The Easter Bunny meets a few new friends outside.

Santa and Mrs. Claus have their hands full with twin toddlers.

A staff member helps Denisa paste on faux nails before getting them painted.

Youth volunteers make their way through an unexpected snowstorm to make food deliveries.

Staff member Kelsi O'Keefe and a volunteer have their hands full with sweets for home deliveries.

Volunteers from the South Site make their way through the snow and wind in order to get food to families in need.

Participants in GYAV's Focus on Photography project pose for a picture at the VIP Room.

A few of the girls from GYAV take a break from mingling with guests during their reception at the VIP Room.

Youth from the community dish up their plates at CHARISM's annual Thanksgiving dinner.

The Family Center was colorfully decorated for the evening's special dinner.

Lou Severson received honors for contributing 97 hours of volunteer time in 2006.

The Family Center was packed with guests who dined on ham, potatoes, homemade macaroni and cheese, salads, and a celebratory cake in their honor.

Children in the McCormick Park summer camp take a break from playing outdoor basketball.

The girls enjoy icees on a warm day.

A participant in the South Site Summer Camp gets a lift from one of the counselors.

The kids pause from their outdoor picnic to pose for the camera.

The children enjoy a refreshing dip in the lake during one of the hot spells of this summer.

A participant takes some time to write down her thoughts during one of this fall's 6 week sessions.

A mentor from NDSU gives one of the children some help on her poem.

Mr. and Mrs. Clause made another appearance at this year's event.

Children got their picture taken with Santa and put together homemade frames for them.

Participants pose in front of an ambulance after hearing a guest speaker talk about what it's like to be an EMT!

Some of the girls at McCormick Park take a break on a parkside bench.

A few of the children from the Summer Gardening Program pause for a photo after watering their vegetables and flowers.

Jesus gleefully glides along on the Slip n Slide on a hot afternoon at the Summer Gardening Program.

The children eagerly line up for the Slip n Slide at the Summer Gardening Program.

Stanni gets a face full of water on the Slip n Slide.

Youth who attended the Volunteer Coffee Hour posed for a photo with North Dakota Senator Tim Mathern.

Youth with the highest number of volunteer hours for 2007 posed with their plaques.

One of the boys takes his turn riding the horse.

Two girls take a break on the grass outside of CHARISM with their after school mentor.

The grass outside of the CHARISM makes a great place resting place for the children and their mentor.

Some of the children from CHARISM had the opportunity to visit a real-life farm where they fed and even rode horses!

While visitng a farm, youth from the Helping Children Learn Program had the chance to pick out and even carve their very own pumpkins!

The CHARISM Kids were treated to a special show by the Harlem Ambassadors this fall, held at Fargo South High School

The CHARISM Kids had a chance to meet the defensive line-up for this fall's charity basketball game.

Helping Children Learn participants got a special visit from Santa right before the holidays!

CHARISM's children learned some valuable spending lessons as well as the importance of giving back when they were each allotted one $5 Target gift card to spend on anyone but themselves. Special thanks to Border States Electric for their generous donation of the gift cards!

CHARISM's children learned about gratitude this winter when they handed out homemade gifts to the many partners and friends of CHARISM.

Several of our children posing with our brand new van generously gifted to us by two donors.

Youth from our afterschool programs had the opportunity to run in this years children's portion of the Fargo Marathon thanks to Dakota Medical Foundation.

Partneirng with the Fargo Public Library, participants read a total of 3,000 minutes and received weekly rewards for their hard work!

The McCormick Park Girls Group coordinated and hosted this year's Easter Party.

Parents and other family members were welcomed to the South Site for a special afternoon of activities and treats at Helping Children Learn. This annual afternoon allows participants to share their progress with their families and enables parents to see the kind of work being done at the Center.

Three little ones practice for the 2009 Spring Variety Show.

This year's event featured two of our children as MC's.

Summer Camp Coordinator, Pat Jorgensen, takes a moment with one of the children.

A Fargo Parks staff member enjoys morning activity time with the children.

McCormick Park campers enjoy some cool treats at the Red Hawks game!

As part of their preparation for the Red Hawks game, campers tie-dyed t-shirts!

With temperatures in the 90's, youth used some of the signs they had made as impromptu shade!

Mayor Walaker and his wife were kind enough to stop by our special event.

CHARISM's Board of Directors gathered before the event and prepared to meet and greet their guests.

Guests viewed special displays of the programs and activitites their dollars made possible.

The evening was well attended and highly enjoyed by all!

This year's Faces Project gave participants the opportunity to do self-portraits and explore their personal strengths.

As part of the project, the girls' work was displayed at downtown gallery 541, courtesy of owner Mark Weiler. On the night of the showing, art mentor, Pat Jorgensen, shared with guests the details of their work.

Program mentor, Judy Gunkelman, also shared the impact and importance of this project with guests.

HCL youth were visited by guest speakers from NDSU's ROTC program this last year.

ROTC guests brought several pieces of their equipment, allowing children to view and try them on.

Even the littlest ones enjoyed the visit from the ROTC guests!

Once again, CHARISM participants enjoyed the chance to learn about the joy of giving. Using $5 Target gift cards donated by Border States Electric, each child was allowed to purchase a gift for a friend or family member.

There were tons of smiles and laughter shared by all of the youth on this special day.

This last fall, several of the boys enjoyed a special afternoon with the NDSU football team.

For this group of boys, spending an afternoon playing touch football with the NDSU Bison was an experience they'll never forget.

HCL's 3rd annual variety show featured a specially choreographed dance.

A wide variety of talents were featured this year, including jumping rope!

Youth Development Director, Shanda Bultsma, and her staff worked hard with participants to put on an outstanding show for all of the guests.

This year CHARISM participated in the Fargo Marathon as one of the featured charities. With almost $1,000 dollars raised by charity runners, the event was both fun and rewarding for everyone who participated.

Some of CHARISM's runners took a moment to pose in front of our banner at the GoFar Charity Banquet.

Even some of CHARISM's staff got in on the fun, taking part in the 10K race!

Girls Group was a huge hit this year, with Youth Leader Sarah Piersol taking charge of the group.

By far, one of the group's favorite field trips was their visit to the local Dairy Queen.

After a brisk walk to the Dairy Queen, the girls were happy to sit for a moment and pose for a picture.

The last day of Girls Group was full of fun, food, and even a few tears. But no worries, we'll be back in the fall with a ton of new and exciting things to do!