Office for Children Receives NACo 'Acts of Caring' Award

Fairfax County Department of Family Services
12011 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax, VA 22035
For more information, contact: Gail Bjorklund
703-324-8225 TTY (Virginia Relay) 711

For Immediate Release-March 15, 2005

"Children Helping Children," a community service project developed by Fairfax County's School Age Child Care (SACC)
program within the Office for Children, Department of Family Services, has been selected as a winner in the National
Association of Counties' (NACo) 2005 Acts of Caring Awards program which recognizes the top county volunteer
programs in the country.

"We're thrilled to win this prestigious award," says Office for Children Director Judith Rosen. "It's so important to
recognize and encourage the important contributions that children can make to their communities and to other children."

The Acts of Caring Award will be presented at a luncheon ceremony on Wednesday, April 13, 2005, at 1:00 p.m., in Room
2168 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

The Children Helping Children project encourages children at SACC's 131 child care centers to partner with their
communities to respond to the needs of other children and families. Projects range from clothing exchanges within
individual centers to a center-wide partnership with INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children.

The project began with a computer-based game and curriculum SACC developed for its centers in 2000. The game, which
involved rebuilding an imaginary planet, encouraged children to examine and become involved in their own communities.
That experience evolved into many individual and group community service projects in which children in the county's
SACC program are helping other children.

As part of the INOVA partnership, centers have collected more than 3,000 books for sick children, made "cuddle" pillows
for children receiving emergency care, and collected gallons of pop top tabs to raise money for families who stay at
INOVA's Ronald McDonald House while their children receive cancer treatment. All 131 SACC centers are participating in
the "Activity Book Project 2005" to create 2,005 activity books for children staying at INOVA hospital. SACC's ongoing
Children Helping Children activities include:

• Centers helping nearby shelters with donations of food and clothing. At one center, children sewed more than 150 fleece hats, mittens, and scarves to donate.
• Crocheting "comfort" blankets for Project Linus. SACC gives the blankets to the Hospice of Northern Virginia, Village of Child Help East, and the Child Health Vienna House.
• Collecting school supplies, clothing, and non-perishable foods for an "adopted" elementary school in an impoverished area of the Mississippi Delta.
  

The Children Helping Children project reflects SACC's goals for innovative children's programming by nurturing creative expression, supporting independent thinking, and encouraging cooperation and teamwork. Other Office for Children programs, such as Child Care Assistance and Referral, Head Start, the Home Child Care Permit Program, the USDA Child Care Food Program, and the Institute for Early Learning, help county residents find child care and pay for child care, or start a family child-care business.

For more information about the county's SACC program, contact Gail Bjorklund at 703-324-8225, or go to www.fairfaxcounty.gov/ofc/Sacc.htm.

Fairfax County is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination
in all county programs, services and activities
and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request.
Please allow five working days in advance of events to make the necessary arrangements.