Amazon Smile
Did you know that every time you make a purchase on Amazon you could be donating to Leap of Joy?
You can automatically help our kids at NO COST TO YOU when you select Leap of Joy as your charity on Amazon Smile and shop Amazon Smile instead of Amazon.com.
AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that Amazon will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. You can choose from over one million organizations to support.
Get started with these easy steps:
- Visit smile.amazon.com. It’s just like shopping on amazon.com.
- Sign in. Simply use your existing Amazon credentials. If you don’t have an account, you can create a new one.
- Select the charity you wish to support – Leap of Joy. This is located just under the search bar (upper right of screen).
- Start shopping! After you’ve chosen your charity, your shopping experience will be the same as it is on the Amazon website. And there’s no extra cost for you at checkout! Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of your purchase to Leap of Joy
Thank you for your generous support.
Leap of Joy Fundraiser at Home Slice Pizza
Leap of Joy is pairing with Home Slice Pizza for a three-month-long fundraiser!
Starting in January, visit either Home Slice location (South Congress or North Loop) and perform the specified task–and Home Slice will donate a portion of your sales to Leap of Joy!
How it Works:
Each month has a theme. Perform the specified actions for the month and Home Slice will donate 10% of your food bill to Leap of Joy.
January: Jazzersize! Burn calories AND donate to a good cause! Perform any sort of athletic feat–jumping jacks, running, or even your best Flashdance moves to qualify for donation!
Both locations will have a money box to drop cash/check donations as well. Spread the word and spread the LOVE and go get yourself some PIZZA!
Kid’s Day Out This Friday!
Hello Everyone! The holiday season is finally here! It’s my favorite time of year; full of good cheer, giving, and glitter. Seriously. I look forward to the day after Thanksgiving, when it’s finally socially acceptable to decorate my apartment with everything glittery I can possibly get my hands on.
Leap of Joy’s had a great fall season and we’re “wrapping” it up with our Caps & Mittens campaign. This is an annual fundraiser we do with the goal of providing winter necessities to all of our students around Austin. The fundraiser is over and this week, we are doing the fun part: delivering the gift bags to all of our kids! It’s truly a wonderful thing, and the kids love getting these necessities. It may seem like a small thing, but many of these children come from households that cannot afford to supply them with these basics. As the weather finally turns cold, we hope that our small contribution can help keep these kiddos warm over the holidays!
Thank you to everyone who donated to our cause!
The giving season isn’t over for us, however. We still have one awesome event coming up this week: Kid’s Day Out!
What is Kid’s Day Out?
Kid’s Day Out is an opportunity for parents to…well…have some time to themselves! On Friday, December 20th, Leap of Joy is hosing a Winter Adventure for children ages four and above. Do you need to finish your Christmas shopping? Drop them off for an hour or two. Need time to wrap gifts without having to stop every five minutes to the tune of, “Mom, I’m BORED”? You can drop your kiddos off all day and have all the peace and quiet you need to get your wrapping done.
As a bonus, we have a ton of really fun activities planned for the kids…so they can have a blast while you’re getting things done (or just relaxing!)
Some of the awesome things that are happening at the Winter Adventure on Friday:
- Awesome holiday movies
- A hot cocoa bar!
- Ornament Making
- Fun holiday crafts and games
- Kids can even write a letter to Santa!
Honestly, I’m jealous my parents aren’t dropping me off for this! It’s going to be a lot of fun for sure. We would love to see you there!
It takes place this Friday, December 20th, from 11 am to 5 pm, at the High Road on Dawson.
Prices are $10 an hour, or $45 for the whole day. Walk-ins are welcome, but you can also sign up in advance here, in the Events page of our website.
ACL 2019: That’s a Wrap!
Two weekends. Six days. Hundreds of kids. ACL 2019 is over; we’re all exhausted but happy.
For the second year in a row, Leap of Joy was invited to be a part of ACL Cares, which is Austin City Limits’ give-back program. It highlights select non-profits, allowing them to get their name out to like-minded musical enthusiasts! Not only did we have a booth at Austin Kiddie Limits this year, we were also invited to have a demonstration on the new Bonus Tracks stage, where our very own Clay Moore held an all-ages creative dance class on the Friday of Weekend 1!
