Tuesday, August 9, 2011

On Sept. 16th, Kinds on the Block invites you to their Festival of Sand at the Hot Rods Stadium. The teams will begin sculpting at 10:00 a.m. & the winners will be announced at 5:00 p.m. The event will be a sculpting competition between schools and children's organization. We are looking for teams to join the competition. Cash prizes will be given to the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place winners. Sat. Sept. 17 is movie night at the Hot Rods Stadium at 7:00 p.m. The movie will be projected onto their big Screen.
On October 1, 2011 Kids on the Block invites you our 5th annual Twilight Thunder Cruise fundraiser event. This event is a parade of motorcycles. The parade will leave at 6:30 form the Harley-Davidson store and continues down Scottsville road then onto State Street to Circus Square Park where there will be a live band and a cook out. There will also be a drawing for a large cash prize. We are looking for people with motorcycles to ride in the parade. Participation fees to ride are $20 per bike.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Lets meet the new puppeteers



First we have Mrs Amanda, she came to us in June, and has a few shows already under her belt. Amanda has worked with children before in previous jobs, and has a degree in child and family studies. She is a great addition to our team and has been working very hard on updating teacher packets. Amanda said, " I really enjoy working at Kids on the Block because I feel that I am making a difference in the lives of children here in KY." Amanda will be puppeteering as well as keeping the teacher packets up to date and current on new statistics and data. The purpose of the teacher packets is to enable the teachers to continue educating their students on the topics of the shows performed at their school.



Here we have Miss Sarah, She joined the Kids on the Block team in April and has already performed a few shows. She is doing a great job and we are very happy to have her. Sarah is working on her degree in social work right now at Western Kentucky University. Sarah has an 8 month old daughter whom she adores and spoils to no end. Sarah will also be puppeteering as well as grading the report cards and pre/post tests. The report cards help us with grants and funding and also let us know how well we are doing in the performances. The pre/post test are given to the children to gauge how much they have learned from the programs. Sarah says," The reason I applied for this job in the first place is because I wanted to help kids. They are often the innocent victims of traumatic events, and I would like to help keep kids out of these situations."

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Garden Tour and Tea Saturday June 25, 2011 Tickets are $20 through June 24–$25 at the garden site

For your money you will enjoy a fashion show and afternoon tea overlooking Bowling Green, at the home of Rick and Barbara Ball.  In addition, you will tour five other very unique gardens:
   Mr. and Mrs. Bob Armstrong
   Mr. and Mrs. Mike Howe
   Mr. and Mrs. Monty Jones
   Mr. and Mrs. Dan Riley
   Mr. and Mrs. Ben Tomblinson
Vintage cars will be on display again this year. And of course, door prizes. We will be giving away a John Carloftis bird house, Orchestra Concert ticket, and a $50 gift certificate from Mammoth Cave Transplants.

Soooo…get out your spring dress/slacks and hat, grab a friend or two….. and come enjoy the day with friends and Kids on the Block.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Introducing the New Faces of 2011

Your zodiac sign isn’t the only thing that’s changing this year! (Yes, I know that only affects those born after 2009, and chances are anyone reading this was born considerably prior to that year but what a shocker, eh?) We’d like to officially welcome the new crew joining KOB this year.

First let’s welcome aboard Inga Wolff, who will be busting out of retirement and back onto the Block in full swing in March. She was involved with Warren County schools for over 15 years as a guidance counselor, instructor, and consultant. And to top it off, Inga has served as an active KOB board member for over 15 years, too! Needless to say, she has the insight that will bring great things to her new position as Development Director. Throughout January and February, she’s training under the current Development Director (yes, that’s me) so that come March 1, she’ll hit the keyboard writing and rocking!

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Welcome, Inga Wolff!

Next, let’s say hello to three new puppeteers who made their local debut together in the Bullies & School Safety program at Potter Gray Elementary. I’ll briefly introduce them here with pictures and a tiny expose but if you really want to take a journey through a day at KOB, take a look at our Facebook album titled, “A Day’s Journey at KOB”.

Newly hired puppeteers are required to learn 5 or more scripts prior to performing live for children. That means she’s responsible for 6-7 different characters! Sometimes puppeteers will perform 2 or 3 different scripts in a single day. How’s that for mind-boggling?

Meet Michelle as Zach, star of the Combating Childhood Obesity program.
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On top of puppeteering, Michelle also works diligently on the Program of Works, a database that details information collected at shows throughout the year. This database is essential in grant reports and donor solicitation. Michelle also has the coolest job of the bunch in that she’s the first to read the letters and pictures sent from students to our office. Some letters are even analyzed by identifying key learning phrases to tell us just how effective our shows are. How cool is that?

Now let’s sneak up on Veronica as she’s brushing up on the Child Abuse script.

V. pitched an interesting method in assisting in the script memorization process. Using the simple microphone installed on most computers and a small freeware program called Audacity, we were able to record puppeteer rehearsals. The recordings were then burned to CD or transferred to mp3 players so puppeteers can listen to the performances at any time. It’s a great tool and has helped her and the others tremendously! It’s bound to be a tool used for years to come, too. Way to go, V!

Last but not least, let’s Meet Holly.
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Holly, joins us every Tuesday and Thursday for puppeteering and PR’ing. Above she’s shown prepping contracts. Each school that hosts a KOB show receives a contract and some super bright promotional posters to get the kids excited for us. To promote events and fundraisers, Holly writes press releases and conducts interviews on the radio. I guess you could say she’s a new face and voice of KOB.

Don’t forget to check out all the fun shots that didn’t quite make it into the blog on our Facebook page!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Twenty-five and Proud

Thanks to the children of Briarwood for making our birthday party a roaring good time. Literally, the stands in the gymnasium shook with anticipation of a puppet show, balloon release, and, of course, cake! The event kicked off with the announcement of the winner of the Kids Kake Off competition. Here's the winning cake!


Following the crowning of the winner, brand new puppeteer, Holly Campbell, and retired puppeteer, Regina Pedigo, united to perform the Problem Solving skit for the school. The gym nearly split open with cheering and applause.

Kids on the Block board members, staff, and past puppeteers delighted in the celebration and participated in the balloon release. See the video here on our Facebook page!It really was the perfect event to celebrate 25 proud years. Here's to the next 25!Be sure to check out even more pictures from the event by becoming our fan on Facebook here.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Congrats to Briarwood!

It's official! The big 25th birthday celebration along with the Kids Kake Off competition will be held at Briarwood Elementary! The school raised the most money during the city/county-wide coin drive with T.C. Cherry and McNeil elementary schools right on their heels. Thank you so much to every school and student that participated!

So get ready, Briarwood. We're bringing tons of cake and excitement to your school next Friday, November 19!

Also, to all home bakers: we still have spots left to register for the cake baking competition! Refer to the blog post below to download your registration form today!