Good Choices Blog

Happy House’s Community United Honored by City of San Jose

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:22:57 +0000

San Jose Mayor, Chuck Reed, delivered his annual State of the City address at the San Jose Civic Auditorium before a packed house on Thursday evening February 9^th. Attendees included the City Council, other elected officials, city employees and volunteers as well as Happy House chapter, Community United, which had been selected by City Councilman, Pete Constant, to receive an award for the important volunteer work being done with the children and families in his District 1 at the Starbird Youth Center, and expanded to the Alma Youth Center.

Happy House Founder Nancy Cartwright as well as Executive Director Peter Kjenaas and Executive Consulant Kathie Heard, joined Community United’s Executive Director Donna Stewart and her co-founder Jan Nitikin; top Donors (& Volunteers!), Marie Guenat and Bruce Stewart; and the core team that services the Starbird and Alma Youth Centers to receive the award.

The beautiful crystal sculpture from The City of San Jose (with logo), The Capital of Silicon Valley reads: “2012 Community Honoree Presented to Community United San Jose In recognition of your exemplary dedication and contribution to making San Jose a prosperous and vibrant city for all”

The Good Choices Program was also cited in this important and appreciated recognition!

The mayor made it clear in his State of the City address that the Gang Prevention Task Force, which Happy House Community United is an important part of, was responsible for an overall drop in crime and had performed a great service in keeping youth activities alive during tough economic times.

Happy House Community United is proud to accept the award and with the dedicated staff at the Starbird and Alma Youth Centers is committed expanding its efforts to help more and more children and families who could use a little help.

Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club Completes a Super Year

admin — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:42:22 +0000

Great family, great friends and great neighbors all gathered on the evening of January 26^th to enjoy great food and celebrate another year of great kids at the Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club, one of the longest running and most successful after-school sites in the country.

Executive Director Carolyn Brown spoke passionately about the dedication of her Board, sponsors and staff and turned over the microphone to talented youth to hand out awards for volunteering, mentoring, standing out as a youth of the year, participating as an athelete of the year as well as awards for the ten children who completed the Good Choices Program.

SB B&G Club Program Director & Good Choices Class Instructor, Calvin Mass, joined his class on stage and invited Nancy Cartwright, along with members of her Happy House team, to hand out the graduation certificates that confirm completion of the program.

“Make Life GOOD, Make Good CHOICES,” the ecstatic children called out in unison.

This graduating class is one of several who have completed the program over the last two years and Carolyn announced that the program will soon be expanded to include training of teens to deliver the program to the younger members.

Nancy was so impressed with the club, the staff and, most of all, the kids. “You rock, man!” she called out with that “special voice.”

Good Choices—Good Citizens

admin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:19:45 +0000

If good citizens make good choices and good choices make good citizens then the Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club is creating the best citizens of all.

What an incredible night! The Happy House Good Choices team was invited to attend the annual awards night put on by Executive Director Carolyn Brown and her team of superlative staff and extraordinary volunteers. We filled a table and felt more than honored to be a small part of what was clearly a very big acknowledgement for the staff, Board, volunteers, coaches and kids that make this club such a resounding success.

It all kicked off with music and more music. There were many highlights in this evening which included professional quality recitals capped with a positive message rap by Christian “C Rush” Pearson that brought the house down. This guy is pro quality! The Board was honored for their service as well as the Alumni Association, many of the program directors, the athletic coaches, the new Women’s Auxiliary and the capper was the ribbon cutting of the new Pat Van Every Teen Center.

This new center is a fantastic place for teens. I want to be a kid all over again. Check out these amenities: brand new computers, satellite access on the giant flat screen, places to hang out and, most importantly, mentorship and leadership programs lead by Tyler Forshey, a gentle giant who is dedicated to these kids.

Richard Nunnelee—who introduced our organization to Carolyn Brown last year—and Happy House were honored to receive awards for our Good Choices Program. We look forward to many more nights around the table with the Santa Barbara Boys and Girls Club.

Our hats are off to the team of committed leaders. You Rock!

Community United Making a Difference

admin — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 00:27:20 +0000

The Happy House chapter in San Jose, Community United, continues to make a huge difference in the Bay Area. Below are pictures of their involvement in the San Jose Resource Fair as well as an image of their booth representing the United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara County. Keep up the great work Community United.

Happy House Good Choices Program at the World Cup Events!

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:52:28 +0000

Here are photos of the thousands and thousands of How to Make Good Choices booklets that were handed out so far at the World Cup soccer events in South Africa! Over 15,000 booklets were handed out at the various events. Tremendous interest was generated for the Happy House Good Choices program and The Way to Happiness as a result. Check out the photos, which pretty much speak for themselves!

San Jose Happy House Chapter National Night Out

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:17:00 +0000

The Blackford Neighborhood Action Coalition’s National Night Out held at Starbird Park was one of the largest in San Jose with over eight hundred in attendance. Community United, the San Jose Chapter of Happy House Los Angeles, was one of the primary sponsors of the event along with several of the local churches, businesses and community members.

The goals of National Night Out are to:

Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness
Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime efforts
Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships
Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back

We definitely met these goals!

The weather was beautiful, the hot dogs were great and the air was buzzing with all the interest and activity.

Nancy Cartwright and the executives of Happy House flew to San Jose to attend the event and participate in the graduation of over thirty children who had just completed The Way to Happiness Good Choices Program at Starbird Park Youth Center. City Manager Debra Figone, Councilmember Pete Constant, and Joe Mosely from the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force attended from the City. The Police Department was well represented with Police Chief Rob Davis, Police Captain JR Gamez, and two Campbell Police Captains all in attendance for the Graduation Ceremonies.

Nancy and the City of San Jose were also presented with a piece of art entitled “Peaces of a Dream” by local artist Debbie Arambula. The piece symbolizes that it takes two people, two city officials, two towns, two countries standing side by side to create change….” This piece exemplifies what we are creating together.

There were over 20 volunteers from Community United helping with booths, food, entertainment and all the logistics of putting on an event of this magnitude. The mounted police and the fire department were there to help as well.

The air was full of over three hundred yellow Good Choices balloons. The Community United – Happy House booth handed out hundreds of The Way to Happiness booklets to community members.

The City of San Jose and Community United have worked hand in hand throughout the summer to create this event and deliver The Way to Happiness Good Choices program to over fifty youths in the community. The culmination of all this hard work was a success!

Nancy and the executives from Happy House also made a stop at the Alma Youth Center to meet with the teens from that center and present awards to those who were working towards completion of their Way To Happiness Good Choices Program. This was the highlight of the program for them and something they will always remember.

We are looking forward to our next partnership and creating magic!