Check out our USCS & Ashley’s photo gallery!

August 9, 2011, Guilford, CT—The kid-founded Connecticut-grown United States of Community Service (USCS) and Ashley’s Ice Cream have announced the final totals for their recent Create a Flavor, Change the World ice cream flavor contest.

“I’m happy to announce that thanks to the overwhelming support of our customers in Guilford, Madison, New Haven, Branford and Hamden, Ashley’s Ice Cream will be donating a total of more than $6,000 to five wonderful child-centered organizations,” said Ashley’s Ice Cream owner Joe Ametrano. “We couldn’t be happier with the results of this community-supported campaign and our partnership with these community service-minded kids.”

“Ashley’s Ice Cream has a long history of supporting and donating to community causes,” said USCS spokesperson Laurie Kenney. “The generosity and support of Ashley’s owner Joe Ametrano and co-owner Brian Anderson and of Ashley’s customers in these five towns is what the United States of Community Service is all about!”

Conceived by the USCS almost-sleepover girls in partnership with Ashley’s Ice Cream, the month-long ice cream promotion attracted almost 400 tasty flavor entries nationwide and resulted in last month’s surprise double-crowning of a pair of winning flavors: Nutella Chip Ice Cream (submitted by 10-year-old Brennan Gollaher of Guilford, Connecticut) and Red-White-and-Blueberry Ice Cream (submitted by 11-year-old Caroline Holmes of Greencastle, Pennsylvania). The two flavors will become the official flavors of the 2011 USCS Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepover event—a kid-powered community service quest to unite kids nationwide with simultaneous almost-sleepover celebrations on October 22, 2011, to perform community service, shine the spotlight on local charities and make a difference nationwide.

The two winning flavors were available for purchase at all five Ashley’s locations for the entire month of July (National Ice Cream Month), with all proceeds from the sale of the flavors benefitting a child-centered organization in each of Ashley’s five locations:

Guilford Library’s Children’s Room Adopt-a-Book Program (Guilford) will receive $1,124.00
The Children’s Place at Connecticut Hospice (Branford) will receive $1,393.00
Life Haven (New Haven) will receive $1,558.00
The Children’s Center of Hamden (Hamden) will receive $1,298.00
UCan2′s LifeStraw Project (Madison) will receive $739.00

“With our book budget cut, this incredibly generous donation from Ashley’s Ice Cream will help the Guilford Free Library purchase many, many new books for the children’s room through our Adopt a Book program,” said Suellen Heinrich, children’s librarian at the Guilford Free Library. “We are thrilled that the USCS girls chose to make a difference for the Guilford Free Library—and grateful to Ashley’s and its customers for their support.”

“The Children’s Center of Hamden is honored that the USCS girls chose us as one of the recipients of funds from Ashley’s Create a Flavor, Change the World project,” said Diane Surprenant, director of personnel and development at The Children’s Center of Hamden. “School starts at the end of this month and the children in Kids Cottage, our safe home, are in need of supplies and book bags. Kids helping kids and making a difference; it is very special for them to know that they have friends in the community who care.”

“With the Create a Flavor, Change the World contest with Ashley’s Ice Cream, the almost-sleepover girls have once again shown that they are committed to making a difference in the lives of the women and children at Life Haven,” said Katie Fischer, a member of Life Haven’s board of directors. “We are both grateful for and touched by their continued kindness and support.”

“The Children’s Place at the Connecticut Hospice is grateful that these young girls thought of our littlest patients when choosing a child-centered organization to support here in Branford,” said Linda Laucella, manager of the development office at Connecticut Hospice. “How generous of Ashley’s Ice Cream and its customers to support our efforts to care for these children and to provide much-needed support for their families and friends.”

“Thanks to USCS, Ashley’s Ice Cream and the community–all of whom have shown our kids that no one is too young and no action too simple to make a huge impact in the lives of many,” said Kathy Leckey, founder of UCan2’s LifeStraw project. “Thanks to the generosity of Ashley’s Ice Cream and its customers and the support of the USCS almost-sleepover girls, UCan2’s LifeStraw project will be able to purchase 150 LifeStraw personal drinking filters for people in developing countries—giving those 150 people the life-saving ability to drink uncontaminated water for an entire year.”

In a show of Keystone State USCS spirit, Marty Boscolo, owner of Mikie’s Ice Cream & Green Cow of Greencastle, Pennsylvania, donated all proceeds from the sale of co-winner Caroline Holmes’s Red-White-and-Blueberry flavor in his store from July 15 through July 17 to Caroline’s two charities of choice. The $162 raised that weekend was split between the Cumberland Valley Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter.

