December Newsletter: Family is everything!

Ideas inside: Engaging your family in community service for the holidays.

View this email in your browser NEWSLETTER December 2019   WHAT'S INSIDE: THE POWER OF PARENTING NEWS & EVENTS SCHOOL CHOICE LEGISLATIVE UPDATES POWER2TEACH THE POWER OF PARENTING: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year "Family is not an important thing. It's everything." ~ Michael J. Fox Spending time with our families is one of the greatest gifts of the holiday season. It's a time to build lasting memories and forge family bonds through our family traditions. It's also a great time to teach compassion and understanding in our family by serving together as a family. Service teaches us to becomes to become active, contributing members of the community and can have a lasting, positive impact on society at large. Looking for some ways to serve and give back this holiday season? Here are a few we've put together to get you started. Service Opportunities in the Community Volunteer at the food pantry Clean up litter at the park Volunteer at animal shelter Organize a food drive Donate coloring books & crayons to the ER Go caroling at a local rest home or assisted living facility Make cards for nursing home residents Play board games with the nursing home residents Take a plate of baked goods to nursing home residents Bring fresh picked bouquets of flowers to nursing home residents Have a garage sale & donate proceeds  Have a bake sale to raise money for charity Ever heard of a Giving Machine? It's a special vending machine used to give to local charities and worldwide initiatives. With the swipe of a card, individuals are able to donate items such as food, clothing, sports equipment, hygiene supplies, and medicine to those in need with 100% of the funds going to the charities:  Communities in Schools of Nevada Eye Care 4 Kids Future Smiles Opportunity Village Three Square Church World Services Global UNICEF Check it out: www.givingmachineslasvegas.com What are your holiday family traditions? Listen to Rebecca's and tell us yours! Email us at info@power2parent.org with your ideas! We are putting together a running list of opportunities and will keep updating it on our website throughout the Holiday Season. Check it out here. GIVE YOUR FAMILY THE GIFT OF TIME TOGETHER Looking for the perfect gift for your family and friends? According to experts at the University of Toronto, you're better off giving your family a meaningful experience rather than a toy, or material gift. It turns out that giving your children an experience this holiday season instead of the typical "thing" forges deeper family bonds. The Researchers at the University of Toronto explain that "An experiential gift elicits a strong emotional response when a recipient consumes it and is more intensely emotional than a material possession." If you're looking for some fun family time together, we've partnered with #PogoPass to offer our #Power2Parent followers the gift of a Pogo Pass at a discounted price. What is the Pogo Pass? It's a 12 month membership (from date of purchase) that provides you FREE access to all your favorite #family activities in the #LasVegas area. CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR POGO PASS AT A DISCOUNTED PRICE BY USING THE CODE "P2P"! Back to Top DONATE NOW NEWS & EVENTS ONLINE SAFETY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! Keep yourself safe this holiday season with tips from our Internet Safety Guru, Chelsea Brown. Check out her tips here: PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY WHEN SHOPPING ONLINE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON! AND HOLIDAY SHOPPING SCAMS YOU NEED TO BEWARE! Also from Chelsea: "Just happened to a client of mine. 2 FedEx Drivers refusing to deliver packages to homes without receiving payment for it. Be on the look out for variations of this crime. FedEx and Walmart are looking into it. Neither of them take payments upon delivery anymore. Let your friends and family know." PARENTING PROJECT: The Clark County Department of Family Services is offering Free Parenting Classes for parents and caregivers of all ages. The Parenting Project offers a series of free programs to help parents be more effective in raising their children. Click here for more information Public School Board of Trustee Meetings: Are you concerned about what is happening in your child's school? You have an elected Trustee to represent your voice in the school district. This includes procedural and financial decisions. These Trustees meet regularly and these meetings are open to the public for you to attend and voice your opinion. You can listen in online and email in a statement and express concerns! This is your chance to make your voice heard.   Visit your local school district's website to see the Board of Trustee Meeting Calendar.   CLARK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT Thursday, December 12th at 5:00pm and can be viewed here WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT    The Washoe County School District Trustee Meetings can be found here Back to Top SCHOOL CHOICE SAVE THE DATE!   LAS VEGAS SCHOOL CHOICE FAIR Saturday, January 25, 2020 Back to Top LEGISLATIVE UPDATES The 80th (2019) Session of the Nevada Legislature adjourned on June 4, 2019 and will resume again February 2021.   