Connect with Operation Breakthrough here or from home
Posted by Jennifer Heinemann on August 27, 2020
Thank you for your interest in how to make a difference for our children and families during these challenging times. Your support means a lot! The following is a comprehensive list of current opportunities.
Volunteering/Visiting at OB
For now, we are not able to host visitors in our children’s spaces during school hours. It IS possible to volunteer in our food pantry, clothing closet and gardens. For more information, please contact our volunteer coordinator, Maddie Connelly, at volunteer@operationbreakthrough.org
It’s also possible to tour OB after hours, by appointment. It’s not the same without the children here, but we’d be glad to show you around and tell you about our programs, weekdays at 5:30 p.m. Contact jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.org
How to help from home
There are many ways to help from a distance – everything from putting on a diaper drive in your neighborhood to encouraging students engaged in virtual school.
You can:
Participate in community events/fundraisers that support Operation Breakthrough:
Click here for PowerLife Donation Yoga/Sculpt/Barre Class
Click here for Give and ParTAKE Out Booklet
Click here to purchase SUKI Harmony and Unity Bracelets that benefit Operation Breakthrough
Click here for Donutology Care to Share - donuts for hospitals & first responders
Click here to purchase your own OB Sun Necklaces
Come up with your own creative way to support our children. Host a donation drive, hold a pet photo contest, or announce a birthday fundraiser on Facebook. Let us know what you’re planning by contacting melanieh@operationbreakthrough.org.
Follow OB on Social Media. Stay connected with what the kids are doing and exciting things happening!
Tell your friends, family and coworkers about Operation Breakthrough.
Invite us to speak at your gathering. We would be glad to tell your group about Operation Breakthrough virtually – or in person. Depending on your needs, we can add slides and video to our presentation. To schedule, contact jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.org
Watch our 2020 agency video, then share it with others. To meet some of our alumni and children in “Catching Up with the Children of OB,” please click here.
Pencil our 50th Anniversary Celebration/Annual Fundraiser into your calendar and/or your company’s charitable giving budget. Operation Breakthrough turns 50 in 2021. We’re planning to celebrate all year, but the biggest event will be our annual fundraiser in Summer 2021. Date and location to be announced, thanks to the uncertainty of COVID-19. There will be sponsorship opportunities, a call for auction items and many other ways to support our children through this event. Contact leed@operationbreakthrough.org for updates.
Join our children’s Circle of Friendship auxiliary. This is a group of supporters who provide annual dues of $35, $60 or $125 to fund kindergarten readiness activities and, when conditions permit, attend special volunteer days at Operation Breakthrough. Click here for more information or to sign up.
Join Grapevine. Grapevine meets 6 times a year, over lunch, to catch up on news and needs at Operation Breakthrough. Meetings for now are virtual. The next meeting is Sept. 23 at noon. Send your email address to jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.organd ask to be added to the Grapevine list.
Join the OB Network. This group for young professionals combines service, opportunities to socialize with others who care about OB’s mission and monthly giving. For more information or to sign up, click here.
Support our Birthday Closet with a new toy. All our children, ages 1 to 14, receive gifts on their birthdays from the Birthday Closet. Items for boys and tweens of both genders are most needed.