Ashley’s Ice Cream
From the beginning Ashley’s goal has been to make the best ice cream possible, and they continue to do that today over 30 years later! Ashley’s Ice Cream was founded in 1979. Being avid frisbee players, they became enamored with Ashley Whippet—the famous frisbee catching dog. So the Ashley’s name was born, and their walls have been decorated with hundreds of frisbees they’ve collected ever since. Ashley’s Ice Cream originated in New Haven in 1979 on College Street, just steps away from the dormitories of Yale University. It didn’t take long for the crowds, accolades, and awards to start filling the store; so much so that a second Ashley’s opened on the other side of campus on York Street, where they still are today! Ashley’s has been in nearby Hamden since 1983, and shops in Guilford, Branford, and Madison subsequently followed, bringing the total to 5 locations. Find out more at Ashley’s Ice Cream.

The Children’s Place at Connecticut Hospice
The saddest thing about terminal illness is that it can strike children. Even harder to handle is the inability of family and friends to know what is best in the way of care and caring for the child. There is a way to ease this suffering and the confusion that can go with it. A way to deal with all the issues parents of terminally ill children face on a daily basis is offered by The Children’s Place at Connecticut Hospice.

The Children’s Place at Connecticut Hospice is designed to provide the necessary components of child and family care, including counseling to those who are in need. With many years of experience in caring for children with advanced irreversible illnesses, The Children’s Place at Connecticut Hospice stands ready to provide a program of comprehensive care around-the-clock through home care and inpatient center care.

For more information, contact Linda Laucella, manager of the development office, at 203/315-7684 or llaucella@hospice.com, or visit Connecticut Hospice at www.hospice.com.

Life Haven
Life Haven is a temporary shelter providing a safe and nurturing environment for homeless pregnant women and women with young children. Life Haven is committed to helping these women develop the skills they need to live independently. Life Haven serves 20 families at a time. Over 150 families are sheltered annually, including 250 children. Almost 90 percent of the families entering Life Haven move out into permanent housing in the community. Life Haven’s goal is to end homelessness, one family at a time.

Life Haven is the only shelter in the state with licensed, on-site childcare. Life Haven’s Childcare Center provides a safe, consistent and stimulating environment for the children while their mothers work to build healthy lives for their families. Currently, the center is equipped to serve 20 homeless children. Life Haven’s childcare program is specifically designed to meet the needs of homeless children. Each child is assessed and their care plan may include anger management, self-esteem, and health and safety education. For more information, call Elizabeth Hilton, interim executive director, at 203/776-6208 or visit www.lifehaven.org.

Guilford Free Library Children’s Room Adopt-a-Book Program
The Guilford Free Library is asking for your help to support the library children’s room collection.An “Adopt-a-Book” program has been started seeking monetary donations to help with the purchase of new children’s books.These gifts can be made in honor of families, birthdays, other celebrations and more.Bookplates will be placed in the books and the donors can be the first to check the titles out!

Donations can be for children’s picture books, board books, fiction, animal, science, dinosaurs, math, history, poetry, biographies, folk tales, mythology, and so on. Please ask the children’s staff for help with suggestions.Cash, check or credit cards are welcome. For more information, contact Suellen Heinrich, children’s librarian, at 203/453-8282, or visit the library’s website at www.guilfordfreelibrary.org.

The Children’s Center of Hamden
The Children’s Center of Hamden, Inc. is dedicated to providing quality treatment and education in a safe, nurturing environment for children and families. The children served by the center struggle with serious emotional, behavioral, psychological and social problems. On a daily average over 170 children and families receive services through at least one of the center’s programs.

In April of 1999, The Children’s Center of Hamden opened Connecticut’s first “Safe Home,” designed to provide assessment services for young children who have been removed from their homes for a variety of reasons, generally related to the child’s safety. Kids Cottage serves no more than 13 children at a time and can accommodate groups of siblings so they are not separated from each other during what might be considered a tumultuous time. The program provides a psychosocial assessment of each child to aid in planning for placement should home not be an option. Lengths of stay range from a couple of days up to 45 days. For more information about Kid’s Cottage and other programs at The Children’s Center of Hamden, contact Diane Surprenant, director of personnel and development, at 203/248-2116.

