Join us on Facebook!

Partnership for Families, Children, and Adults on Facebook

Donations Needed for Family Violence Shelter

We need your help! The Partnership’s Family Violence Shelter is currently at full capacity and more than half of these clients are children. We are in need of canned soups that children would like (chicken noodle, vegetable alphabet, etc.), as well as, toiletry and personal items for both women and children, such as, toilet paper, hand soap, combs, etc. Your in-kind donations can be dropped off at 300 East 8th Street at any time. If you would like to make a financial contribution, as little as $76 covers one night of shelter. Financial contributions to the shelter can be sent to 1800 McCallie Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37404, or click here to make an online contribution https://secure.qgiv.com/cps_donors/?key=pfca&restrict=Crisis+and+Emergency+Services. We appreciate your support for these families affected by domestic violence. For more information contact Holly Ashley at 423-697-3829 or email hashley@partnershipfca.com.

New Playground for Crisis Center!

The Partnership’s new playground for the Crisis Resource Center is officially open! Volunteers and staff joined us Tuesday night for an open house and ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the playground installation. Chattanooga Hamilton County Medical Alliance president, Melissa Portera was accompanied by Alliance members Carrie Fowler, Amy Sowell, and Milli Yium as we thanked them for the $15,000 grant which made the installation possible. Several volunteers from Northwest Georgia Bank attended with their children to see how all their hard work paid off.

Dancing with the Stars Winners Announced!

As one of our dancers said, "Oh, What a Night"! Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga was a great success, raising over $29,000 in much needed funds to support the Partnership's mission of empowering people to build better lives.

Now for the winners!!

For the Fan Favorite Award - the winner was.....ALISON LEBOVITZ!
Alison raised $4,633 from friends, family, and fans supporting her in this event. Thank you Alison!! Our other wonderful dancers raised:

• Dr. Carolyn Thompson - $2,860
• Linda Mosley - $2,580
• Jason Taylor - $995
• George Quick - $810
• Renee LaSalle - $645

Thank you to all of our dancers and donors ! In addition to these funds, an anonymous donor has agreed to match every dollar raised, over last year's total of $10,050. Thanks to all of these generous supporters, The Fan Favorite Award contest raised a total of $15,023!!

For the Dancing Champion Award - the winner was.......JASON TAYLOR!!

Jason danced a cha-cha to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch this" and brought down the house. Complete with 1980's era costuming and cool gold shades, Jason's performance received perfect 10's from all five of our judges! He also received a total of 1,581 votes from fans attending the event. Jason and his Fred Astaire partner, Ashley Cuticchia, took home the mirror ball trophies on Saturday!

In second place, also with perfect 10's, and with 803 votes, was Alison Lebovitz and her cha-cha to "Low". This was also a crowd pleaser and an unforgettable performance. Other show-stopping performances included Linda Mosley dancing a fast swing to Footloose, Renee Lasalle with a Tango to "Let's Make Love", George Quick's fox trot to "It's My Life", and Carolyn Thompson's salsa to Ricky Martin.

We thank all the guests for supporting our dancers, and all of our sponsors, including presenting sponsor First Tennessee, for making the evening possible.

Fan Favorite Voting Ending at 5:00!!!

We would like to thank all of those who have participated in the Fan Favorite voting for the Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga Event. The totals are adding up and the the race has been very close. We will no longer update the voting totals until after the annoucement of the Fan Favorite winner at the event. If you have not voted for your favorite dancer and would like to do so please visit http://www.dancingwiththestarschattanooga.com/. You have until 5 p.m. today! Remember the race is very close and every vote helps your favorite dancer!

Carolyn Thompson Jumps in to Compete for the #1 Spot!

