Activities

ALL of Us Care offers a broad array of activities promoting safe schools and healthy, caring communities. Our activities are open to all residents of the six municipalities we serve. Current AOUC efforts focus on youth activities, youth drug and alcohol awareness, computer access for low-income families, safety and caring education, intergenerational programs, parenting workshops, educational forums, and community events. We are a volunteer-based organization and always welcome new people who want to make a difference in their community.

For more information about ALL of Us Care programs or to volunteer, please call 412-782-6855. We look forward to hearing from you.

ALL of Us Care offers after-school activities to improve the quality of life for children and to give them a safe, supervised place to be during the at-risk hours between the end of the school day and suppertime.

Summer Activities
In collaboration with Tickets for Kids and the Greater Pittsburgh Council of the Boy Scouts of America, ALL of Us Care provides Summer Activities for underserved youth. The SAP offers a series of cultural, educational, and fun-filled trips to children who might not otherwise be able to enjoy all the wonderful things the Pittsburgh area has to offer. It also includes supervised swimming at Camp Guyasuta, and free lunch through the Allegheny County summer feeding program. Our weekly trips the last two summers have included Broadway plays, Pittsburgh Symphony concerts, a Pittsburgh walking tour, visits to the zoo, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center and Sportworks, BladeRunners Ice Rink, Pittsburgh Pirates games, a movie, a cookout, and trips to Idelwild and Kennywood. Teen and adult volunteers helped keep the the children safe and happy while they enjoyed the trips and weekly swimming sessions at the pool at Camp Guyasuta. Special thanks to Ranger Mike! Our Summer Activities give children something to look forward to, a worthwhile use of their summer time, and the opportunity to learn new things. Last summer we served over 100 children and family members.

Underage drinking and drug use are serious problems in our community. AOUC sponsors several drug and alcohol awareness programs to combat the problems of underage drinking and addictive behavior.

Each fall we spearhead the Safe Homes Pledge to encourage families to discuss issues relating to underage drinking and drug use and making healthy choices. Parents pledge to supervise teen parties and gatherings held in their homes and not to allow students to drink or use drugs on their property. Students pledge to stay safe and drug-and-alcohol-free and not to drink and drive. More than 800 individuals signed the pledge this year. Families who sign the pledge receive a booklet that includes drug and alcohol information, helpful tips, a list of resources for finding assistance, and a directory of families who have taken the pledge to help keep our youth safe and drug-and-alcohol-free. Through this effort we hope to spur and facilitate communication between parents and their children and among parents and other parents. Our partner for the Safe Homes Pledge program is the Fox Chapel Ministerium.

In the spring before prom and graduation season we coordinate a demonstration of the effects of driving under the influence. In 2000, ALL of Us Care staged a mock car crash which made a big impression on students at the high school. And in 1999, piloting a drunk driver simulator car made the effects of drinking and driving very real to the students who participated and their friends who watched. Working in cooperation with Fox Chapel Area High School, the Student Assistance Program, the PTSA, Students Against Destructive Decisions, the Mental Health Association of Allegheny County, and Safe Driving Communities, we organize a series of awareness, prevention, and education events for students and parents throughout the year. We co-sponsored four drug and alcohol forums in 2002 – 2003: Breaking The Silence on Substance Abuse and Mental Illness; Do You Know?; Help and Assistance; and Truth and Consequences. A MADD multi-media video assembly and other prevention events are planned for 2004. We also distribute educational materials at other AOUC events, and we sponsored Project Sticker Shock to remind retailers and customers that it is illegal to sell alcohol to minors or buy it for their consumption.

ALL of Us Care participates in the Northern Area Alliance Against Highly Addictive Drugs. The NAAAHAD is a consortium of twelve school districts and partner organizations. Additional online resouces can be found on the Northern Area Alliance Links page.

ALL of Us Care is working to improve access to computers and their educational benefits for low-income families.  People donate computers to us, and we refurbish them, identify low-income families with school age children who do not have computers, and deliver the used computers to them. An ALL of Us Care employee and volunteer spend time with each family, training them here at the computer lab. In this way we help "bridge the digital divide" and help the children of these families be ready to use technology in school and in the workplace. In the last three years we have given more than 100 computers to families who need them for educational use. If your family lives in Aspinwall, Blawnox, Fox Chapel, Indiana, O'Hara, or Sharpsburg, and would like to apply for a used computer or donate one, please call the ALL of Us Care office, 412-782-6855.

As of January 2006, ALL of Us Care is considering creating a computer gaming and programming facility as a safe and entertaining place for students, families and the public to come.  Please take our survey and let us know what you think.