UCan2′s LifeStraw® Project
LifeStraw is a portable drinking filter that people wear on a string around their necks that enables them to drink from contaminated water sources.Each LifeStraw lasts for a year and costs about $6. All of the money collected by the LifeStraw Project is sent on to the 1090 Foundation of the Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, FL. The rotary club is partnered with LifeStraw’s manufacturer as the only distributer in this country.LifeStraws are currently being sent to Haiti, where the need is greatest.

How does LifeStraw save lives? 6,000 people die every day from water-related diseases, most of them children.That is the fact that inspired Brett Leckey, a fourth-grader at Jeffrey School in Madison, Connecticut, to start this fundraiser just last year.Since then, Brett has raised enough money to buy 2,000 LifeStraws for people in need.

The LifeStraw Project is run by Ucan2, a non-profit organization (501c3 status pending) whose mission is to educate students on health and welfare issues in the world, inspire others to join, and provide guidance and support for them to act. For more information, call Kathy Leckey at 203/627-2686 or visit www.ucan2.org.

Click here to see the video montage of several of the honorees, including our Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepover!

USA WEEKEND, Points of Light Institute’s HandsOn Network, and Newman’s Own honored its ten 2011 National Make a Difference Day Award recipients at a luncheon at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C. on April 14. Among the honorees: Delaney and Addie Kenney of Guilford, CT. The following is a minute-by-minute account of this amazing day.

The girls with USA WEEKEND's Tom Lent and Brenda Turner.

10:45 a.m.—Arrive at 2011 National Make a Difference Day Awards “meet and greet” at the Hyatt Regency. Finally meet USA WEEKEND reporter Tom Lent, who championed our little-project-that-could from the beginning and who confided that he always believed our almost-sleepover would be chosen as one of the ten Make a Difference Day winners! Also meet USA WEEKEND executive editor Brenda Turner, and fellow honoree Nicholas Cobb of Allen, Texas, and his proud parents.

The girls with fellow honoree Nicholas Cobb.

11:00 a.m.—Grammy award-winner Darius Rucker—keynote speaker, lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, and the hottest country music star around—arrives. Darius recognizes the almost-sleepover girls and kindly poses for photos with Delaney, Addie and the other honorees.

The girls with the amazing Darius Rucker.

We also meet camo quilter Linda Wieck of Plymouth, Wisconsin, who appears on the cover of USA WEEKEND with Darius; teen food-collecting queen Nicole Muller and her mom of Charlottesville, Virginia; and second-grade teacher AnnMarie Castrogiovanni of Valley Stream, New York. We all share our stories of amazement and excitement as the “paparazzi” snap photo after photo—this is unreal!

With honoree AnnMarie Castrogiovanni.

11:30 a.m.—Off to the ballroom for the awards luncheon. Meet honoree Laura Davis of Auburn, Maine, along with former George W. Bush chief of staff Andrew Card. Lots of folks from Newman’s Own, Points of Light Institute and USA WEEKEND are here—including Make a Difference Day editor Pam Brown, who shares that her college roommate in Madison, Connecticut has blogged about the girls! The girls enjoy shaking the hands of the many well-wishers who congratulate them on their achievement. By the time we enter the ballroom, the girls have secured three more almost-sleepover participants for October 22!

12:00 p.m.—Enormous stand-ups featuring the story and photos of each honoree are posted around the ballroom. Wow! I am completely in awe of just how much work these folks have put into making the honorees feel special. Great job, Saxon! The girls enjoy fancy glasses of lemonade while posing for photos in front of their stand-up. I ask Brenda whether we can take the stand-up home with us, after USA WEEKEND is done with it. The question is: How will I get it home?!

12:30 p.m.—Time to sit down and enjoy our meal. USA WEEKEND’s president/publisher Chuck Gabrielson starts off the luncheon with a few words about making a difference. Emmy award-winning journalist Cokie Roberts takes the stage to host the program and to introduce keynote speaker Darius Rucker. Darius talks about his mother and how she taught him the value of making a difference. He laughs when telling about the time his brother accepted money for doing a good deed for a neighbor. “He never did that again!” said Darius. I had no idea the multi-talented singer/songwriter was so involved in so very many amazing community service projects. Love it!

With fellow honoree Nicole Muller.

12:45 p.m.—Slideshow begins, telling the story of each honoree through photos taken at each Make a Difference Day event. While talking with Brenda Turner about the educational value of being an editor, I look over to see Willow, Rosalie, Sophie and Marlah standing behind Delaney and Addie’s chairs.

