EMPOWERMENT = ACHIEVEMENT!

Hearts of Gold rewards the academic and personal achievements of our shelter children and moms.  We provide scholarships for the moms and after-school activities, meals, shelter day trips and summer camp scholarships for the children, which promote self-esteem and foster a desire to succeed.

Families are treated to The Right Start, a kickoff back-to-school party where children receive new outfits and a backpack filled with school supplies.  HoG serves a nourishing hot meal at the shelter’s Homework Help after-school program throughout the school year which gives them the incentive to participate.  Summer is time for Upward Bound, where HoG hires tour buses and takes both alums and families currently living in each shelter on fabulous day trips to Sesame Place theme park, 90 minutes from New York. HoG sponsors My Summer Camp, a program that funds scholarships for children to attend camps like Harlem School of the Arts, YMCA and The USDAN Center for the Performing Arts.

One little boy with a learning disability wasn’t the least bit excited about his first day at a new school in a new neighborhood.  However, on seeing HoG’s “Spiderman” backpack, his eyes lit up.  He loved Spiderman.  After a long discussion about why school is important and why he was getting this Spiderman backpack filled with supplies, he promised to “listen and behave.”  Last time we checked, he was behaving -- and doing a pretty good job of listening, too.