We are now in the interim period between legislative sessions, which means we're headed into the next election cycle. We'll prepare for the elections and the next session by looking for the best candidates who will support legislation that supports parents and helps strengthen families in Nevada. We will go through an endorsement process and keep you posted on the results. DONATE NOW Back to Top POWER2PARENT IN THE NEWS We've joined forces with Mrs. America, Natalie Winslow, to promote parent engagement in schools. Watch as she discusses her involvement in an interview prior to the Mrs. World Pageant. Watch our video as our Director of Public Relations, Charlie Melvin, talks about how our Game Night and Game Library came together! Thank you to Grant Bowler Elementary School for your generous game donations! Thank you to Red Rock Casino for your generous donation of the decks of cards we were able to pass out to students and families to encourage family play time! If you are interested in hosting a Game Night with Power2Parent and Mrs. America at your school and/or setting up a game library for family engagement email us at info@power2parent.org P2P Seeks Board Games To Strengthen Families October 16, 2019 Moapa Valley Progress Parents can increase school performance with game night May 13, 2019 KTNV Las Vegas Are you interested in creating a game library at your school? Or, do you want help putting together a Family Game Night? Email us at info@power2parent.org! Back to Top POWER2TEACH   Congratulations Jennifer Darby-Miller!   Jennifer is this month's Power2Teach winner of a $50 Amazon gift card and will be entered into our end of year $500 grand prize. Jennifer is a Kindergarten teacher at Elaine Wynn Elementary School Kindergarten. She was nominated by Katie Fischer who had this to say about her:   "I would like to nominate Mrs. Miller, a Kindergarten teacher from Batterman Elementary. My son had the pleasure of being in her class last year, and I cannot sing enough praises for her. He has special needs, and this was his first year in a mainstream setting. I was very worried about how he would do academically and behaviorally. Mrs. Miller was loving, patient and looked for creative ways to work with him. Her teaching style was fun, but disciplined. The children clearly loved being in her class. She listened when I shared what worked for us, and she gave us ideas based on her years of experience. I never felt judged and truly felt like she cared. My son caught up to his peers academically, and showed great strides behaviorally. I pray that my youngest has a chance to experience Mrs. Miller's classroom." Do you have a teacher who has gone the extra mile for your child, or who has had an amazing influence on students in the State of Nevada? Each month we will choose one teacher in Nevada who will be highlighted in our monthly P2P Newsletter and who will then be in the running to win our grand prize of $500 to use for the next school year! We love our Nevada teachers and we're excited to show our support in a big way!  Good Luck! NOMINATE A TEACHER TODAY Back to Top DO YOU SHOP ON AMAZON? You can have Amazon donate to Power2Parent! Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your purchases to the charitable organization of your choice!    When you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice.  You will see eligible products marked "Eligible for AmazonSmile donation" on their product detail pages. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you'll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization.   Can I use my existing Amazon.com account on AmazonSmile? Yes, you use the same account on Amazon.com and AmazonSmile. Your shopping cart, Wish List, wedding or baby registry, and other account settings are also the same.   How do I select a charitable organization to support when shopping on AmazonSmile? On your first visit to AmazonSmile smile.amazon.com, you need to select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. We will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.   Can I change my charity? Yes, you can change your charity any time. Your AmazonSmile purchases after the change count towards your newly selected charity. To change your charity, sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser and simply select "Change your Charity" in "Your Account." To select "Power2Parent" as the charity of your choice, go to smile.amazon.com on your computer or phone. Type "Power2Parent" in the search box that says "Or pick your own charitable organization". When our name appears, click on the box that says, "Select" and you'll be all set. Happy Shopping! WANT TO GET INVOLVED? Volunteer! We are always looking for volunteer team members to help out. Join our private Facebook group today: p2p volunteers DONATE NOW We exist to inform, organize, and mobilize community members for the protection of fundamental parental rights. Sign Up! Text Message Updates Now Available! Copyright © 2019 Power2Parent, All rights reserved. POWER2PARENT.ORG   Our mailing address is: POWER2PARENT 10300 W CHARLESTON BLVD #557 LAS VEGAS, NV 89135 email us at info@power2parent.org Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.