USCS is all about friends!

The four girls are right on time for our end-of-event meeting—but the luncheon is running late and so instead, as luck would have it, they’re just in time to watch the award presentations! Timing is everything. The girls join our table, pull on their USCS t-shirts, sit two-to-a-chair and share their yummy dessert. An extra-special event just got even better.

USCS girls enjoying the awards luncheon.

1:15 p.m.—Delaney and Addie wait at the side of the stage for their cue. Cokie Roberts introduces the girls by referencing the USA WEEKEND article. “At ages 8 and 9, Addie and Delaney Kenney have started a social movement with some pretty tough requirements. Participants must like hanging out in pajamas, dancing, eating ice cream, and helping kids in need. Somehow, they had no trouble recruiting 36 girls to attend their movement’s signature event: an almost-sleepover for Make a Difference Day. Admission price: a new pair of PJs for kids at a shelter. The guests made treats for seniors, crafted holiday decorations for hospital patients and collected $80 for charity. The best part: delivering 70 pairs of pajamas to the shelter.” What a proud moment for everyone involved.

With fellow honorees from Maine.

1:20 p.m.—Delaney and Addie take the stage and accept their award from Darius Rucker; Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light Institute; Chuck Gabrielson, president/publisher of USA WEEKEND; and Bill Lee of Newman’s Own. I am so proud of the way the girls carry themselves—shaking hands with everyone and posing for photos before running back to the table to show their award and a real-honest-to-goodness check for 10,000 smackaroonies!

What a proud moment for all involved.

1:30 p.m.—USA Today reporter Christie Garton, who attended the awards luncheon and who has the best job I could ever imagine (writing about folks doing the right thing in her USA Today Kindness column), interviews the girls about their experience. What a treat!

2:00 p.m.—The luncheon ends, and we’re off on a mad dash to meet with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and to tour the U.S. Capitol.

What a day. What a day. Pinch me.

Originally published on April 18, 2011.

Check out video of the event by Fox CT News

Check out an article about the girls and their event in the New Haven Register

Check out a photo gallery of our launch!

(Guilford, CT) April 6, 2011—There was a lot of celebrating going on at the Nathanael B. Greene Community Center in Guilford this morning when sisters Delaney and Addie Kenney of Guilford and their friends Willow and Rosalie Coleman of Guilford, Sophie Marnin of Madison, Marlah Hohlfelder of Guilford, and Isabel Kessler of Killingworth, surprised Life Haven founder Mary Ellen McGuire with a $10,000 donation to the temporary shelter serving pregnant women and women with young children in New Haven. Life Haven board members Jennifer Tracey-Carlo, Katie Fischer, and Roxanne Hayes were also on hand for the surprise.

“It feels really good to give Life Haven $10,000 because Life Haven helps so many kids have a better life,” said Delaney.

“I like donating $10,000 to Life Haven because we’re kids—and we’re helping kids,” said Addie.

The Kenney sisters received the $10,000 prize money from Newman’s Own, a supporter of Make a Difference Day, for being named one of ten 2011 National Make a Difference Day Award winners by USA WEEKEND magazine and HandsOn Network. The girls won the award for their super-successful community service-filled almost-sleepover event held in Guilford last October. The almost-sleepover project bested more than 1,000 entries for the national honor. The girls and their award-winning almost-sleepover project will be featured in the cover story of this weekend’s issue of USA WEEKEND magazine.

“I am enormously proud of Delaney and Addison Kenney and their friends for their accomplishments and enthusiasm in working to make their community a better place—and for encouraging children and their families around the country to do the same through service-filled almost-sleepovers. By bringing their friends together for a common cause, Delaney and Addison and their friends have made a difference in Connecticut,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. “I commend these girls for their selfless commitment to service, and am thrilled that their efforts have been recognized by USA WEEKEND magazine, and I look forward to their future projects.”

While last year’s almost-sleepover event was a big success, this year the sisters and their friends are shooting for the stars. Today the girls launched a nationwide kid-powered community service movement: They’re hoping to inspire kids across the country to help them make a difference this fall by joining The United States of Community Service Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepover—simultaneous Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepovers in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. on this year’s Make a Difference Day, Saturday, October 22, 2011. In fact kids in California, Connecticut, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas and Utah have already signed on to join the girls on their journey to make a difference nationwide!