Everyone has steadily gained more money this month. However, Carolyn Thompson, who had $35 at the beginning of the month, leaped forward with $2,235 and is now fighting for the top position with Alison Lebovitz and Linda Mosley. Who will be the final winner? Will there be another Carolyn Thompson before the event is over? Find out this Saturday at Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga. (Tickets are already sold out but you can still follow the stars' progress after the event be checking out our blog)

The standings in Fan Favorite Voting are as follows:

#1 Alison Lebovitz $3,177.00

#2 Linda Mosley $2,480.00

#3 Carolyn Thompson $2,235

#4 George Quick $625.00

#5 Jason Taylor $300.00

#6 Renee Lasalle $185.oo

If it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly took a village to raise a playground on a hot Saturday in May! Thanks to a generous grant from the Chattanooga Medical Alliance, the Partnership’s Family Violence Shelter received a new playground this spring. Countless volunteers from EPB, Earthworks, Habitat for Humanity of Chattanooga, Northwest Georgia Bank, Brainerd Baptist Church, Christ United Methodist Church and the community assembled an entire playground and installed it! Now our families with children have an outdoor area to play – THANK YOU!


EPB took time to remove old playground equipment at the Partnership, in preparation of a new unit to be installed for children living in our Family Violence Shelter

Our ‘village’ of volunteers from Northwest Georgia Bank, Brainerd Baptist Church, Christ United Methodist Church, and the community. Thanks for the new playground!

This group of ladies from Northwest Georgia Bank helped assemble an entire playground for children in the Partnership’s Family Violence Shelter. Thanks for volunteering!

It was all volunteer hands on deck to remove old stone from the playground construction site.

Northwest Georgia Bank volunteer finds himself in a tight, but shady, spot while constructing the Family Violence Shelter’s new playground.

"We Speak"

Local artist Frances McDonald and friends invited all of Chattanooga to the Ross Hotel for the grand reveal of Mark Making’s first community project, on May 29^th. Several of the participating youth from the Partnership showed up to present their individual “I_____” statements. The Partnerships pays special thanks to all involved in the project. It was a truly unique experience for our youth, creating a truly unique piece of community art for all to enjoy!

Partnership youth, Arileyea, posing with Chattanooga Mayor, Ron Littlefield at the Mark Making project reveal at Ross Hotel.

Two Partnership youth celebrate the Grand Reveal of their “I_____” statements at the Mark Making project at the Ross Hotel.

Partnership CEO, Sandra Hollett and Partnership Board Chair, Dr. Deborah Arfken meet youth who participated in the Mark Making art project at the Ross Hotel

Alsion Lebovitz Jumps Ahead!

Alison Lebovitz has passed Linda Mosley in Fan Favorite voting for the Dancing With the Stars Chattanooga Event making her the current top fav. Also, George Quick has passed Jason Taylor for the 3rd positon. The Dancer that raises the largest amount of fan voting money will take home the Fan Favorite Award. You can vote for your favorite star at www.dancingwiththestarschattanooga.com/. Also remember to check the website to see Fan Favorite totals that will be updated daily.

The standings in Fan Favorite Voting are as follows:

#1 Alison Lebovitz $2713.00

#2 Linda Mosley $2430.00

#3 George Quick $260.00

#4 Jason Taylor $175.00

#5 Carolyn Thompson $ 35.00

#6 Renee Lasalle $10.oo

"We Speak"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u664hXQhjI

“We Speak,” a project by Mark Making in 2009 is a series of 50 paintings created by 50 teens. When hung together, they create a building which “speaks” words of empowerment. Each teen was asked to think of a phrase “I ______” which most represented what they would express to an audience of all Chattanooga and its visitors. Using mirrors, each teen then drew and painted their mouth, articulating their word.

Sponsors of the project include the Ross Hotel owner, Selma Cash Paty, Paragon Printing who supplied the vinyl canvases, and Wise Construction who installed the work. Art teacher facilitators include Carla Guerra, Lawrence Mathis, Frances McDonald, John McLeod, Jas Milam and Dennis Palmer. Teen artists are from the Partnership of Families, Children and Adults, the Chambliss Home and CADAS.

“We Speak” is funded by Selma Cash Paty and Mark Making, a new non-profit which seeks to enhance our community through the creation of public art projects.

Ross Hotel Project Pics

Local artist Frances McDonald has been working one-on-one for weeks with local Chattanooga youth to create these unique "I" statements, now posted on the old Ross Hotel on Georgia Avenue. A few youth from the Partnership's group homes participated in this exciting project, creating their own "I" statement and assisting with the artwork. Take a drive by the old hotel and check out these creative pieces!

