September AP/HF Meeting!

Each year Cultural Care Au Pair hosts a great family day/picnic. This year it will be on September 21st, at Marymoor Park. All host families, au pairs, kids and friends are welcome to attend this fun event.

This year, we are hoping to do something extra special - and collect food for Food Lifeline. They are a great local charity that focuses on helping families in need. Please bring along your donations of canned food, dried food, non-perishable foods or monetary donations.

Be sure to have this day on your calendar, and I can't wait to see you there!

What Hunger Looks Like in Western Washington

• Many of the people served by Food Lifeline are among the working poor. 62% of the households Food Lifeline serves count a job, social security, SSI, unemployment or disability as a main source of income.
• The profile for a hungry person in Western Washington continues to defy society's expectations. Nearly 45% of the individuals using a food bank, meal program or shelter in Western Washington have some form of post-secondary education. Only 15% are actually homeless.
• 37% of the hungry people Food Lifeline serves are children.
• 13% of the hungry people Food Lifeline serves are seniors.
• Hunger causes many families to have to make difficult choices.
• 51% of the hungry people Food Lifeline serves must choose between food and paying for heat.
• 40% of the hungry people Food Lifeline serves must choose between food and paying for medicine or medical care.
• 40% of the hungry people Food Lifeline serves must choose between food and rent.
• 88% of Food Lifeline's member food banks say that if they couldn't get food from a distribution agency such as Food Lifeline, it would have a significant or devastating impact on their program.
• Nearly 43% of the people who are emergency food recipients in Western Washington are food insecure with hunger. This means that these individuals do not know when they will eat again and often times go to bed hungry.

SeaFair 2008

Go back and check out the posting on SeaFair from May - there are tons of activities going on right now that are just fantastic! Here are some of the highlights:

July 12-13: Mercer Island Summer Celebration!12th - at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island from 10a - 7p, with fireworks at dark
12th - Parade, Downtown Mercer Island at 10a
13th - downtown Mercer Island from 10a - 5p
July 12: Redmond Derby Days, Redmond City Hall, 10a - 10p
July 12-13: Seattle's Chinatown-International District Festival 2008, Hing Hay Park, 10a - 6p
July 12: Wallingford Seafair Kiddie Parade & Street Fair, Wallingford Avenue between 43rd and 45th, from 10a - 6p, Parade at 11a
July 17-20: Kla Ha Ya Days, Downtown Snohomish; Parade on the 19th at 11a
July 18-20: 23rd Annual Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow, Daybreak Indian Culture Center at Discovery Park
July 18-20: Kirkland Uncorked, Marina Park in Kirkland
July 20: Chinatown Seafair Parade, International District in Seattle, 7p (come and cheer on the families with children from China!!)
July 23: Greenwood Seafair Parade, Parade at 6p
July 23, 25-27: IKEA Renton River Days, Liberty Park in Renton
July 25-27: Covington Days Festival, Covington Multicare Clinic
July 26, 2008: Southwest Airlines Torchlight Parade at Seafair, Downtown on 4th Avenue, 7:30p
July 26-27: Ballard SeafoodFest, eat your way to happiness in downtown Ballard
July 30 - August 3 - Fleet Arrival and Tours, Pier 90
August 1-3, 2008: Chevrolet Cup at Seafair, South Lake Washington (see website for times)August 1-3, 2008: KeyBank Air Show at Seafair presented by Boeing, South Lake Washington (see website for times)

Bite of Seattle

Next weekend, July 18-20th, is the Bite of Seattle. Held at the Seattle Center, this is YOUR opportunity to spend the day trying out food from all the Seattle area restaurants that you haven't gone out to yet.

If you think you saw a lot of food at Folklife, this is nothing - this is all food, everywhere. Of course, there will be some entertainment and music, but the main attraction is fantastic food. Prepare to pace yourselves, and eat yourselves silly. (Look for more information on the late summer festival, Bumbershoot, if you are interested in great music from the whole world..)

Admission is FREE, and the food is usually $3-6 per sample.

Monthly AP Meetings

I wanted to reiterate to everyone that the monthly meetings are required for au pairs to attend - as well as the quarterly CEP (continuing education programs) that are offered at four of the meetings each year. If more than two meetings are missed, an au pair is not eligible to receive their deposit back at the end of the year.

If you have any questions about what we are or are not doing, times, places to be, etc - please let me know...

Check out what we are doing:
July 13 - Potluck Picnic at Phantom Lake Pool + CEP Summer Program - 3p
August 17 - Lara's House - 1p
September 21 - All CCAP AP/Host Family Picnic at Marymoor Park
October 19 - Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze - 1p
November 16 - Thanksgiving at Lara's + CEP Fall Program - 3p
December 14 - Christmas cookie exchange! (note: date change) - 1p
2009:
January 18 - AP's to choose and plan event!!!
February 19 - TBD + CEP Winter Program
March 15 - TBD
April 19 - Trip to the Tulip Fields
May 17 - TBD + CEP Spring Program
June 21 - TBD

Talking to You: Summer sun protection

As the weather gets warmer and summertime activities take all of us outside more and more, it’s a great time to remind ourselves as well as our au pairs of the importance of sun protection. Some au pairs may be used to a very different climate and may underestimate the power of the sun in their host family’s location. Also, the au pairs are setting an example for their host children so an au pair who shows responsible sun protection habits encourages their host children to follow suit.

We all have those bottles of sunscreen we’ve been keeping for a long time, but did you know that most sunscreen products expire within two to three years? As soon as a bottle of sunscreen is opened, the molecules that act as protection against UV rays begin to be exposed and over time they break down and lose their effectiveness. Always check the expiration date on the container for the date it becomes ineffective. Sunscreen can be expensive, but it’s better to pay that price than to pay the price of a day at the beach without sun protection!

Stipend Increase

Effective July 24th, the weekly stipend for au pairs will increase to $176.85. Since this falls in the middle of the week it is recommended that all au pairs will be paid at the new rate for the entire week of July 20th.

As a reminder, no money should be taken out of an au pairs weekly stipend to "pay back" the host family for expenses. Those should be paid by the au pair back to the HF, preferably with a check. Au pairs should not be paying host families for food, gas for the job, or the first $500 of their education requirement. If you have questions about what the au pair can pay for, and what a host family should pay for, please let me know!

Too much luggage going home?

Another LCC raised the question of what to do when an AP has acquired a LOT of stuff during their year in the US. Not just a bunch - we are talking about a LOT of stuff. What is the easiest way to get the luggage home? Do you ship through the post office? Through DHL? Through UPS?

My answer: bring it with you

I know that it seems like the airlines are nickel and diming everywhere trying to make up for lost revenue as they overspend on fuel. However, paying for one or two extra bags is still currently the cheapest way out there to bring home your stuff. Buy the extra duffel bags or suitcases, and bring it with you. A month ago I had a girl who brought 2 extra suitcases home. Each weighed in under 20 kilo's (barely) - but was charged only $50 per suitcase to bring them home to Germany. That is a fantastic deal.

Once you have your ticket, call your airline and find out what their rule is. Even if the cost is $75 or even $100, it's still a great deal. Shipping the same weight through USPS could cost you over $400! And, it's not trackable and it's not guaranteed. At least on the plane, it is trackable and arrives when you do.