Decorate birthday bags to hold the gifts. This is a great way for children to get involved at OB. We supply white paper bags, which you can pick up by appointment at our front desk. Take them home and cover them with crayon or marker drawings, stickers, birthday greetings, abstract art, unicorns, the Chiefs’ logo – whatever strikes your fancy. Then bring them back so we can fill them with gifts and deliver them to children celebrating birthdays. To get bags, contact jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.org
Adopt a family for the holidays. We’ll match you with a local family, providing a wish list of new gifts under $25 for each child and instructions on how to donate toward the family’s holiday meal. You deliver to our warehouse, and we distribute gifts to parents. For more information, send an email to holiday@operationbreakthrough.org
Adopt a classroom. We’ll give you a wish list of educational items, such as Play-doh, puzzles, dress-up costumes and art supplies, from one of our preschool or school-age classrooms. You choose the items you would like to give. For more information, contact jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.org
Donate gently used items. Right now, we are able to accept children’s fall clothing and winter coats, children’s books and educational toys, baby equipment and household items such as cookware, dishes, bedding, lamps and decorative accessories. We can also accept some furniture and appliances in working order, with pickups on Wednesdays by appointment. (Contact jenniferh@operationbreakthrough.org)
We are not able to accept adult clothing at this time because our parents are not coming inside the building. You might consider donating adult clothing instead to our partner organization, Blessings Abound. Blessings Abound is a thrift store that donates some cash proceeds to OB monthly.
Donate new items. From our classrooms to our food pantry, we are always in need of new items. Our current list is below:
Amazon Wish List -- All classrooms and departments post needs/wishes on the Operation Breakthrough general wish list on Amazon. Items on it can be purchased anywhere. The list is just a guide for people to see the types of items we need. Here’s a link to the Amazon wish list:
Food Pantry -- Our food pantry serves the families of children enrolled at Operation Breakthrough - more than 350 families in all, with average income of less than $1,000 a month. Toiletries are included on our list because they cannot be purchased with food stamps.
Our current pantry needs include:
Toilet tissue
Deodorant
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes for adults/children
Body soap or bar soap
Shampoo and conditioner
Spaghetti sauce
Mac ‘n’ Cheese
Peanut butter
Jelly in plastic containers
Canned corn and green beans
Canned fruit and applesauce
Preschool Classrooms
Supply boxes
Supply Boxes
We have opened two new preschool classrooms this year. We need a specific box for each child, as seen at the link below. Due to COVID-19, our children can no longer share supplies. The boxes will hold the children’s own supply of crayons, markers, etc. Purchase the boxes on Amazon here.
Individual jars of Play-Doh
Construction paper
School-age Classrooms
Operation Breakthrough is providing in-person instruction and virtual school supervision from now through at least the first quarter of the school year for 200+ children in grades K-8. The children are enrolled in 20+ different elementary and middle schools – charters and KCMO district schools. The children will come here daily, and our staff will supervise their learning on their individual schools’ virtual learning platforms. Once their assigned work is finished, Operation Breakthrough will provide hands-on learning opportunities in STEM, reading, the arts and athletics for the remainder of the day.
Needed educational materials include:
170 pairs of headphones for virtual learning, such as those found at these links:
One pair of headphones
Set of 5 headphones
iPad Chargers. These are for children whose schools have issued iPads for virtual learning.
Every school-age student needs her/his own supply box. We need 30 of these boxes.
Math and Reading Needs
Students in kindergarten through second grade can only attend to virtual school for short periods of time. We need educational materials that we can use for in-person, hands-on instruction to reinforce the math and reading concepts the children are expected to master at each grade level. In other words, we need some materials to help us function as a full-day school for children in primary grades.
Math Requests
Red/yellow counters-1 set ($21.95)Color tiles-1 set ($64.95)
Transportation counters-3 sets ($16.39 each)
Kindergarten Game Pack-3 sets ($49.95 each)
First Grade Game Pack-2 sets ($49.95 each)
Second Grade Game Pack-2 sets ($49.95 each)
Quiet Shape Ten-Frame Boards-2 sets ($41.95 each)
Quiet Shape Counters-5 sets ($ 2.49 each)
Reading/English Language Arts Requests
CVC Builders Activity Cards-5 sets ($13.79 each)
6 Letter Sounds Games-2 sets ($22.95 each)
6 Phonics Games-2 sets ($22.95 each)
Sight Word Readers Library-2 sets ($92.50)
Pat yourself on the back. If you read this far, you are already supporting OB at a very important level. We need people who just can’t get enough information about how to help our children.
Thank you so much for caring about our children and families. We hope to work with you soon!