2014 HALO Highlights!

2014 was a year of new experiences and great successes in the HALO Learning Center! HALO youth received scholarships, tried new workshops like Yoga and Professional Development, volunteered with HALO's new Community Service Initiative group, strutted their stuff down the runway at the 2014 Independent Swag Fashion Show, and much more!

We are so proud of all of our youth, and so thankful to all of the staff, volunteers, and community members that made 2014 a fun and empowering year for the HALO Learning Center. Keep scrolling to see other great highlights from this year, and like us on Facebook for more updates, photos, and more. We're excited for 2015 at HALO!

Two HALO youth were awarded the KCSA Education Fund Scholarship in April 2014. They were chosen out of nearly 50 fifty applicants for this award!

 Students from the William Jewell School of Nursing came to the HALO Learning Center to teach youth about the field, and practice some hands on nursing skills!

HALO's Woodworking class made tables and benches for local brewery KC Bier Co.'s new tasting room!

Professional Development was a new course launched in the Fall Semester at the HALO Learning Center. Here, students go over workplace etiquette.

HALO held its first Fashion Show with partner Spofford Home in the summer of 2014.

The HALO Learning Center collaborated with UMKC's School of Science for its first ever Science Day! Youth had fun with the hands on learning in the lab.

HALO launched its new C.S.I. group (Community Service Initiative) by volunteering at KC Pet Project for the day - cleaning kennels never looked so fun! 

Passport Day 2014 was full of cultural learning and fun! 

More Passport Day fun!

The 2014 Independent Swag Fashion Show was the biggest its ever been! 

HALO youth Jasmine is awarded a full-ride scholarship to Cosmetology school by MoroccanOil! Her dream was realized after taking HALO's Cosmetology class and shadowing a MoroccanOil stylist. 

HALO youth take part in the documentary series "Inspired" which featured HALO founder Rebecca Welsh (far right) as one of five inspiring women across the country. The documentary was sponsored by MoroccanOil and directed by Bryce Dallas Howard.

Gould Evans of Kansas City held a HALO Youth Art Show at their facility in conjunction with the Westport Art Faire. HALO youth were invited to their very own art opening! 

HALO youth gain physical AND mental wellness from HALO's new Yoga workshop, provided by Darling Yoga.

HAPPY 2015 FROM HALO! Thanks to everyone who made 2014 such a great year!

HALO Holiday Party with Allegro Children's Choir was Merry and Bright!

Thanks to Santa's elves (Allegro Children's Choir of KC and HALO Learning Center staff and volunteers), more than 40 HALO Center youth got in the holiday spirit at HALO's annual Holiday Party! Youth made holiday crafts and ornaments, decorated the HALO Learning Center tree, and took turns in the "photo booth". They also received gifts of essential items - cold weather accessories, tooth paste, body wash, and more - donated by Allegro families and HALO.

Keep scrolling to see more from the event - these festive photos are sure to give you some holiday cheer! A warm thank you to Allegro Children's Choir of KC and everyone who has supported the HALO Learning Center this year!

 

This HALO youth loves her new scarf! 

 

Testing out the photo booth!

Making snowflakes!

A new homemade tree topper for the HALO tree! 

The tree looks great with ornaments made by HALO youth!

Decorating ornaments to take home! 

The more glitter the better! 

A tree ornament out of popsicle sticks and buttons - so clever!

Christmas crafting while eating candy canes. 

A full house for Christmas crafting!

Happy Holidays from the HALO Learning Center! 

December's Life Skill: Compassion!

In December, HALO Youth are making art projects all dedicated to compassion and what it means to them. From self-love, to Christmas, to encouragement, to love, HALO Youth got to express compassion and what it means to them in practically any way they wished! 

For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.

This HALO youth has Christmas on the brain as she thinks about compassion and love.

Compassion means “loving” and “caring” and “feeling” to this HALO youth.

This is what symbolized compassion to this HALO youth.

This HALO youth wants to show compassion to herself by saying “I love me”.

Compassion means many things to this HALO youth – peace, encouragement, righteousness, respect, strength, and tolerance. She also loves “2B Compassionate!”

This HALO youth has compassion for everyone helping her on her “new path” in life.

HALO Wraps up November!

During November, HALO Youth celebrated being healthy!

