The Season For Giving and For Giving Thanks

The holiday season is a joyous one but it is also a time to reflect on our blessings and to share with others what we have been fortunate enough to receive.

The Children's Enrichment Committee has been able to help children in financial need for 110 years thanks to the dedication of its members and the generosity of the community. We would especially like to thank the following organizations and businesses for their support this past year:

Dispute Resolution Center, Middletown NY

Galleria at Crystal Run, Middletown NY

Gardnertown United Methodist Church

The Interact Club of Pine Bush High School

Orange & Rockland, Spring Valley, NY

The Prayer Shawl Ministry at Cold Spring UMC

Rotary Club of Middletown NY

Stewart's Holiday Match, Stewart's Shops

The Trinity United Methodist Parish

The Vail's Gate United Methodist Church

Warwick Lions Club, Warwick NY

The Yarntastics at Gardnertown UMC

Thanks to them and the donations of people like you, the CEC has had a place to hold its meetings and its fundraisers. It has received beautiful handmade items to give as holiday presents to 100 children in foster care. It has been given gift cards to brighten those children's holidays. And it has been given money which is spent directly on the children, whose requests for items like bunk beds, sports equipment, a bicycle helmet and lock, we have been able to fulfill, as well as financing our 4 Emily Akers Scholarships, given to outstanding high school seniors to help them with expenses their freshman year in college. 

If you would like to help us help children, please send your donation to:

The Children's Enrichment Committee

PO Box 297

Middletown, NY 10940

All donations are tax deductible and all money goes to the purchasing of requested items or to the Emily Akers Scholarship Fund for the children of Orange County, NY. 

We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a better and brighter 2022!

College Is Their Future And Their Future Is Bright

 The Children's Enrichment Committee has always taken special pride in our Emily Akers Scholarships, named for the first administrator of our scholarship committee. This year we awarded four Orange County NY high school seniors $1000.00 each to help them with their freshman year expenses. 

The scholarship committee works hard to determine which students will win these scholarships. It reads the essays of the applicants, looks at their GPAs, and evaluates their extra-curricular activities, community service, and work history. Financial need is also a major determinant. 

In 2021, two of our Emily Akers winners come from Middletown High School, one from Newburgh Free Academy and one from Port Jervis High School. Their goals include becoming a social worker, going into  mechanical engineering, and majoring in business administration with a focus on the sports industry. 

"They say the sky is the limit," one Emily Akers winner wrote in her essay. "But for me, I want to reach beyond the sky."

We have faith that all our Emily Akers Scholarship winners, past and present, will soar beyond the sky.

We Receive and We Give

 Did you ever wonder what one of those oversized checks you sometimes see on TV actually look like?

It turns out they look like oversized checks. And officers of the Children's Enrichment Committee had the honor of receiving one from the generous Stewart's Shops Holiday Match Program.

Here are the masked officers (otherwise known as Liz, Susanne, Brenda and Joanne) outside of one our neighborhood Stewart's Shops, oversized check in hand.

And here they are inside, letting the world know that they proudly represent the Children's Enrichment Committee. 

They are no doubt being tempted by Stewart's Shops delicious ice creams.

The Children's Enrichment Committee exists to help children and we're very pleased to have done just that. When we learned of a girl who recently moved with her mother and had only a bed for her room, we purchased a desk, a chair, a lamp, desk accessories, a clock and art and craft supplies. 

It turned out the caseworker we worked with uses her own money to buy balloons and cupcakes as birthday treats for the children in her caseload. We gave her a $50 gift card to help cover the costs. 

It's thanks to the generosity of Stewart's Shops, our other corporate donors, service organizations, and loyal supporters that the CEC can continue its mission of helping children throughout Orange County. We thank them and we thank you.

Thank You Stewart's Shops

 We are happy to announce that Stewart's Shops has honored the Children's Enrichment Committee with a $1000.00 grant as part of its Stewart's Holiday Match.

The grant was given in appreciation of the creativity and strides towards sustainability the C.E.C. has shown during the particularly challenging times of the pandemic. Over 1700 organizations applied for grants, which are financed by donations of Stewart's Shops customers between Thanksgiving and Christmas with matching funds from Stewart's Shops.

A family and employee owned business, Stewart's Shops has over 300 locations in New York and Vermont. 

The Children's Enrichment Committee relies on the generosity of businesses like Stewart's Shops, the Lions Club and other service organizations, and the donations of the many people with connections to Orange County who want, as much as we do, to help brighten the lives of children. We thank them all.

The Needs Remain Great In This Time Of Pandemic

 The Children's Enrichment Committee of Orange County was founded in New York over one hundred years ago. It has survived two world wars, the great depression, and the Spanish flu. But it has never seen the likes of 2020.

The CEC has been there to make the lives of children with family and financial uncertainties better and brighter. We give holiday presents, sports equipment, music lessons, computers and textbooks to children and teenagers in need. We have paid for summer camp and school trips in the past and look forward to doing so again in a healthy future.

Recently we learned of a child whose family home had burned down. We paid for new softball equipment so she could return to the game she loves. 

We were also told of children who needed a bunkbed. We were glad to purchase one. And the children who now have a safe and comfortable place to sleep showed us how happy they were to receive it. 

In 2020 we took special pride in our Emily Akers Scholarship Program. Four high school graduates were awarded scholarships of $1000.00 each to help with their college costs. All of the winners showed strong scholastic aptitude and community involvement, as well as an impressive focus on their academic and professional goals. In a time of social distancing and canceled graduations, the CEC made the lives of four young adults with college plans and financial need more secure.

The CEC has always believed that when you help a child you help the world. In this time of world crisis, we remain committed to our goal of supporting the children of Orange County. Their future is ours. May their sun shine bright.