Youth from Nonprofit NovatoSpirit Dance into 2014

Thanks to the generosity of the Novato community, NovatoSpirit’s youth are dancing, kicking, and spinning into the New Year. This month our dance- scholarship students will be performing at Love 2 Dance’s show at the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium; our indoor-soccer students will begin their season at the Novato Youth Center; and our martial-arts students will continue their year-round training at Kyung Ki Tae Kwon Do and Ito’s White Tiger Kempo Karate School.

Also this month, NovatoSpirit has been invited into the spotlight. Since we were nominated for “Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence,” we will be attending the prestigious Heart of Marin Awards ceremony. And the Marin Charitable foundation will be awarding us a grant at their annual gathering celebrating nonprofits serving vulnerable youth in Marin County. We are thankful to be participating in these happy events.

NovatoSpirit had so much to celebrate in 2013. We had a record-breaking year with fundraising. Last year we raised $70,247 and served 52 kids. Since our first operational year in 2006, our annual donation total has increased by 137% and we are now serving more low-income kids with athletic scholarships each and every year! 

All NovatoSpirit youth need help developing their resiliency, since poverty is only one of the challenges they face. Some of our youth have been neglected, beaten, sexually abused, and traumatized; a few have come to this country as unaccompanied minors from another country and are beginning their lives anew; some have been taken from their parents and put in foster care; some have experienced homelessness; and some have been born with or develop chronic health problems that plague them daily.

Our formula for evoking resiliency is to put each youth with a carefully selected athletic teacher, who serves as a compassionate mentor, encouraging each child to think positively and try every athletic move, even if all that sounds impossible. This repetitive, constant cheerleading has the effect of building confidence and a willingness to continue learning at a more advanced level. Also, there is nothing more rewarding for these youth than to see that they themselves can make positive life-changes simply by making an effort!

We continually ask for feedback from our youth and their parents to learn what benefits (if any) they are experiencing, due to their athletic activities. All youth have reported getting fitter and stronger; many (with obesity and/or diabetes issues) have reported losing weight; many have said they have felt less depressed, more energetic, and happier than they were prior to participating in NovatoSpirit. And all have said they have enjoyed making new friends. The few youth who have said they didn’t enjoy their activities were given the opportunity to switch to another sport (all our youth have that option at any time), and after that, they were enthusiastic with our program.

NovatoSpirit couldn’t have achieved this positive impact on Novato’s low-income youth without the help given by our in-kind donors; our foundation, corporate and individual supporters; our volunteers; and our outstanding athletic instructors. I would especially like to thank the NovatoSpirit Board of Directors, namely Suzanne Daggert and Alison Holloway, the staff at Ghirardo CPA, our computer whiz Jade Paterson, and our volunteer bookkeeper Don Schinske, for their loyal and dedicated work. Thank you all!

We hope for more good to come in 2014. Please mark your calendars for February, when we will host our annual Valentine’s Fundraiser. Each year at this time, we invite families to bake and/or fundraise, donating their earnings to NovatoSpirit. The family that raises the most funding for us will win a free 3-month Family Fitness Membership at Novato’s Rolling Hills Club, a full-service family fitness club!

We are grateful to Novato folks for brightening the lives of our less-fortunate youth through sports and exercise! NovatoSpirit is a 501c3 public charity and all donations to us are tax deductible. Donations can be mailed to NovatoSpirit at 936 7th Street, Suite B, PMB 236, Novato 94945. For more information, please visit us at NovatoSpirit.org or call us at (415) 892-5118. Thank you.