Des Moines “I Have a Dream” Foundation

Twenty-five King Dreamers, mentors and volunteers recently toured the Fort Des Moines Museum.  King Dreamers had the following comments about their  visit:  

I liked when we were practicing to be soldiers.  The thing I did not like was leaving!

I liked the Buffalo soldiers and the Women’s Army Corp.  I loved it when we marched with our feet.

The best thing I liked was the scavenger hunt and marching up the stairs.

My favorite part was when you showed us how to stand at attention.  It was kind of scary but I hope I get to visit there again.

Thank you for showing us the history.  I like the drill that was cool.  My dad is a sargeant.

Thank you for inviting the Des Moines “I Have A Dream” program to Fort Des Moines. We dreamers mostly like the buffalo soldier area.  We also like the scavenger hunt!

What’s better on a Saturday morning in April than reading books and eating bagels? Ok, to be honest, there were some donuts involved too.

Books and Bagels is a monthly gathering of  Dreamers, Dreamer parents, tutors, Board members, and IHAD staff. The purpose- to help the Dreamers understand that reading is a good thing to do- and that it can be fun.

After the bagels (and donuts) were consumed, the Dreamers in attendance were paired with a Drake student tutor for some relaxing reading time. It was great to see how engaged the Dreamers were with their Drake student partners. Some Dreamers had their mentors there as well, which was great one on one time between Dreamer and mentor.

A highlight of the morning occurred not for the Dreamers, but the Dreamer parents. Molly House, IHAD Board member and Education Committee member, presented a seminar on why it is so important for Dreamers to achieve competency in reading- and how to help them get there. Here’s just a few facts Molly shared with the Dreamer parents:

• There is a strong correlation between time spent reading and standardized test scores. Children who read slightly over an hour per day tend to score at the 98 percentile rank, compared to the 80^th percentile rank for those reading about 15 minutes per day.
• Academic achievement in a wide range of subjects depends in part on the ability to read and write “informational” text. There is a big difference in reading narrative text vs reading informational text. Another reason informational text is so important- 96% of web sites are written in informational text.
• It’s important to read aloud to your child, with them reading along with you- rather than just having the child read themselves. They benefit by reading and hearing at the same time, and it’s important that they hear how you verbalize the written word.
• A good goal for children is to have read, or be read to, for 1,000 hours by the time they get to kindergarten. This will give them a huge advantage in their early school years.

All in all, a great morning. The Dreamer parents learned a lot about how important reading is to Dreamer academic achievement. And best of all, everyone enjoyed themselves.

For the fourth year in a row, 100 women donated nearly $20,000 once again to support the Des Moines “I Have A Dream Foundation” at the annual “Sweet Dreams” event – this year the theme was “artsy style.” Guests were hosted by the Dream Makers and treated at Gloria and Bob Burnett’s home to hors d’oeuvres, beverages, tours, a short program and performances by two students who are involved in the King I Have A Dream Project.

About Dream Makers

Dream Makers is a women’s organization sponsored by the Des Moines “I Have A Dream” Foundation. The Dream Makers group helps support the 4th grade class of 45 children on their journey from 1st— 5thgrade at King Elementary School in Des Moines.

About Des Moines “I Have A Dream” Foundation

Every five years, the Des Moines “I Have a Dream” Foundation adopts a class of inner-city 1^st graders. We hire a hand-picked staff of educators to work directly with them all the way through high school, and we also assign a mentor for each child to keep positive contact outside the classroom. We call our kids “Dreamers.” If a Dreamer stays in school and graduates from high school, we will pay for college (or any type of post-high school education). There’s no other program like this anywhere.

Over 50 King Dreamers, parents, mentors and board members toured Simpson college campus.  The Dreamers were given a tour by Simpson students followed by a question/answer session.

Five Dreamers entered the “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Contest” sponsored by the Iowa Department of Human Rights.  One Dreamer took 3rd place in the elementary school division and all of the students had the opportunity to shake hands with the governor at the celebration. The elementary division prompt was “What does it mean to make a difference?”

Derek stopped by the fourth grade classrooms on Veterans Day, November 10, to meet the kids and explain a bit about what it means to serve in the military and what military life is like in the Air Force.  He shared about high expectations in basic training, the importance of honoring the chain of command, and encouraged the kids to try their hardest in school – even if it isn’t their favorite thing – so they will be prepared to support themselves after graduation. The kids enjoyed seeing a ‘real soldier’ and they all had fun doing push-ups with Derek to wrap-up his visit.  Derek is an Airman First Class with the US Air Force, stationed at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Character Counts awarded a 5th grade class at Jordan Creek Elementary $500 for participating in a contest where they were asked to submit their acts of showing good charactor.  The Jordan Creek students decided to pay it forward and make fleece blankets for the King Dreamers.  IHAD King Dreamers made blankets for the rest of the 4th grade students at King so that they would all be able to take home a blanket.  The Jordan Creek students came to King Elementary to deliver their blankets and to meet the King Elementary fourth graders.

One King Elementary student wrote about his experience in his essay about  ‘What It Means To Make a Difference’.  He wrote as follows, ” I was so happy that they made blankets for us that I gave every boy and girl a high five at our blanket party.At the party, we all had lots of fun and ate cookies. At the end of the party all of us were so happy. We were jumping up and down and squeezing our blankets. When we got outside after school we ran to our parents and told them the whole story.”

On September 26, 2009 several Dreamers, IHAD staff, parents and mentors attended the ISU vs Army football game.  Everyone enjoyed tailgating beforehand and watching ISU’s victory.

King Dreamers, mentors and IHAD staff helped package meals for Meals From the Heartland on September 6, 2009.  Over 4,000,000 meals were packaged with more than 15,000 volunteers from across the state.  The meals packaged during the event have been sent to malnourished children and families living in Haiti, Jamaica, South Africa, Nigeria, Mexico and Israel. Support has also been provided to New Mexico and homeless shelters in Iowa.

King Dreamers with their families celebrated a Back  to School Picnic with mentors and IHAD board members. The picnic was held at Jester Park where Dreamers were able to fish,  enjoy a picnic and make homemade ice cream.