Austin Kiddie Limits is a special, family-friendly section of the festival, boasting a stage of kid-centric music (even the adults–myself included–were all bopping around to Bears & Lions), changing stations, and tons of activities for the kids. My personal favorite, the Hip Hop House Party station, was right near our booth; when Bears & Lions wasn’t playing, we got to listen to kids hip-hopping about all sorts of wacky things, which completely made my day.
Each child got a passport to get stamped as they completed each activity. Leap of Joy was the crafting table, and we had such a good time meeting the kids as they came to create and get their passports stamped! Our crafting activity this year was making jingle shakers. We were amazed at how many creations could be made just with Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and bells! From bracelets to jingle sticks to pipe cleaner people, the kids that visited us created some really interesting shakers. Leap of Joy is all about bringing creativity to children, and these kids delivered. It was wonderful to see–and to create along with them!
Our medium: Popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, and bells. It was incredible what the kids created using these few supplies!
Our Operations Manager, Jessica, wrangles some bells onto a pipe cleaner during Weekend 1.
Crafting at the tables outside our booth.
Here’s a few photos of some of the creations we saw over both weekends:
We were also giving away Leap of Joy bracelets, which were a hit with the kiddos!
It was such a blast hanging out with all of our visitors! We met a ton of people and some really great conversations with parents about who we are and what we do. With incredibly talented musicians playing in the background, we jingled our way through one very hot weekend and one kind-of-cold-and-rainy weekend and loved every minute of it. We sincerely hope that in 2020 Austin City Limits will invite us back for another memorable two weeks!
Halloween Fundraiser at Chuck E. Cheese’s!
Hello everyone! ACL Weekend Two starts tomorrow! We had a great time last week and are ready and rearin’ to get back there tomorrow. If you’re going to ACL this weekend, make sure to come and say hello! We’ll be there all three days, hanging out at our booth, located in the Austin Kiddie Limits section! If you’re not familiar with the park’s layout, Austin Kiddie Limits is located right off the Barton Springs entrance, right next to the Wine Lounge area, slightly behind the T-Mobile stage. If your kids are coming to the festival, we have a jingle shaker craft they can come and do (for free!) and we’ll also be giving out Leap of Joy bracelets. If your kids aren’t coming, we’d still love for you to drop by and say hello!
With ACL still happening, it seems crazy, but we’re also ready to talk about our next fundraising event, which happens next Friday, the 18th! We can’t believe how lucky we are to have so much going on this October!
Being a Halloween fanatic, I’m particularly excited about this. On Friday, Oct 18th, we are having a fundraiser at Chuck E. Cheese’s! It’s happening from 3-9 p.m. at the Chuck E. Cheese’s at 10515 North Mopac, which is located in the same shopping center as Joann’s and Spec’s. Chuck E. Cheese is going to donate 20% of all purchases to Leap of Joy during that time! That includes food, Play Points, and Merchandise! All you have to do is show the below flyer or mention us by name!
As an added bonus, we’re encouraging everyone to show up in costume! It’s getting close to Halloween, and we’d love to see what sort of costumes all the kiddos have come up with! Costumes are not required, but if you want to get a second use out of that holographic rainbow unicorn costume your 5-year-old made you buy, this is a perfect opportunity! As an added bonus, you’ll be helping us raise funds to bring the arts to local kiddos!
The details:
- Date: Friday, Oct 18th
- Time: 3pm-9pm
- Location: Chuck E. Cheese’s at the Arborwalk
- Map: 1515 North Mopac
Remember: You must mention us by name or show the below flyer for us to get the donation!
Handy tip: save the flyer to your phone or take a screenshot so you can find it!
We hope to see you there!
It’s Official: See You at ACL 2019!
Leap of Joy is Going Back to ACL!
We have a lot of great things happening here at Leap of Joy this fall. From fundraisers at Shake Shack and Chuck E. Cheese to new classes and all sorts of events and happenings, it’s quickly turning out to be a busy season! One of the events we’re most excited about is coming up this weekend: Austin City Limits Music Festival!
