Going on it’s 12th year, Miami’s own Pantry Liquor presents their annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Miami Springs Golf Club and even our own CHARLEE staff got to leave their office cubicles for a nice, morning run on the golf course. We’re still awaiting on how much was raised for CHARLEE but regardless what the amount is, Pete Izguirre and the entire Pantry Liquor team deserves a huge round of applause for their tireless effort in their continual support for our children in care! Thanks, Pete! We can’t wait until next year! *** And if you’re wondering, CHARLEE Staff has some hidden Tiger Woods that were unleashed that day. Check out MIS Supervisor, Daniel Pena, hit a mean swing. Who knew that computer programming and golfing go together?

(From L to R) Daniel Pena (MIS Supervisor), Booker Rhodes (Adoptions Director), Walter Gonzalez (Board Member), Manny Matalon (Board Member)

“FORE!!!  Watch out for the bird!”

The great Pete Izguirre (on the far left) - founder and organizer of Pantry Liquor Golf Tournamet

The national talk show “Cada Dia” on Telemundo featured CHARLEE in their May Sweeps with a moving 2-part story on the joys of adoption.  For those of you who know Spanish, enjoy this amazing look at how adoptions work at CHARLEE and the success stories that come out of it.  And for those who only know Spanish “un poquito” … still watch it!  Regardless of what language you speak, the emotions that are shown in this piece are deeply felt!  Bring out your tissues!  (To learn more about adoptions, call 305-779-9777.) 

 

Join us as we celebrate the joys of adoption. On Friday, June 13 at 6PM, the inaugural exhibition of the Miami Heart Gallery will take place at Miami Art Central. The Miami Heart Gallery is a traveling, museum-quality exhibition featuring portraits of children in Miami-Dade’s foster care system who are available for adoption. Some of our beautiful CHARLEE kids are featured in the Miami Heart Gallery. For more information, view the invitation below.

A big congratulations to our recent CHARLEE MAPP Graduates at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Carol City!  These caring and loving individuals are on their way to becoming wonderful foster parents that will surely make a life-changing difference in the lives of our foster children. Welcome to the CHARLEE Family!

So the rumors are true. Music legend Carly Simon performed a once-in-a-lifetime concert at the historical Gusman Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, May 16, 2008. A sold-out crowd where fans as far away as Bakersfield, California came to witness this legend perform live for the first time in South Florida! To read the full review click here as well as view our fabulous event slide show here!

Ahoy, Mateys! On Saturday, April 26, CHARLEE held its annual family picnic at Tropical Park in South Miami. Over 300 people were in attendance on this beautiful spring day at CHARLEE staff, foster parents and kids came for a fun-filled pirate themed event. We want to thank everyone who helped out in making this picnic a great success. A big thanks to the March Family for manning the hot and piping grill as well as Daniel Pena, Jeanette Gonzalez and Minna Betancourt who also held down the hot dogs and burgers. Also a huge thank you to all our superstar volunteers - the team from FIU was just fantastic and we hope you guys Aced your class! For those who missed out, check out the slide show. FLICKR SLIDESHOW

So many of our Independent Living Clients (clients 18-23 years of age) are struggling to make the bare necessities, whether it’s rent, bus tokens, or groceries. We here at CHARLEE do our best to educate our IL clients that buying groceries and cooking at home will save a whole a lot of money than buying fast food every night! If you’d like to donate, why not donate a Publix Gift Card! You can purchase these gift cards at any Publix Supermarket or you can order them online here. These are valuable donations that truly do help a great deal for our older clients who are living on their own. If you’d like more information, email us or call (305)779-9796. Thank you.

How cool! CHARLEE gets its first blog! Well, we’re excited as you are. With this blog, we hope to keep our donors, supporters and friends informed on the daily happenings at CHARLEE (and boy, is there a lot!). So bookmark this page and make sure to log on everyday because we don’t want you to miss out on anything!