Maria Calabro

CT Whale Hockey Game

Posted by: mcalabro on March 22, 2011

Our au pair group made some NOISE at Sunday’s hockey game at the XL Center in Hartford. The CT Whale scored in each period, scoring a 3-1 victory over the Springfield Falcons. This was the Whale’s third win in three days!

St. Patrick’s Day - March 17

Posted by: mcalabro on March 14, 2011

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated each year on March 17 in countries around the world by the Irish and the “Irish at Heart”.

The first year St. Patrick’s Day was celebrated in America was in 1737 in
Boston, Massachusetts. The first official St. Patrick’s Day parade was
held in New York City in 1766. As the saying goes, on this day
“everybody is Irish!” Over 100 U.S. cities now hold Saint Patrick’s Day
parades and we all felt the Irish Spirit at the 40th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Hartford:

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and is credited for converting the Irish people to Christianity. According to legend, St. Patrick used a three-leafed shamrock to illustrate the idea of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). The St. Patrick mythology also includes the claim that he banished snakes from Ireland. He charmed the snakes into the sea so that they drowned.

Our July “activity” au pair meeting!

Posted by: mcalabro on July 18, 2010

You know you will have a great day when you start your Sunday morning by the Farmington River in the beautiful Collinsville, CT.

Katy, Anika, Alanna, Victoria, Ale, Thiare, Johanna, Franzi, Emma, Sam, Victoria and LCC Maria

Thank you, Collinsville Canoe and Kayak for accommodating our Cultural Care Au Pair Group this morning, your friendly staff in helping us onto the river with the canoes was much appreciated!

Everyone had so much fun! Canoeing did make us hungry and we all ventured out to a Mexican lunch where Ale, Victoria, Thiare and Valeria intruduced new spices to us!

Greater Hartford Area Au Pairs show off their talents at Karaoke

Posted by: mcalabro on June 17, 2010

The Butterfly Restaurant in West Hartford was the place to be on June 16th, 2010.

Au Pairs from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine and Uzbekistan met there for a fun International gathering and were not shy to sing their favorite song.

We discovered that amongst the many talents, Jens and Rene, both from Germany, are “natural” entertainers!

Our Spanish speaking au pairs also offered an outstanding performance as did our German speakers, singing “99 Luftballons”

It sure was a memorable night for all of us!!

Tag Sale benefiting “Freshplace”

Posted by: mcalabro on June 1, 2010

Our Tag Sale is scheduled for Saturday, June 5th from 9 - 1 pm at the

Simsbury Farms

100 Old Farms Road

West Simsbury, CT 06092

Thank you, host families for your generous donations to our tag sale, and thank you, au pairs for volunteering your time!!

All proceeds will benefit FRESHPLACE, a new food pantry that will open in July 2010 in the upper Albany neighborhood of Hartford.

Freshplace is a collaboration between Foodshare, Chrysalis Center Inc., and the Junior League of Hartford, Inc.  By addressing the root causes of hunger with fresh foods, client-choice and targeted services, Freshplace will help individuals and families to stabilize and guide them on a path to achieving better health, and greater self-sufficiency.

The Need is Great

Hunger is a significant problem in Greater Hartford - one that affects 100,000 people in our community. Chronic hunger exacerbates many of the social problems in our area, including problem pregnancies, the incidence of premature, high risk birth, and children too listless or restless to pay attention in school. Teens living with food insecurity are more likely to have health problems, get into trouble, use drugs or alcohol, drop out of school and attempt suicide. Chronically hungry individuals are more prone to drug and alcohol abuse and are more likely to commit crimes in pursuit of food or the means to get food.