Taking Their Message to the Streets

Students and community volunteers tied printed ribbons around Doylestown Borough lampposts Friday afternoon in honor of Red Ribbon Week.

• By Sarah Larson
• October 21, 2011

More than a dozen volunteers spread out through Doylestown Borough Friday afternoon, tying on a message of drug-abuse prevention.

The ribbons are in honor of Red Ribbon Week. Now in its 25th year, the observance during the last week of October is the oldest and largest alcohol and drug prevention program in the country, said Melanie Swanson, of The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania.

Elementary schools have long used the week's message to educate kids about the importance of not using alcohol, tobacco and drugs, Kimberly Cambra said Friday, addressing the group gathered behind Class-Harlan Real Estate in Doylestown.

"This year, we decided to take the message to the streets, and we're doing that today with the help of the youth in our community," said Cambra, who is head of the community organization CB Cares.

Doylestown Mayor Libby White also addressed the group of volunteers, talking about the work being done by the coalition that includes CB Cares, The Council, the Central Bucks Family YMCA, Doylestown Hospital and the Doylestown food pantry.

"There are a lot of people looking out for you," White said. "Please don't ever think otherwise."

State Rep. Marguerite Quinn, a Republican who represents the Doylestown area, also stopped by to present a proclamation in honor of the effort.

The young volunteers worked in pairs, tying the ribbons on lampposts the line the streets of downtown Doylestown.

Red Ribbon Week traces its beginnings to 1985 in Imperial Valley, CA, the hometown of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. The young agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration had been working undercover, investigating a drug cartel in Mexico when he disappeared in February 1985. His body was found a month later.

His friends and congressman started "Camarena Clubs," whose members pledged to remain drug-free in honor of his sacrifice. They wore red ribbons in his honor.

Today's Red Ribbon Week honors Camarena's memory and supports the work of community coalitions trying to stem the influence of drugs on their communities.

Happy Endings Become New Beginnings

What started as a book drive for a fire-ravaged city school may develop into a relationship between schools in Central Bucks and Philadelphia.

• By Sarah Larson Doylestown-Buckingham-New Britain Patch
  
• September 22, 2011
• http://doylestown.patch.com/articles/happy-endings-become-new-beginnings#photo-7859840

On Wednesday, Rachel Fryatt turned 18.

But the senior at Central Bucks East High School wasn’t focused on getting presents; she was giving them.

Rachel took a trip into Philadelphia Wednesday to help deliver 8,000 books she and five other CB East students collected under the auspices of CB Cares, the community group that supports positive character development in Central Bucks schools.

The trip was the culmination of a book drive that began on Martin Luther King Day. Its beneficiary ended up being a school in desperate need.

“We thought it would be a good idea to do a book drive, and then we heard about a charter school that burned down in Philly,” Fryatt said Wednesday. “We thought, ‘How great would it be if kids were helping kids in this situation?’”

The Global Leadership Academy, a charter school in west Philadelphia, caught fire in January.

"Everything was lost in the fire," the school’s CEO Naomi Booker was quoted as saying in The Inquirer then. "There is not a pencil, not a book, not a crayon.”

CB Cares director Kimberly Cambra saw the news coverage of the fire. She already was at work planning service projects that her group would sponsor on Martin Luther King Day. A book drive to restore the devastated school’s library seemed like a perfect fit, Cambra said.

Rachel, who lives in Buckingham, arranged for drop boxes to be placed at eight of the district’s elementary schools. Each week, the young students would fill the boxes with books they had outgrown or no longer wanted.

Then, each week, Rachel and five other CB East students - Kendall Kirsteier, Ty Kooser, Kelly Lapp, Joey Sculley and Connor Wright - would go collect the books.

By the time the book drive ended in April, the team had collected nearly 10,000 books, Cambra said.

The students, who are all now seniors at CB East, sorted the books a little each week this summer, Fryatt said.

From the initial mountain of donations, the students culled about 8,000 appropriate for kindergarten through eighth grades.

Cambra stored the books in an empty office until the Philadelphia school moved into its new building at 46th and Girard and could accept the books.

They were delivered to the Global Leadership Academy on Wednesday in a cargo van volunteered for the purpose by Fred Beans car dealerships.

Cambra said Wednesday evening that the books made a huge difference to the more than 500 students at the charter school.

"I really wish I could have brought people from our community to Philadelphia with me, because they could have seen that we are changing lives one page at a time," Cambra said.

Once she had seen the school and met the students and Booker and her educators, Cambra decided on the spot that the book donation would not be a one-time event. It would be the first step in a relationship between CB Cares and the charter school.

"They knew when we left that we weren’t leaving," Cambra said. "This wasn’t about making us feel good. This was living the 40 assets, getting kids involved to help other kids."

In addition to those books, another 2,000 books for babies, toddlers and preschoolers will be donated to Child, Home and Community. The Doylestown-based group works with pregnant teens to ensure healthy births, enhance family stability and promote self-sufficiency.