Last year, we were lucky enough to be invited to be part of the ACL Cares program. We had a booth set up in Austin Kiddie Limits, the special kids-friendly section of the festival, and got to share it with the wonderful people at Austin Allies. We had lots of Leap of Joy bracelets to give away, and spent both weekends making masks with a bunch of awesome kids. It was a blast!
Here’s a photo of us making masks with the kids last year at ACL!
Recently, we announced that we were invited back again! We’re so happy to be able to go back to the festival. Last year was a great experience and we’re looking forward to having an even better time this year.
We will again be hanging out at Austin Kiddie Limits, which is located near the Barton Springs East entrance. Here’s a link to the full map. If you have children with you, there is also the convenience of a family-friendly entrance to the right of the Barton Springs East entrance (it closes at 7 p.m.) If you have kids under the age of 10, and you have an ACL wristband, they get in for free! You can check out the full Austin Kiddie Limits deal here, including a detailed map of the family entrance. There are tons of kids that come hang out, with lots of activities and family-friendly music all day until 7!
This year, we’re going to be making jingle bell shakers, so the kids can make their own live music! We’ll have our own booth and genuinely hope that you can stop by and say hi to us while you’re at the festival! We’ll have Leap of Joy bracelets to give away, as well.
Our cool Leap of Joy bracelets we’re giving away at ACL this year!
Who Are You Most Excited to See at the Festival?
Guns N’ Roses? Childish Gambino? How about LEAP OF JOY?
Additionally–and this is something we’re REALLY excited about–this year we get to be a part of a new part of ACL. It’s called the Bonus Tracks Stage, and during Weekend 1 we’ll be on it!
What is the ACL Bonus Tracks Stage?
This year, ACL has a new stage, the Bonus Tracks Stage. Located behind Austin Kiddie Limits, there will be special events going on at this stage both weekends. You can see the full schedule here. There will be all sorts of things, including podcast recordings, interviews with Andrew Knowlton and special guests, and–most important–Leap of Joy! On Friday, October 4th (weekend one), we will be onstage with our wonderful instructor Monica Aguilar teaching class! It will be an all-age-appropriate creative movement class, starting at 1 p.m. and running until 1:15 p.m.
While we’ll be at Austin Kiddie Limits all weekend, both weekends, we’ll only be at the ACL Bonus Tracks Stage on Friday, Oct 4th from 1-1:15 p.m. If you have a chance and are at the festival with your kiddos on Friday, please stop by and see us! Monica has a lot of fun things planned for them!
Even if you don’t have kiddos, we’d love for you to swing by and show your support! The kids will have twice as much fun with people cheering them on!
And when the kiddos are done, Mom and Dad can visit the Wine Lounge, located conveniently in the same area.
Coincidence?
Ahem.
We’ll also be posting photos and updates via our new-and-improved Twitter feed. Whether you’re at the festival or living vicariously through the Internet, you can check us out @LeapofJoy.
Happy ACL, everyone! Hope to see you there!
Spots Still Open for Summer Camp!
Are you kids looking for new things to do? Does everything seem like it’s filled up already? Looking for something to occupy them next week? Leap of Joy’s annual summer camp starts tomorrow and we still have spots available!
Camp is a week long, starting from Monday, July 15th, and ending on Friday, July 19th. Activities include dance classes in many genres, as well as lessons in acting, script writing, making costumes, and crafts!
This summer, we have even more planned for our kids! As performers, we use our bodies as instruments and it’s important to keep those bodies well-tuned. A lot of that has to do with nutrition. Along with our awesome, high-energy dance classes, we plan to focus on learning better eating habits and keeping our bodies healthy.
Leap of Joy’s annual summer camp is a ton of fun; we always have a great time and the kids love it! If your child is interested in performing, this is a really great chance for them to try out all sorts of genres. We’ll have lessons in modern, jazz, and other types of dance as well as a final performance by the kiddos on Friday to show off all their new skills!
On top of that, on Friday we will also have a pool party, followed by a pizza lunch before the final performance.
Sound like something your child is interested in? Apply now! We also have scholarships still available!
The details:
- July 15th-19th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Ages 6-13
- At the High Road on Dawson
- $200 for the week, and $100 for any additional child
- Scholarships available!
