Dakota
 Brains, good looks, a sparkling personality. . . Dakota has it all going for him!
Nine years old, Dakota loves sports and the outdoors. He's happiest when riding his bike, reading, catching tadpoles, watching water skippers, playing sports, and fishing. Dakota loves animals, especially dogs, but also enjoyed the turtle and snake in his most recent foster home.
Dakota is one smart cookie. He excels in reading, math, and spelling in particular. He just completed third grade but spells and reads at the sixth and seventh grade levels. You'll often find Dakota reading for fun and he loves telling you about the book he's reading. With long eyelashes and a great smile, Dakota is a handsome boy. His whole face lights up when he's excited.
Dakota says he would like a family who plays video games, watches and plays sports, and has dogs, cats, and "cows and snakes that roam free." Dakota's favorite foods include bean and cheese burritos, Mexican casserole, hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizza with sausage, olives, and cheese. Dakota can throw a football in a perfect spiral and says he'd like to play for the New England Patriots one day.
He is described by his teacher as "kind, well mannered, polite, and smart," Everyone agrees: Dakota would be a great addition to a family.
So, what's missing? YOU!
To see more of Dakota, please click on the link below
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One Year Anniversary
November 4th, 2007
Dear Friends,
Lane County businesses and community members have been overwhelmingly generous this summer. We are grateful for the support and your heart felt belief in finding permanent, loving homes for every waiting child.
This upcoming November will mark our one year anniversary. We will be hosting our opening event at the Eugene Hilton on November 4th, 2007 to celebrate our successes and shower you, our community, with gratitiude.
While at our opening you will hear speaker's updates on the status of Lane County foster children and the impact of the Heart Gallery. Surrounding the room will be beautiful photographic representations of waiting children, children who have found their Forever Families, programs connected to the Heart Gallery, thanks to those who have been involved and information on how you can help for the following year.
Our location, food and wine have been generously donated so come share with us and celebrate! There is still opportunity to volunteer or donate for this event so contact us and get involved.
Thank you, Lane County, for your continued contributions to the Heart Gallery.
Christy Obie-Barrett (541) 954-9626 OR
cbobie@aol.com |
National Heart Gallery of America Conference
Christy Obie Barrett and Susan Schultheis traveled to New Mexico for the first national Heart Gallery of America conference. Christy met with Diane Guanito, the creator of the original Heart Gallery, and several other Heart Gallery board members to start the process of establishing national Heart Gallery guidelines. The Heart Gallery of America will be a support to established Heart Galleries and to new Heart Galleries. Its web address is HeartGalleryofAmerica.org. The two-day conference also included sessions on fund raising, photography, venues, outreach to the community and relationships with caseworkers. We had many lively discussions!
Our Heart Gallery is unique! Most Heart Galleries have a direct connection and receive support from local social services agencies. Some Heart Galleries have a lot of funding, and others, such as Heart Gallery of Lane County, do not. We are so grateful to have the support of our community. Thank you Lane County! We can't do what we are doing without you.
We had the opportunity to share ideas about several of our programs. David Louis, from Hawaii, did a moving presentation about the positive effects of Family Finding and talked about the need to be open to including Family Finding as an adoption recruitment tool. Heart Gallery of Lane County is the first to directly incorporate Family Finding as part of its mission.
We were honored to be apart of the beginning of the national movement. We were even more honored and proud to represent our community as one of the youngest Galleries, yet one which has an incredible amount of early success due to the amount of community support we have received. Thanks to all of you, we can hold our own among some of the best and most experienced Heart Galleries. As always, it is your energy and your commitment which make all the difference. Thank you.
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The Heart Gallery Mentor Program
I am pleased to announce that I am now a part time employee of the Heart Gallery and will be able to offer more of my time. I am excited for this opportunity to serve our youth and community. The Mentoring program is blossoming into a great success. With my new position I will be able to reach out to more case workers, youth, and mentors. I will begin holding mentor and youth workshops in October. I will also be connecting with various community businesses and resources to expand our program.
We have been focusing on mentoring youth and the independent living program. We have decided to change the program a little and change independent to interdependent described best by Webster's as - Pronunciation[in-ter-di-pen-duhnt] -
-adjective mutually dependent; depending on each other. We all feel that all youth in foster care need the extra support of caring adults that proceed into adulthood that come in the form of permanency. We will be focusing on bringing in permanent connections for these youth through mentoring, family finding and adoption. We will continue to teach life skills and prepare youth for adulthood while giving them the foundation of a permanent connection too.
We are always open and looking for new ideas and suggestions. We are also always looking for more mentors and business/ community sponsers to help grow and fuel our program. If you are interested please feel free to contact Christina Sutton, mentor director at 513-3514 or e-mail christinaheartgallerymentors@msn.com.
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Venue Update:
SEPTEMBER
Northwood Christian Church
2425 Harvest Lane Springfield
Sundays
8:15 / 9:45 &
11:15
Gateway Mall
Eugene Airport
Market of Choice on Willamette St.
Oakway Center
WINDOW DISPLAYS
Business Advocates
Valley River Mall window display near the Regal Cinema, Build a Bear Workshop,
Gateway Mall,
&
Dr. David Matthews DMD
2201 Willamette Suite A
Eugene, Or.
Nifty Fifties & Sixties
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