderful organization and really know how to make our heart kids feel special. In a few weeks we will also have at least 5 kids ages 7-12 will be heading to youth camp! Thank you Camp Taylor for the memories that will last a lifetime!

Let's Go Golf!

Eric Schweitzer our Mended Hearts Vice President is doing his 11th annual golf tournament. Last year he gave the proceeds to Camp Taylor and this year proceeds will go to our own MLH of Central California.
The information is as follows:
Where: Sierra Meadows Golf Course
46512 Opha Drive
Oakhurst CA 93644
(559) 642-1340
When: May 17th, 2008
10:30 am check in
11:30 am Lunch
2:00 pm Shotgun start

Fee: $100.00 per person
Includes Golf Cart, Golf and lunch

Directions: Fresno North to Oakhurst. Left on Hwy 49
Proceed about 2 miles to Harmony Lane
Right turn and follow signage to Golf Course.

Any questions can be answered by Eric at 683-4942 or cell 760-4212

This is a four man scramble form your teams now!

This may be a great opportunity to get our Dads involved! If there is any interest it will help benefit our group. So, go and get those teams put together and give Eric a call to sign up!!

April Meeting!

Our next meeting is right around the corner!
Date: April 12th, 2008
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Faith Community Church of the Nazarene 430 Peach Ave. Clovis, CA
Topic: Our speaker, Susie Astiasuain, is going to share her experiences being a heart mom for a little over twenty years. Susie is also going to share her knowledge of educational services that some heart kids qualify for. Susie works for an early intervention program in Reedley and has also gone through the whole school process with her son. She will go over some terms such as IEP, 504 plan and early intervention. This will be an informative meeting for everyone.

Mended Little Hearts Bumper Magnets

The Bumper Magnets are in!!! These are great magnets that stick right on to metal parts of your car. What a better way to raise awareness than driving around town.
They cost $5 at a meeting or $5.50 to be shipped. I will bring them to our next meeting in April or you can email me at mom2macandzach@sbcglobal.net if you would like to have an order shipped to you.

February 2008 Meeting

When: February 9th, 2008
Time: 2:00 pm
Where: Faith Community Church of the Nazarene 430 Peach Ave. Clovis CA

The Details: Dr. Malcolm MacDonald, pediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon at CHCC, has graciously agreed to come and speak. He would like to have an open dialog, so come prepared with questions! He is on call that day, so I'm sure we will all understand if he gets called in to work and cannot make it. In that case we will go ahead with our CHD Day party and try and reschedule for another time. We will have a dessert potluck and socializing for the adults and the kids will play games, do crafts and help paint a canvas to be auctioned off at the Camp Taylor fundraiser dinner.
We hope to see everyone there.
If you have any questions feel free to email me, leave a comment or call.

CHD Awareness Week

As most of you know February 7th - 14th is designated CHD Awareness week. To help spread awareness Mended Little Hearts national office has sent our group some awareness materials. I wanted to let you all know about these materials in case you wanted to help spread awareness about CHD next month. We have most of the materials needed to have a successful CHD Awareness week / and or month! We have:
CHD Awareness brochures - if you know of a person or company that would be willing to help print these in color it would be extremely helpful!
sample proclomation letters
news release to send to newspapers / news stations
letter to the editor
sample public service announcement
and Mended Little Hearts fact sheets
So, if you'd like to help us spread the word about CHD either email me at mom2macandzach@sbcglobal.net or leave a comment.
Anything and everything you can do is greatly appreciated!