The youth were asked to make art pieces about personal health. The only rule was that their art had to be about things that made them feel healthy emotionally and physically. They created some beautiful art that was really personal to them!

For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.

Rewind on Passport Day 2014!

Passport Day 2014 was an absolute blast this year! Over 65 "world travelers" flew on Passport Day, a huge increase from 2013! The "frequent flyers" were children that "flew" to Kenya, Uganda, Nicaragua, India, and Mexico, the countries that HALO works in, without ever leaving their hometown!

The youth started in the USA before climbing aboard HALO airlines; then, take-off! Tasty ethnic foods were sampled, including Kenyan doughnuts and Mexican enchiladas. Yummy! Each youth also got to make a craft representative of the country they were in, like Nicaraguan maracas, Ugandan necklaces, and got Indian Henna tattoos.

The event was a total success and fun for everyone involved! The event couldn't have been so fun without HALO's UMKC Advocate Group, INDUS of UMKC, the African Student Cultural Organization, the Association of Latino American Students, and the African-American Culture House of UMKC to help make our "travelers" have the world adventure they'll never forget!

For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.

Getting traditional Henna tattoos at the India booth from an INDUS volunteer

All the flights for "HALO airlines" are on time for Passport Day!

UMKC's INDUS group do traditional Indian dances

HALO youth learn traditional dance moves from Kenya!

The luchador (traditional wrestler) at the Mexico booth poses with an excited world traveler!

The HALO Foundation Presents: Passport Day!

Do you know a child who has an eye for an adventure, to explore the wonders of the world? Bring them to The HALO Foundation’s Passport Day!

At Passport Day, children go around to visit all of HALO’s supported home countries–Mexico, India, Nicaragua, Uganda and Kenya. With each country, it’s a new passport stamp, art piece, dance, and language! By the end of the night, kids will have experienced the world without ever leaving their hometown!

Date: Thursday, November 20

Time: 6:00 pm-8:00 pm

Location: The Culture House at UMKC 5245 Rockhill Road

Kansas City, MO 64110

*Open to youth ages 5-18!*

If you’re interested, please RSVP here! The event is tomorrow and HALO would love to have you!

For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.

HALO Youth Learn to Lead!

With October gone and November here, HALO Youth are wrapping up October's Life Skill--Leadership. At the end of the month, HALO Youth and volunteers divided into groups to practice working together. As a group, they had to decide between 3 topics for their art piece: "This is what Leadership looks like," "Future Goals," or "I'm Passionate About…" . The groups also had to pick one art material to use for the majority of their project from a list of choices.

Together, HALO youth and volunteers created some wonderful artwork! It was a wonderful month, overall. However, as October has ended, HALO is looking forward to great things in November!

For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.

This “Future Goals” group only used colored pencils to show their goals, including things like “Happiness," graduating high school, and having a family.

This group chose “What I’m Passionate About” for their topic. This youth is passionate about basketball, and only used ribbon to make the basketball.

A “This is what Leadership looks like” interpretation – this time with magazines as the main medium. A lot of good quotes, including “Don’t Follow – Lead the Group” and “You never back down from a challenge, and you wouldn’t start now”.

This group chose “This is what Leadership looks like” for their topic and chose to paint a quote – “Treat others the same way you want to be treated.” Their medium of choice was watercolor – they even painted their hands and stamped them on the paper!

This group chose “What I’m Passionate About” for their topic – one youth is passionate about music and wrote some of her favorite lyrics, while the other youth is passionate about her relationship with her mom and making it work through their struggles.

This group chose “Future Goals” as their topic, and foam as their medium. One youth’s future goals is to be a mechanic and work on Ford vehicles!

Happy Halloween from HALO!

HALO Youth took a small break from lessons to celebrate a creative and spooktacular Halloween! They got to make masks and pumpkins and decorate any way they wished--from glitter galore to painted and polished, the HALO youth got to spend some time just to let their imaginations shine. They had a wonderful time getting to let their minds take them wherever they wished.

So, whatever you are doing this Halloween, where ever you are, HALO wishes you the happiest of Halloweens!

 For more photos and other HALO information, please visit our Facebook page.  If you want to volunteer and be part of HALO’s mission, go to www.haloworldwide.org.