In 2002, ALL of Us Care and District Forum co-hosted a School and Community Safety Forum. The panel discussion and question and answer period were designed to help community members learn more about everyday safety and crisis response in our schools and neighborhoods. One of AOUC's safety education activities is sponsoring Photo ID and Fingerprinting Safety Fairs for children several times a year at different locations. We ask the local police departments to help us with this project; it's a great opportunity for kids to get to know the officers in a friendly way. In addition to giving the children two free photo ID cards, we distribute coloring books and other safety information. Sometimes we have McGruff the Crime Dog and police cars on site for the children. At our Community Block Party in the fall of 2003 we provided this service to more than 80 young children and their families. We hope the families will never have to use these photo IDs, but it is better to have them if they need them in a hurry. We also work with local police departments to offer Bike Safety Rodeos, and we provided the materials the school resource officer uses for the Charlie Check First safety program. A new addition to our safety education effort involves organizing visits to local fire departments for young children during Fire Safety Week in the fall. Our Community Block Party featured a wealth of safety activities for children.

The main component of our caring education effort is the "12 Caring Habits" program. Each month we promote a healthy habit, such as "Lend A Hand," "Have Patience and Listen," or "Do Your Best." We encourage students to read books and create artwork with the theme of the month. In addition, ALL of Us Care has distributed bookmarks with a description of the healthy habit and upcoming programs and events. Local newsletters cooperate with us by featuring the caring habit of the month, and some schools make monthly bulletin boards that remind people to practice the caring habit everyday! Of course a caring attitude and respect for others are built into all our activites.

ALL of Us Care strengthens families by offering parents a chance to get together and learn more about a very important job, raising kids! In spring 2002, our parenting workshops focused on improving parent-child communication; a six-week course on Positive Parenting was taught by an educator from Children's Hospital the following fall. AOUC has organized several one-day sessions on topics such as Internet safety and "Tease-Proofing Your Child." Another workshop was a collaborative effort between ALL of Us Care and Boyd Community Center called "Survival Skills for Kids." Our fall 2003 class was led by Lisa DeCarolis of the North Hills Youth Ministry Counseling Center; the topic was "Building Resiliency in Children and Teens." Ms. DeCarolis, MSW, LSW, Coordinator of Healthy Communities*Healthy Youth Initiatives, also led our winter parenting session, "Strong Families*Strong Kids." This four-part workshop helped parents learn strategies for raising healthy, confident, and resilient children and building on the strengths of their families.

These groups meet the third Thursday of every month.  Please check the calendar page for the actual dates and topics for meetings from November 2005 to May 2006.

There is also a support group on Wednesday evenings at our offices for parents with children addicted to chemical substances.  Contact us to find out more.

Grandparent Support Group

A support group for grandparents raising the children of substance-addicted parents meets weekly on Monday nights at 6:30 p.m. in the AOUC offices. Please call us and let us know if you would like to attend.  A trained counselor coordinates the meetings.

ALL of Us Care organizes and presents educational forums throughout the year on topics like school violence, underage drinking and drug use, teenage depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and community safety. These forums feature knowledgeable local and national speakers and community leaders. They provide parents with the chance to learn more about the topics, to address questions and concerns to local leaders, to meet other community members who care about these issues, and to move forward as a community.

In the spring of 2003 we hosted a "Meet the Candidates for District Justice" forum. All four candidates were present. After making brief opening statements, they participated in a question and answer session moderated by attorney Tim Sheerer. Fifty community members took advantage of the opportunity to learn more about the candidates for this important office.

Community Events

ALL of Us Care sponsors community events to foster a sense of unity among the people of the six municipalities in our school district. Our premier event is our annual Community Walk. For eight years our Community Walk has drawn people from all areas of the community together to enjoy a healthy activity while promoting community spirit. Three hundred seventy-five citizens "walked the walk" in September, 2002, to show their support for ALL of Us Care. All six communities were represented, and the walkers' ages ranged from babies in strollers to people in their eighties!

In the spring of 2003, we partnered with UPMC St. Margaret Hospital to present the Community Fitness Classic. We combined our events promoting fitness and community spirit for an exciting 5K Run/Walk with awards for the top finishers in 21 different race divisions and some fantastic door prizes. Call St. Margaret's race info line, 412-784-5169, for information about future 5K events.

In fall 2003 we presented our first Community Block Party.

In 2005, we held a "Fitness Fair" in collaboration with the Fox Chapel Area School District instead of our usual Community Walk.
It included:

• personalized exercise advice from local fitness clubs like Club One, Alexander's Athletic Club, and Taylormade Fitness
• a variety of exercise demonsrations such as yoga, Pilates, aerobics, and kickboxing
• a Dance Dance Revolution contest: Congratulations to Kristen Mossman (1st Place) and Morgan Hammer (2nd Place) who both won Playstation II's, and Jeremy Funaro, who won two movie passes to Waterworks Cinema!
• stress scans and chair massages from Alliance Family Chiropractic
• free iced tea, juices, and milk from Turner's Dairy
• Moonwalk, face painting, the Healthy Apple Mascot
• all-around healthiness and fun!