See anything fun in the paper today?

KIVA - Kids In the Valley! was introduced today to the local Roanoke area through today's issue of The Roanoke Times. We would like to welcome any new readers who have learned about us by reading this article. My wife and I would also like to thank Ms. Jennie Tal for writing about our free monthly outdoor adventure club.

The story in today's paper can be found online here:
http://www.roanoke.com/extra/wb/152384

I am concerned about the sentence that states that I got tired of hearing about what my students are doing after school. If you are a present parent of one of my students or a parent from the past, you know that I frequently attend my student's games and activities after school and on the weekends. I also apologize for the word "most," as this wording does not properly reflect my feelings about my classes as a whole. I know many of my students attend many fantastic activities; such as sport practices, church services, scouts programs, and family fun activities. Again, I apologize for any way that this may take away from the amazing things you do with your families.

However, over all, I feel that the article captures our spirit of adventure and does a great job of welcoming all families to join us in thanking Roanoke for providing all of the fun places for us to play.

Please join us March 22nd for our third KIVA meeting of the year. If you would like to be added to our mailing list and to receive our monthly newsletter, please e-mail us at
KIVAinfo@gmail.com

Thank you all for visiting.
Chip Donahue

Thanks for coming out!

Hello All,

Thanks so much to those families that came out for KIVA and those families who happened to be playing at Fishburn Park and decided to come play with us for a while. I hope everyone enjoyed their free frisbee(*donated by Advance Auto Parts*), making the craft (a hiking journal donated by the Salem Wal-Mart), and the yummy hot chocolate and coffee (*donated by Starbucks). We had a great time. We will definitely need to put Fishburn Park on our list for next year. An extra special thank you to Michael Overacker for presenting the game of Disc Golf and walking us through a couple of rounds.

An extra special group stayed after and helped us clean up and walked the trails looking for trash. Team KIVA has signed up to help with Clean Valley Day - April 5th! Please contact us and let us know if you would like to help out on that day. Let's let Roanoke City know how much we appreciate all the great free parks by helping them keep them clean.

Our next KIVA is already planned out for March 22nd. We will meet again at 1:00 PM. By the way, this is our winter time. Once the weather warms up, we will start meeting earlier. I know this is nap time for many of our crew. March 22nd, please join KIVA in welcoming Mr. Earl Morris of the Virginia Bluebird Society at Green Hill Park in Roanoke County. Mr. Morris will walk us around the park, showing us the bluebird houses along the trail, and teaching us about the life of the beautiful bluebird.

Speaking of walking, this day is also set aside for World Water Day. Please join us as we join people around the world focusing on the world's need for clean water resources. Our walk that day is registered with their website. Check here for our address:
http://www.worldwaterday.net/network/052/Daniel/Donahue

Join us then, make a memory with your child and make a difference in the world.

And as always, it's free!

Here we go again!

The weather outside is frightful...
Keep an ear on the forecast. Last call said it would clear up for us on Saturday.
I'll take that! We are really excited about meeting with you all again. Advance Auto Parts of Roanoke has donated 300 frisbees for KIVA! We will bring them along to share so that everyone gets to take something home. We will also be giving away a few Nalgene bottles donated to us by Nalgene themselves. Wal-Mart has donated hiking journals for each participant, as well. After a tour of the Disc Golf Course, we will be making hiking journals and heading out for some fun around Fishburn Park.

A special thanks to The Roanoke Times for announcing the KIVA meeting for us and chosing us again for a Hot Pick this Saturday.

Come prepared to make a memory with your child.