The offer of the donated books, which are expected to arrive at the group’s offices on West Street in October, were a welcome surprise, director Beth Styer said Wednesday.

“We work with teen moms and dads throughout Bucks County, and we talk to them about the importance of reading to their child every day,” Styer said. “Many of them may not have grown up with a lot of books in the house and may not have a lot of books themselves.

“We talk about the different nurturing routines that we can encourage, and one of them is reading to your children. So it’s just wonderful to have books to give out to our young moms and dads so they can start to build up libraries for their children.”

As for Fryatt, who is in the process of applying to colleges, she said she learned a valuable lesson.

“It didn’t take that much time and effort, because so many people helped,” said Fryatt, who wants to study audiology and speech pathology. “I hope what I did inspires other kids to feel like they can make a difference, too.”

 
 Dr. Naomi Booker, CEO of Global Leadership Academy, (second from left) poses with Rachel Fryatt, Kimberly Cambra, and eighth grade teachers at the Philadelphia charter school.

A good ending:
10,000 books for children in need

By Christina Kristofic
Staff Writer/The Intelligencer

Rachel Fryatt

When the Global Leadership Academy burned down in January, the West Philadelphia charter school lost everything — every desk, chair, textbook, piece of paper and pencil.

CB Cares director Kimberly Cambra and Central Bucks East High School student Rachel Fryatt heard about it in the news and wanted to do something to help.

“Why not? I’m capable of doing it. I have the time,” said Rachel, now 18 and a senior at CB East.

So they organized a book drive and collected 10,000 books to replace some of Global Leadership Academy’s lost library books.

The books are being delivered to Global Leadership Academy on Wednesday — a week after the charter school opened in a new building.

“It brings tears to my eyes what has happened over this last nine or 10 months,” said Naomi Booker, chief executive officer of Global Leadership Academy. “People have donated from every walk of life. People came to the (temporary school), painted, moved furniture and put up walls, and helped our teachers get started all over again. People donated pencils and paper and computers and everything. Here’s a group that not only have they been collecting these books all this time, but they held them there until we had a (permanent) place to put them.”

CB East seniors Connor Wright and Kelly Lapp

Booker said she feels blessed.

The Global Leadership Academy is a public charter school that teaches approximately 400 students. It focuses on helping students make international connections with their studies.

The school operated in an old Catholic school building in West Philadelphia until the Jan. 9 fire. Booker said a group held a party in the building the night of Jan. 8, and the fire marshal determined that the fire started because someone left a candle burning.

The fire destroyed the school in about two hours.

“It took everything,” Booker said. “We lost everything in the fire.”

The academy was building a new school at the time, but couldn’t move in because it wasn’t going to be ready until September. So the school district of Philadelphia allowed the charter school to rent a building for the remainder of the school year.

People throughout the regional educational community and Philadelphia began working to help the the school.

In Central Bucks, Rachel Fryatt put book collection boxes in eight Central Bucks elementary schools: Butler, Buckingham, Cold Spring, Gayman, Groveland, Jamison, Mill Creek and Pine Run. She went to each school once a week to collect the books and then take them to CB Cares’ office in Doylestown Township.

Cambra said Rachel broke her hand in the spring and “was literally doing it single-handedly.”

Rachel told some of her friends about the book drive, and they helped her sort and box up the books.

“The job seemed easy to do,” said Connor Wright, a senior at CB East.

And, CB East senior Kelly Lapp said, “I know I like to read. My childhood was based around so many books. I couldn’t imagine a childhood without books.”

The teens said they sometimes had trouble staying on task when they were sorting and boxing books; they would see favorite books from their childhoods, such as “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and the Berenstain Bears books, and stop to flip through them.

CB Cares will give 8,000 books for children in kindergarten through eighth grades to the Global Leadership Academy and 2,000 books for children younger than kindergarten age to Child Home & Community in Doylestown. Child Home & Community is a nonprofit that works with teen mothers to help them graduate from high school and raise their children.

Fred Beans car dealerships donated a cargo van for CB Cares to transport the books.

Rachel said Monday she was excited to finally be able to deliver the books on Wednesday. It’s her birthday.

“I couldn’t have done it without Kimberly,” she said.

And Cambra said she’s “very happy these books are getting in the hands of kids who wouldn’t have otherwise had them.”

Kimberly Cambra, Executive Director, CB Cares

Posted: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 8:06 am

CB Cares hosts its fourth Celebrity Chef & Waiter Gala on Sunday

By Stacy Briggs Staff Writer Calkins Media, Inc. | 0comments

Emmy Award-winning journalist and cookbook author Janet Zappala headlines in the kitchen and Devyn Rush, the "Singing Waitress" from this season of "American Idol," does her thing during the fourth Celebrity Chef & Waiter Gala taking place from 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday at Doylestown Country Club in Doylestown Township.

The event is one of the first sustainable fundraisers in the region, with most of the evening's provisions coming from within a 10- to 15-mile radius of the table.

