MTYAA offers football for 6-14 year-olds not yet eligible for high school sports. Practices for the six teams that MTYAA sponsors begin in August with games beginning in September.

MTYAA also offers cheer squads for girls 6-14; registration for MTYAA Junior Cheer is also taking place Mondays at Sorelli’s, 7-8 p.m.

For more information about MTYAA Junior Football and Junior Cheer, contact Kelly Dougan at kdougan@seanet.com or at 206-941-2220, or visit their website.

Samantha Vamos

The Mountlake Terrace Library and the Sno-Isle Library Foundation are bringing children’s book author Samantha Vamos to the library Monday, April 23 at 10 a.m.

Vamos is the author of “Before You Were Here, Mi Amor,” “The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred” and the forthcoming “Alphabet Trucks.” Her appearance is part of El día de los niños/El día de los libros, (Children’s Day/Book Day), an annual event emphasizing the importance of literacy for children of all linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Families with children ages 5 – 8 are invited to attend this free program.

For more information, call 425-776-8722 or go to www.sno-isle.org and click on Classes and Events, Mountlake Terrace. The Mountlake Terrace Library is located at 23300 58th Ave. W next to City Hall.

Over the summer, the volunteers have been sorting, cleaning and preparing the store for back to school. During the first to weeks of operation, we anticipate that more than 50 volunteers will contribute nearly 1,500 hours of support to ensure that every family receives quality services and clothing. With a generous donation from Umpqua Bank, we have invested in new plus size clothing for teen girls and boys and are thrilled to be offering an expanded department for those students.

Students qualify for Clothes For Kids through the free or reduced lunch program. To simplify the process for the families, students should go to the school they attend and obtain a clothing requisition form from their school office. The form outlines the hours of operation and includes a detailed map to Clothes For Kids.

When families arrive at Clothes For Kids, they will be given a number and asked to wait so that each family can have the space and time necessary to pick out clothing for their students. Each student will receive a shopping list and basket when they come in to shop and can then look through the racks of new and gently used clothing that have been sorted by size and type. There are two dressing rooms for the students to ensure that their wardrobe will fit properly. During Fall/Winter shopping, students should receive a warm coat, lighter weight coat, 1 pair of shoes, socks, underwear and two outfits for school. The only thing that is missing is the cash register.

With many families feeling the effects of this difficult economy, the need is greater than ever. Clothes For Kids is grateful to have the inventory we currently have and we recognize that in order to meet the increasing demand for our services we need additional volunteers, in-kind donations and cash contributions that help us to fill the holes in inventory and meet the needs of students in Headstart through 12th grade. For more information about Clothes For Kids please go to www.clothesforkids.org or call 425-741-6500.

Mountlake Terrace Recreation and Parks camp children participated in a field day style Olympic Games. Councilmembers Rick Ryan and John Zambrano presented a proclamation to commemorate the day as Olympic Day in the city. The event included opening and closing ceremonies for the kids.

Olympic Day is a worldwide commemoration of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s June 23, 1894, convening of the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting at the Sorbonne in Paris, and the founding of the Modern Olympic Games. National Olympic Committees (NOC’s) throughout the world also participated in the international celebration, with each Olympic Committee sending Olympic Day greetings to participating nations.

The Fundraising and Events Committee is tasked with brainstorming, coordinating, and planning the many fundraising programs and events that Clothes for Kids plans throughout the year. Since Clothes for Kids relies heavily on individual and corporate support, this committee plays a crucial role in keeping the organization going.

The Finance Committee works closely with the Treasurer and Bookkeeper to ensure accurate financial reporting. They also look for areas of improvement and make recommendations to the Board of Directors.

The Community Outreach committee spreads the word of Clothes for Kids throughout the community, coordinating with various school, community, and other non-profit organizations to develop support and partnerships.

For more information or to volunteer, please contact Rob Schwertley at 425-741-6500 or rschwertley@clothesforkids.org.

The Family Center of South Snohomish County, the Edmonds School District, Turning Point, the Windermere Foundation, Community Health Center, and other community partners, are again organizing a Back-to-School Supply Drive and Resource Fair. Needy students in the Edmonds School District registered through their school as being in need of assistance with school supplies, and will receive those supplies at a resource event scheduled for August 17 at Cedar Valley Community School.

Last year, this consortium served 800 students by providing them with a backpack and grade-appropriate school supplies. This year, the goal is to serve 1000 needy students. Through a generous gift from the Hazel Miller Foundation, organizers were able to purchase backpacks for all of the students. Now, the need is for school supplies to fill the backpacks!

Community members are asked to drop off new school supplies at any one of the following locations:

• Lynnwood Police Department
• Edmonds School District Administrative Building
• Community Health Center of Lynnwood
• Red Onion Burgers in Mount Lake Terrace
• Family Center of South Snohomish County
• the Lynnwood branch of Sno-Isle Library
• and 3 Windermere Real Estate office locations – Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood and Edmonds

Photo by Steven Depolo via Flickr using a CC-BY license.

Olympic Day is a worldwide commemoration of Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s June 23, 1894, convening of the first International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting at the Sorbonne in Paris, and the founding of the Modern Olympic Games. National Olympic Committees (NOC’s) throughout the world will also participate in the international celebration, with each Olympic Committee sending Olympic Day greetings to participating nations.

“We are very excited to be participating in this worldwide celebration of the Olympic Movement,” said Recreation Supervisor Jeff Betz. “It is our hope and goal to encourage and inspire our camp children with this one-of-a-kind opportunity.”

About three dozen Terrace Park faculty and support staff were joined by more than two dozen parent and community volunteers to lead groups of students through writing, sharing, and art sessions. Additionally, each student attended a presentation by one of three special guest published authors: Kevin Emerson (author of the Oliver Nocturne book series), Richard Jesse Watson (author/illustrator of many books, including The Magic Rabbit), and Clare Hodgson Meeker (author of the popular locally-based books Lootas, Hansa, and the newly released Soccer Dreams: Playing the Sounders FC Way).

“It’s an all-day, all-school, in-school field trip,” as Ginger Everhart, the PTA Young Authors Day committee chair describes it. “The students are randomly assigned to groups by grade and are chaperoned to each of their four sessions by an adult. It is a unique day in the school calendar that always results in great interactions between teachers and students and in forming new friendships between students from their random assignments to groups based only on their grade level and not their teacher or educational program.”

Young Authors Day is made possible each year by a committee of dedicated teachers and parent volunteers and funding from the Terrace Park PTA.