“We even wrote to Sasha and Malia Obama, telling them about our idea and asking them to hold their own almost-sleepover with their friends at the White House that night!” said Delaney. And that’s not all. The girls have also created a website—www.uscsnow.org—where kids and their parents can register to be a part of this kid-driven nationwide event, find tips on how to create their own almost-sleepovers, and follow the girls’ progress as they move closer to their goal of uniting all 50 states and Washington, D.C. on October 22^nd.

At last year’s fun-filled almost-sleepover community service event, the girls asked each of their friends to bring a pair of new winter pajamas to donate to Life Haven as the price of admission. The sisters and almost forty of their friends ended up collecting 70 pairs of new warm and cozy pajamas that night. The girls chose Life Haven to be the recipient of all those pairs of pajamas. To make even more of a difference, the girls and their friends collected more than 50 gently used coats for Columbus House and Christian Community Action; many, many pounds of food for the Guilford Food Bank; and almost $80 in change for the Audubon Society’s Pennies for the Planet initiative. They spent their time that October night putting together cookies-in-a-jar mixes distributed to local senior citizens at Thanksgiving, painting ornaments to brighten the rooms of hospital patients during the holiday season, and decorating cheerful cards for residents of a local retirement home.

Keeping their commitment to community service at the top of their list of things to do, the girls and their friends asked those attending today’s press conference to bring art supplies to donate to St. Raphael Hospital’s Children Psychiatric Emergency Services (CPES)—a unit serving children ages 3 to 17 (13 for boys) with a variety of psychiatric disorders.

About The United States of Community Service Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepover

The United States of Community Service Make a Difference Day Almost-Sleepover will take place on Saturday, October 22, 2011, when kids from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. hold  almost-sleepover celebrations to perform community service and make a difference nationwide. Built on Delaney and Addie Kenney’s national award-winning almost-sleepover community service project, and with the help of co-founding members Willow and Rosalie Coleman, Sophie Marnin, Marlah Hohlfelder and Isabel Kessler, this kid-powered community service event is the first project from The United States of Community Service, Inc. (USCS) an organization (501c3 nonprofit status pending) dedicated to empowering children to make a difference in their communities, their nation and their world by providing opportunities for children to get involved in community service and working with and supporting the efforts of other child-centered nonprofit organizations.

What is an almost-sleepover?

An almost-sleepover is all the fun of a sleepover—partying in your pjs, singing, dancing, eating, and having fun with your friends—without the sleeping over!

About Our Community Partners

Paula Galluzzi

The red-white-and-blue United States of Community Service logo (USCSNOW) was designed by Paula Galluzzi, a Madison, Connecticut graphic designer specializing in brochures, catalogs, corporate identity, direct mail, logos, newsletters and marketing materials. For more information, email paula.galluzzi@gmail.com.

AlphaGraphics New Haven

Our USCSNOW signs, letterhead, envelopes, stickers, note cards, and wonderful over-sized $10,000 presentation check are thanks to the generosity of AlphaGraphics New Haven, a locally owned and operated full-service printing and visual communications company dedicated to serving the needs of small and mid-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater New Haven area. For more information, visit www.agnewhaven.com or call John Cunneen at 203/230-0018.

Sarah Prown and Eric Melillo of Infrontweb

Our brand-spankin-new website design is courtesy of Sarah Prown along with Eric Melillo of InFrontWeb. Visit www.infrontweb.com for more information.

Life Haven

Life Haven is a temporary shelter in New Haven that provides a safe and nurturing environment to homeless pregnant women and women with young children. Life Haven serves 20 families at a time. Over 150 families are sheltered annually, including 250 children. Almost 90 percent of families entering Life Haven move out into permanent housing in the community. For more information, visit www.lifehaven.org or call 203/776-6208.

About St. Raphael’s Children Psychiatric Emergency Services (CPES)

St. Raphael’s Children Psychiatric Emergency Services (CPES) is a brief treatment inpatient unit for children ages 3 to 17 (13 for boys) suffering from a variety of psychiatric disorders. Saint Raphael’s is one of just five hospitals in Connecticut that offers inpatient mental health services to school-aged children and it’s the only hospital in Connecticut treating children under age 5. For more information, email Christian Meagher at cmeagher@srhs.org visit www.srhs.org

About Make a Difference Day

Sponsored by USA WEEKEND in partnership with HandsOn Network and supported by Newman’s Own, Make a Difference Day is our nation’s largest day of community service. Held annually on the fourth Saturday of October, Make a Difference Day is a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Last year alone, more than 3 million people across the country participated in Make a Difference Day events.