Zappala will create the main course for the evening's menu with inspiration from her latest cookbook, "My Italian Kitchen," and she'll also be adding to the fun and camaraderie among the guests in the dining room. Shealso hosts a health and fitness webisode called Wealth of Health on JanetZappala.tv. Joining her in the kitchen will be chef Drew Abate from Vine & Fig Tree Bistro, who is also actively participating in the "Chef to School" program at Central Bucks West High School.

The evening begins with a VIP (Very Important Producer) reception orchestrated by Earl's Bucks County's general manager David Zuckerman and executive chef Chris Tavares who will showcase three local farmers by creating tasting stations with products from the VIPs.

During the reception, guests will have the opportunity to peruse the Epicurean Auction Tables (EAT) to bid on items such as a five-day/four-night land package to the Wyndham Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa in Puerto Rico, a Phillies spring training in Clearwater package and an array of gourmet wares.

The flavorful fun begins with a three-course, wine-paired dinner served up by community leaders, elected officials and local celebrities including Rush, a New Hope native.

Guests can anticipate their celebrity waiters will "aim to please" as they will be hard at work earning tips doing whatever it takes for the good of the cause and "serving the community."

The evening concludes with a Sweet Ending Soiree, featuring a selection of locally made sweets and treats, and the presentation of the "Most Appreciated Waiter" award to the celebrity waiter who earns the most tips. Jen Walton will be defending her title.

Says Kimberly Cambra, CB Cares' executive director: "It is our hope for each vendor to only use a little less than a gallon of gas to contribute to the event. Where else can you partake in the most exciting gastronomic event in Bucks County while supporting youthand parent programs and our local farmers at the same time? When your name is CB Cares - Cares begins from the ground up."

The venue is at 401 Pebble Hill Road.

Information: 215-489-9120; http://cb-cares.org.

Thursday, August 19, 2010
COURIER TIMES / THE INTELLIGENCER

From Zeppelin to the Peas, new teen music duo mixes it up

By KAITLIN JUNOD
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST HIGH SCHOOL

On Saturday night, Saxbys Coffee in Doylestown is nearly empty with the exception of a few couples spread throughout the coffeehouse, the guy at the window who has one ear occupied with his Bluetooth and the other filled with an earphone that is plugged into his laptop, and my friend Megan and I. 

A talented girl with a blond ponytail and astounding voice is finishing up a song by Kelly Clarkson as Ben and Jess, who are on deck to perform, stand ready to set up with their guitar and microphone.

Ben Hamalian and Jessica Bayer are both soon-to-be sophomores at Central Bucks East. They have been performing as a duo called Sapphire in various venues throughout the summer.

This particular Saturday, Sapphire is closing out the night at Saxbys. Ben begins their set with a rock version of the national anthem, which is followed by a set of songs ranging from Aerosmith’s “Dream On” to Etta James’ jazzy “At Last.”

The highlight of the night is when they play “Stairway to Heaven.” Though she is no Robert Plant, Jess puts her own twist on the classic song with her soulful voice, and Ben’s guitar solo is so good that a couple goes up to compliment him when the song is over. 

Near the end of their set, Ben ditches his guitar for the mike and shows off his unexpected rapping skills as he duets with Jess on the song “Meet Me Halfway” by the Black Eyed Peas.  By the end of the last song, everyone in Saxbys is listening (even the guy at the window turns off his headphones for a minute). When they finish, Ben and Jess come over to join Megan and me as we are slurping up the last of our Kookie Creme and a wild-berry smoothie.

Sapphire, which was formed at the end of the school year, is named after the birthstone of both members, who are September-born. This summer is the first time that they have performed together.

How did you guys first come up with the idea to perform together?
“It was after the protest choir,” Ben says, referring to an assembly that had happened at Holicong Middle School in which a student choir sang protest songs from the Vietnam War era. “I saw her sing, and I guess she saw me play guitar. We were, like, ‘Hey, we should play together!’ ”

How did you come by this opportunity to play in public?

What was auditioning like?

What kind of music do you listen to? How do you decide whatsongs you are going to perform?

“We are so diverse,” replies Ben. “Like, our set, it’s all theway from patriotic to classic rock. Everything, like hip-hop,the Black Eyed Peas.”  “I like a mixture of everything,”Jess adds. “I like to pick songs that fit my voice well, andBen’s into the whole hard-rock thing.”

Do you guys think you have a future in music?

Mural Unveiling in Doylestown

Rick Kintzel/Staff Photographer – November 30, 2009

Left, Casey DeMas of Pennridge High School; Shannon Fox of CB South High School and Allison Terry of Tohickon Middle School stand with Amanda Layre who donated her studio so the students could work on the mural behind them after an unveiling ceremony at Doylestown Branch of the Bucks County Free Library Monday night. CB Cares and the Bucks County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence recruited area students to create a mural with elements commonly seen in the environment and toxins to communicate their message to other teens like a metaphor about polluting your body with alcohol. Three other students, Brendan Grant and Bobby Rolley of CB East and Devon Smith of CB West were not at the ceremony.

The Central Bucks Drug Free Community Project

BUCKS LIVING • OCTOBER 2008

To view the complete article, click here