Fan Favorites: Linda Mosley Takes the Lead

Linda Mosley has taken a large and early lead in the Fan Favorite voting for the Dancing With the Stars Chattanooga Event. The Dancer raises the largest amount of fan voting money will take home the Fan Favorite Award. You can vote for your favorite star at www.dancingwiththestarschattanooga.com/. Also remember to check the website to see Fan Favorite totals that will be updated daily.

The standings in Fan Favorite Voting are as follows:

#1 Linda Mosley $1805.00

#2 Alison Lebovitz $425.00

#3 Jason Taylor $125.00

#4 George Quick $50.00

#5/6 Renee LaSalle, Carolyn Thompson $0.00

Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga UPDATE

Dancing with the Stars Chattanooga is sure to be this year's most electric fundraising event! With just over 6 weeks to go until the big night on June 20th, VIP tickets are already sold out - with limited table seating left and fewer than 40 general admission seats. If you plan to attend, buy your tickets fast at http://www.dancingwiththestarschattanooga.com/.

You can also visit the website above to vote for your favorite Chattanooga Star to win the Fan Favorite Award, which will be presented to the dancer raising the most votes. Our Chattanooga Stars are: Alison Lebovitz, Jason Taylor, Dr. Carolyn Thompson, George Quick, Renee LaSalle, and Linda Mosley. They are all halfway through their practice sessions and are preparing uniquely entertaining performances. Who knew they could dance?

We will also have video of our Stars available very soon so we can really see how far they've come event night!

Special thanks go out to our presenting sponsor, First Tennessee, for making this evening possible. Special thanks also to the instructors at Fred Astaire Dance Studio, the official dance instructors to Dancing with Stars! And speaking of "official" Dancing with the Stars connections - Tony Dovolani and his professional dance partner Elena Grinenko will be joining our event for exciting exhibition dances! Tony and Elena have both appeared on the TV show, and Tony is dancing again this season and doing very well. Check him out on ABC!

It never fails. Each year in Chattanooga when the daffodils start blooming, so do the yard sale signs. This past weekend was especially bountiful due to the warm weather. I know I drove past half a dozen signs between East Brainerd and Hixson on Saturday. And everyone loves a yard sale, right? Especially when you can save a few bucks and score an antique book or a great piece of furniture.

Well, the Partnership has a sale for you. A garage sale in fact. We will open our garage doors to the shopping public on Saturday, April 4th at our 1800 McCallie Avenue office. There are childrens items, furniture, clothing, books, home decor and household goods...even antiques. Our prices will be hard to beat, and our service unmatched as smiling Partnership staff greet you.

Not only will you get a good deal, but our Homemaker Services will benefit from the proceeds. The dollar you pay for a child's sundress will help provide non-medical, personal assitance to an elderly neighbor who is just trying to live independently in their own home.

We are even accepting your donations of gently used items to sale at the event. Just call (423) 697-3824 to make an appointment and drop off your items.

We hope to see you in April!

Top 10 Reasons to Run in the Scenic City Charity Challenge 09

The Partnership is one of eight charities participating in the Scenic City Charity Challenge, hosted by the Chattanooga Track Club on Feb. 28th. We've got our game face on and we're ready to lace up our running shoes. We need at least 50 runners to register by Feb. 28th. We're calling board members, volunteers, staff, friends of staff, friends of friends of staff....and are strongly considering hiding in the bushes downtown and accosting random runners.

So why would you be interested in running anyway? We found Nike's Top Ten Reasons to Run and would like to share them with you for your enjoyment.

• 10 - So you can get up and run at 6 AM before work, when it is 20 degrees outside and all you want to do is sleep another hour, but you know that if you do, you’ll hate yourself the rest of the day.
  
• 9 - So your toes can get so ugly to the point that you’re ashamed to wear flip-flops.
  
• 8 - So you can tell someone your weekly mileage and get the response, “50 miles?! I don’t even drive that far!” And you can smile and fake a laugh like you haven’t heard it 900 times before. Or they’ll ask how you can enjoy running 26.2 miles and then call you crazy.
  
• 7 - So you can double or even triple your shower and grocery bills.
  
• 6 - So that the checkout guy at the grocery store gives you a weird look when you’re standing in line with three jars of vaseline.
  
