(openPR) - (PASADENA, CA) – While many Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles will be reuniting with family and friends to celebrate the Chinese New Year, a local volunteer organization will be educating foster care children about the traditional ethnic celebration. The Kiwanis Club of Arcadia, whose mission is to change the world one child and one community at a time, will host several activities at Hillsides, a foster care charity that serves children and families in Los Angeles County, on Saturday, January 31st.
In celebration of the Year of the Ox, Arcadia Kiwanis volunteers will teach foster care children how to make red lanterns and origami. They will also pass out red envelopes, symbolic of “lucky money,” and decorate the room with red banners and red lanterns, which are used to frighten evil spirits. Other activities include teaching the children how to use chopsticks, playing with a Chinese yo-yo, and Chinese storytelling.
“As Kiwanis volunteers we want to have educational and fun activities for Hillsides’ children,” said Jeri Ni, Kiwanis representative. “We want to share with them why we celebrate the Lunar New Year and share the traditions we have.”
For many of the foster care children living in residential treatment centers like Hillsides, teaching them about the value of traditions in families is important. Children are removed from multiple foster care homes and have a difficult time establishing meaningful traditions.
“Offering cultural experiences like these are really significant to the children in our care,” said Laura Kelso, the foster care charity’s director of community resources. “We want to expose them to as many enriching activities and different traditions as possible and with the support of volunteer associations like the Kiwanis Club of Arcadia we are able to do so.”
To learn more about the foster care children’s charity, contact Hillsides at (323) 255-9005 or visit www.hillsides.org and www.hillsideseducationcenter.org.
As a Pasadena charity founded in 1913, Hillsides creates safe places for children in foster care living in its residential treatment center and is a community treatment center preventing the cycle of abuse for children at risk and their families. To learn more about Hillsides, visit www.Hillsides.org.
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