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.

2019-20 Message from President Kathy Hufcut



November 2019


Dear Friends, 


Every day it seems there’s a headline about the opioid epidemic in America and how it is tearing families apart. The youngest victims of this epidemic are children. From 2015-18 there has been close to a 17% increase in the number of children in foster care in Orange County, children who can only hope that one day their family will be able to reunite in a healthy and loving environment.


The Children’s Enrichment Committee of Orange County, New York was created over 100 years ago to help the children in need in our community. Our all-volunteer organization purchases and wraps holiday presents asked for by the children, to brighten a day when their feelings of loss must be greatest. In addition, we answer requests for a variety of items from musical instruments to the most basic needs of new clothes for a new life. Through our Emily Akers Scholarship program, we offer financial aid to high school graduates who might otherwise have to give up their dreams of a college education.


Won’t you please help us help these children? Your generosity can have a positive impact on a child or teenager facing the most uncertain of times.


Your tax-deductible donation will go directly to help the children of Orange County:


                                    Children’s Enrichment Committee

                                     P.O. Box 297

                                     Middletown, NY 10940


Thank you for helping good children through bad times.


                                                                            Sincerely,




                                                                      Kathy Hufcut, President

2018-19 Message From President Kathy Hufcut

Dear Friends,

Can you put a price on the smile of a boy the first day of summer camp? Or that of a girl who learns her dream of college has become a little more achievable?

For over one hundred years, the all volunteer Children's Enrichment Committee of Orange County has been committed to  putting that smile on the faces of children in foster care. The C.E.C. helps pay for summer camp and after school activities. It gives holiday presents to the children and teenagers in foster care in the county. Thanks to our Emily Akers Scholarship program, college becomes a little more affordable to lower income but higher achieving students.

None of this can be done without your generosity.

Please send your tax deductible donation to:

Children's Enrichment Committee
P.O. Box 297
Middletown, NY 10940

Sincerely,

Kathy Hufcut, President

A Message From President Kathy Hufcut

Dear Friends,

The needs of foster children in Orange County are a year round concern for the members of the Children's Enrichment Committee. Our goal is to enhance their educational and social needs, provide special opportunities and supplies throughout the year and spread joy during the holiday season.

Our Emily Akers Scholarship program has provided many high school graduates with the extra assistance they need to make a college education more affordable. The letters we have received from our scholarship recipients communicate not only their academic success but also their gratitude for our support.

To continue these valuable services our all volunteer organization must rely on the generosity of our donors. Our yearly fund drive provides the majority of the money we need to continue our work on behalf of Orange County's foster children.

The Children Enrichment Committee members sincerely hope that you will support us by making a tax deductible contribution that will help us provide these valuable services.

Contributions can be sent to:

                                               Children's Enrichment Committee
                                               P.O. Box 297
                                               Middletown, NY 10940

Thank you for supporting our mission of helping good children through bad times.

                                                                                       Sincerely yours,


                                                                                          Kathy Hufcut
                                              

It's A Wrap!

The Children's Enrichment Committee is always looking for new ways to bring in revenue. The more money we have, the more we're able to brighten the lives of Orange County children in foster care.

One method we're exploring is gift wrapping holiday presents. We have decades worth of experience. We've been giving holiday gifts since our founder, Anna Delano Hitch, first started collecting mittens for area orphans. But now our plan is to wrap other people's gifts with the hope that they'll donate money to us as a way of saying thank you.

Our next meeting is on Monday, November 13, 2:00 PM, at Middletown Thrall Library. If you have any spare gift wrap paper or pretty bows, please bring them to the meeting. For that matter, if you know someone interested in culling their own gift wrap and bows, bring them to the meeting as well. Gift wrap and visitors are gladly welcomed.

And when you're not assembling your gift wrap, remember to vote on November 7 and to honor veterans on November 11.

Then be sure to join us, gift wrap and all, on November 13!

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Summertime is always a busy season for the Children's Enrichment Committee, and this summer was no different.

The CEC paid for five "camperships," allowing children who might not otherwise have been able to go to summer camp to enjoy a time of companionship and fun.

We helped a student at our local community college with car expenses, enabling him to get to campus and to the two jobs he holds.

We covered the cost of a digital camera for a teen interested in photography and assisted another one with the fee for entering his school's football program.

Our three Emily Akers Scholarship Fund students are finding their senior years of college a little easier thanks to our continued help.

Autumn is a season to look forward, and the CEC anticipates another year of helping Orange County children through our annual Holiday Gift program, as well as by providing things like cameras and sports program memberships. We are continuing community outreach, informing local service clubs about all we do and what they can do to help us in our mission. And, of course, we welcome new members, people whose commitment to aiding children and teenagers matches ours.

When the members of the CEC have time to look back, we often think about the wonderful meals we've had at John's Harvest Inn, and the extraordinary generosity we've benefited from, thanks to its Dining To Make A Difference program. We wish John and Deb Botti all the success in the world as they move on. Their restaurant and hospitality will be missed.