Recital 2019 Recap- Cinco de Mayo Celebration!
Another school year finished! All the hard work–from our staff, to our teachers, and our students–culminates as it does every year in Leap of Joy’s biggest event: our annual recital, Care to Dance.
And what an event it was! Our 2019 show was held at the wonderful Boyd Vance Theatre, located in the George Washington Carver Museum in East Austin. We really loved this venue and are so thankful we had the opportunity to perform in it.
As a dancer myself, I know what it means to work so hard on a dance and then have the opportunity to perform it for my loved ones. No matter what your age, it is the grand moment, the goal which you work towards from the beginning. Here at Leap of Joy, it means so much to us to be able to give our kids the opportunity to perform. These kids work so hard, and it makes us so proud to see them shine on stage!
This year, our recital took place on May 5th, 2019–Cinco de Mayo! We had a killer raffle giveaway this year, with all sorts of amazing prizes, including tickets to the Alamo Drafthouse, date night provided by Il Brutto & Sway, jewelry from Kendra Scott, and our grand prize, two VIP tickets to ACL 2019! Congratulations to all of our lucky, lucky winners!
Finally, we’d like to thank all of you who came out to celebrate with us. Both the Leap of Joy staff as well as our students worked very hard to put this show together, and it means so much to see so many people out there willing to support our cause.
Missed the show, or want to relive it? Check out our gallery below!
Eclectic Magic- A Bringing-Together of Talent
For those of you who missed it, our spring fundraiser, happened on March 1st. It was a wonderful night, one that we will remember for some time to come! Eclectic Magic was a bringing-together of many different performers and many genres of dance with a common goal–to help raise money for our end of the year recital, Care to Dance.
On May 5th, 2019 (Cinco de Mayo!) all of the kiddos we’ve been working with at various AISD schools will come together to showcase what they’ve learned throughout the year. We’re very excited to see the final product of all that work! It’s a great opportunity for the kids, especially since the show this year is going to be held at the Boyd Vance Theater, which is part of the George Washington Carver Culture Center here in Austin.
It was great to see so many people come out and support us! Our goal is to make Care to Dance a truly memorable experience for our kids, and those who came out to Eclectic Magic–both the incredible talent and the wonderful spectators–have made a significant contribution to that goal!
We would like to thank our incredible performers:
- Alex Suha, who not only performed, but also helped host the event!
- Nina Shaw
- Matt Ely & Lisa Ann Kobdish
- Erica Trevino
- Jennifer Trigo
- Sebastian Saba
- Alex Miller
- Erinina Marie Ness
- Yvonne & Ann Keyrouz
- New Genesis
Seeing this eclectic group of talent together was definitely magical. Check out our great photos from the event, below!
We’d also like to extend a HUGE thank you to our local sponsors/donors, who helped make the event such a success!
Thank you to:
- House Wine
- La Matta
- Buzz Mill
- Il Brutto
- APT 115
- Sam Wish
- Sarah Annie Navarrette
- Nick Wilcox
- Jared West at Team West Real Estate
- Karin Begum & Shade Tree Lemonade
- Seam Project
- Jennifer Sherburn
- McCallum High School
- Board member Roxy Gage
- Blue Lapis Light
And, last but DEFINITELY not least, First Street Studios for your lovely space!
It’s Not Too Late for Summer Camp!
Join Leap Of Joy for our 4th Annual Dance & Theater Summer Camp! Campers will get their energy out moving to fun music, meet new friends, and learn what it takes to put on a performance in one week!
Training will be run by upbeat, experienced instructors. On Friday, campers will cool down at The High Road swimming pool before showcasing their dance and theater skills in a grand finale performance for their family and friends. *Snacks and water will be provided. Campers must bring their own lunch except for “Pizza Friday.”*
Connect with Us
Our organization Leap of Joy, a 501(c)3 nonprofit since 2010 offers dance and theater arts after school and summer camp enrichment programs to at-risk youth in underserved schools in Austin, TX. Since 2010, our program has been funded through grants from AISD, City of Austin, Texas Commission on The Arts, Target, A Glimmer of Hope, fundraising and private donations. Leap of Joy is moving to give at-risk youth empowerment and self-acceptance through dance and performance arts.