• 5 - So you can do laundry three times a week and still run out of matching socks.
  
• 4 - So that your muddy, dirty shoes can start piling up outside your door because they’re too smelly to bring inside, and you can listen to your neighbors complain about it everytime you run into them.
  
• 3 - So that by the time one o’clock rolls around at work, you feel like curling up under your desk and taking a two hour nap.
  
• 2 - So you can eat a huge dinner and an hour later you’re hungry again.
  
• 1 - Oh, yeah…the health benefits.

But of course, the main reason why you should run in the Charity Challenge is to support the Partnership and our mission of empowering people to build better lives. We're doing serious stuff to support the community through crisis counseling, intervention, prevention and education. Learn more at www.partnershipfca.com.

Wanna Run? Go now to: www.sceniccityhalfmarathon.com

The Partnership and Bryan College hosted a seminar yesterday on Human Trafficking, featuring a guest speaker from New Scotland Yard's Operation Maxim Human Trafficking team. We had a great turn out in the afternoon session, from many community organizations interested in finding out what we can do in Chattanooga to prevent trafficking. Our guest speaker stressed how prevention is key, and that we need to monitor our community and raise awareness about trafficking to stop it from becoming a real problem.

Chattanooga Matters, formerly the Chattanooga Resource Foundation, is hosting a public forum on the issue at the Oak Street Center on UTC's campus, February 18th. You can get in on the conversation by visiting www.chattanoogamatters.org to learn more.

Bryan College is hosting their national conference on human trafficking beginning today through Saturday, at Bryan College in Dayton, TN. Visit www.bryan.edu to register online, it's free.

Check out this music video featuring Radiohead and a message about the cost of human trafficking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrCalO5BDs

Calling All Runners

Run, Walk or Volunteer. The Partnership is one of eight charities participating in the 2009 Scenic City Charity Classic half-marathon and 5K walk/run. The event is Saturday, February 28th at Finley Stadium and we need you to participate! We need at least 10 volunteers and at least 50 runners to secure our spot in the event for next year.

If you would like to volunteer, please call Rosemary Miller at (423) 697-3830 or email rmiller@partnershipfca.com. Duties may include working in the water stop filling cups and handing them to runners, serving as a finish line attendant, working registration or food tables. Shifts begin at 6:30 a.m. and last until 1:00 p.m. The first 10 volunteers to sign up will receive an event t-shirt. Volunteers must work a 4 hour shift.

If you would like to run/walk, please go to www.sceniccityhalfmarathon.com and register. Registration for the half-marathon before Jan. 31st is $40 and $50 after the early bird. The 5K walk/run is only $20 before Jan. 31st and is then $25 after the early bird. Make sure to select the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults as your charity of choice! Register today!

If you would like to make a donation to the Partnership, visit my fundraising page by clicking here.

Good Samaritan Story is Uplifting

I just read a heart warming story in today's Times Free Press - Good Samaritan gives time to kids. The story is about a local woman named Phyllis Williams who has turned into a "third Granny" to the children living in her apartment complex in East Ridge. She meets them at their bus stop, she takes them sidewalk chalk and jump ropes to play with, and even makes them presents to give to their mothers on their birthday. The story is a bit sentimental, but it should be. Our community needs even more Mrs. Williams to go around.

It's not hard to get involved in your community. Just give our Volunteer Coordinator a call at (423) 697-3830 to find out how you can be a good samaritan, too.

What's Your Resolution?

A recent article in the Times Free Press discusses Chattanooga residents' top three New Year resolutions: losing weight, quiting smoking and reducting debt. All three directly relate to health, whether it be physical or financial. But let's not forget our mental health, which is closely intertwined with both our physical and financial health.

Stress and anxiety brought on by financial difficulties, family problems or other issues can directly impact physical and emotional well-being. As we all think about aspects of our lives we would like to improve this year, let's make sure we are getting to the real root of our problems. Is it the jelly doughnut that we're fighting, or is the real enemy an anxiety disorder with overeating and smoking an ugly by-product?

The Partnership has licensed counselors available to work with individuals and families who are struggling. Call (423) 697-7130 to schedule an appointment and really get serious this year about those resolutions.