THANK YOU

The Lakewood Early Childhood

PTA would like to thank all of our sponsors, patrons, and volunteers for another fantastic Lakewood Home Festival. Over the past 35 years, the Lakewood Home Festival has raised more than $ 1 ,000,000 for Lakewood Elementary, J.L . Long Middle School, and Woodrow Wilson High School.

Make sure you mark your calendars for the 36 th Annual Lakewood Home Festival, November 9 –11 , 2012 .

SPONSORS:

Remember the great snow and ice storm of 2011? You know, the one that shut down schools for a week and sabatoged Super Bowl parties everywhere? A pair of Roma boots sure would have come in handy that week.

Roma hunter-style rain boots are warm, sturdy, protective to the knee, and dang stylish. And for each pair sold ($79 adult and $39 for kids), Roma for All donates a pair to a child living in poverty. Founder and White Rock area resident Samuel Bistrian was visiting his home country of Ukraine when he noticed little children sloshing through dirt and snow in either sandals, worn shoes or no shoes at all (he recalls being fortunate enough to have a pair of hand-me-down boots when he was a child living there).

“Providing proper footwear is just the first step to helping these children break out of the poverty cycle,” Bistrian says. “My broader plan is to empower them by getting them back into the education system. So wherever we do a boot drop, we’ll be able to connect these kids with a local educational organization and say, ‘Hey we did this for these kids, but these kids need more than just a pair of rain boots. They need an education.’ ”

Pick up a pair of Roma boots — so you and yours’ toes can be protected from this winter’s elements — at Ditto Boutique in Hillside Village or online at romaprovisions.com.

Ditto Boutique

6465 Mockingbird, 214.370.4444

Thefennec is the smallest — and possibly most adorable — of the fox family. It resides mostly in the Sahara of North Africa, but this season, you can get a sweet likeness of the perkyeared animal at Builda-Bear Workshop, and each purchase will benefit real wildlife. Build-a-Bear donates one dollar from each $25 fox to the World Wildlife Fund to protect endangered animals and their habitats.

Build-a-Bear buildabear.com

NorthPark 8686 North Central, Suite 758 214.987.1624

Ifyou’re hosting a party this holiday season, wander inside T. Hee Greetings & Gifts the neighborhood boutique stuffed with stylish stationary; glass pigs; snuggly plush pets; blinged-out bags, baubles and bows; sports paraphernalia for the fan or host (check out the “Bad Call Bricks,” soft bricks to throw at your television when the ref irks you), yard art, table decorations and scores of things that smell crazy good (and that’s just at first blush). If you don’t have holiday party plans, it will make you want to throw one.

David Farris and Tony Doles constantly carry the store’s colorful character into the community, participating in all sorts of fundraisers and neighborhood events.

“Since opening our first store we have been dedicated to giving back to the community in any way possible,” Farris says. “While we do our share of check writing to Lake Highlands- and Lakewood-based organizations, we also always look for ways to use the resources we have available to do more for an organization beyond a mere cash donation.”

Recently, for example, they worked with the Merriman Park Elementary PTA to provide “Welcome Back” bags for schoolteachers, and they supplied decorations for the PTA’s fundraising auction.

Every year near the holidays, T. Hee hosts shop nights for a couple of different neighborhood organizations including Lake Highlands Women’s League, which provides college scholarships to financially strapped students. Those nights usually turn out to be a don’t-miss kind of party where shoppers stock up on holiday gifts.

“Shop nights always enjoy a robust attendance and are always a lot of fun,” Farris says. “At the end of the night, we cut a check for a percentage of the night’s receipts back to the charity.”

T. Hee Greetings & Gifts 9661 Audelia, 214.747.5800, t-heegifts.com 6465 E. Mockingbird, 972.996.2606