MISSION STATEMENT
Wonderfully Me, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization serving girls in Chester County, PA and its surrounding areas. The empowerment program will educate and encourage young girls ages 8-14 by teaching life skills that will cultivate positive self-confidence, self-worth and self-development. Our hope is to transform them into purposeful women of courage, character and compassion.
Wonderfully Me is a free program designed to guide young girls into embracing their uniqueness, exploring life's possibilities, making life choices and growing into womanhood.
VOLUNTEER WITH US!
Volunteers are always welcome!
Click the "Sign Up Here" link below to be directed to our volunteers page. Here, you will see the various opportunities and needs of our organization. You may pick what opportunity is of most interest to you. We are always looking for people to help out with areas of service such as group leaders, assistants, marketing and communications, special events, etc.
Please consider volunteering with us. Your time and talents will be greatly appreciated!
Wonderfully Me Calendar
Keep checking for upcoming events.
February 2023 Wonderfully Me Session
Self Love
As many recognized Valentine's Day in February, the girls who attended the Wonderfully Me monthly session learned the importance of practicing self-love. Through self-reflection activities and transparent dialog, the girls and volunteers realized the value of this lifelong practice. Without it could hinder them from maintaining a healthy physical, spiritual and emotional life.
During one of the activities several girls shared what they felt to be negative attributes they saw in themselves and/or about their bodies. Recognizing how the media, their perceived ideas of themselves and how others influence those negative thoughts, ways to embrace and love themselves for who they are was the overall conclusion. Being resilient and seeking help when it's too much to handle emotionally was also discussed.
Many ways to practice self -love were explained. The parents were given a handout on ways to boost their daughters' view on self-love. Below are a few art pieces the girls created. The task was to express what "Love" felt like to them through color and then use of a symbol that might describe them. Many placed affirmations or positive words in it as well. They were charged to place it somewhere to be seen when they need it.
When was the last time you truly looked in the mirror reflected on the beautifully imperfect you? We must change the negative thoughts in our heads so you can become the BEST version of yourself. Change the things you want to change, embrace those things you can't but remember the most important thing is your heart.
Reflect on Psalm 139:14 NASB. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works;
December 2022 Wonderfully Me Session
December Acts of Kindness
Wonderfully Me displayed acts of kindness this holiday season by partnering with Family Service of Chester County. The girls conducted their first holiday food drive. This food items collected would compliment a free ham for Christmas dinner to families of Exchange Club Family Service Center. After Allyson Holtz of Main Line Health’s Community Health and Outreach presented on “Emotional health well-being-It’s okay not to be okay". Those in attendance sorted and packed the boxes for the families.
They even had fun wrapping gifts that were distributed to families who receive services from Family Services. This would not have been a success without the families, friends, volunteers and supporters who donated to the food drive. We look forward to partnering with this organization in the future.
We appreciate Danielle and Johnna for providing lunch and sharing part of their Saturday to assist us to accomplish our goal of doing something good for others.
November 2022 Wonderfully Me Session
What Does My Name Mean?
Embracing who I am through my name
In the spirit of being thankful during the Thanksgiving holiday, the November session began with the “Wonder girls “sharing how they felt and what they were grateful for. As we resumed the session, the focus was on building a sense of community. The session's objectives were achieved creatively with a focus on their names.
They learned how the meaning of their names are an integral part of their identity. After each participant explored the meaning of their names and various character traits associated with it, they were excited and empowered to reintroduce themselves to the group. Upon completion of the empowerment session, each girl can feel more confident in affirming that they are on the journey to know who they are by embracing who they are.
September 2022 Wonderfully Me Session
The girls at Wonderfully Me Incorporated had an amazing self-esteem building time at an empowerment session at Kirk’s Martial Arts in West Chester PA. From palm strikes to judo throws, the girls were able to practice a lot. Learning the basics of self defense helped the girls to raise their confidence and learn that it is necessary for their voices to be heard and listened to. They also learned the importance of standing up to bullies, and learning that they can come in more than one way. October is Anti Bullying month and we are here to share the message that bullying has got to go!
Thank you to Kirk’s Martial Arts, and thank you to the girls for bringing positive energy and excitement. If we are ever caught in a not nice situation now, we know how to protect ourselves and stand up against bullying!
Kicking Off The 2022-2023 Empowerment Year:
Goal Setting
September kicked off our very first empowerment session for the year 2022-2023. The yearly theme is empowerment through self-awareness. Our first session focused on goal setting and accountability to prepare the girls for success. During the session the girls learned about identifying goals, developing goals, and accomplishing goals. As part of goal setting, they learned to recognize and establish the steps of S.M.A.R. T. to accomplish their goals.
S.M.A.R. T. Goals:
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Specific
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Measurable
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Attainable
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Relevant
The meeting concluded with a discussion about understanding that by having a plan and executing your plan, you are more likely to accomplish your goal!
April 2022 Wonderfully Me Session
Understanding Peer Pressure
Our April event focused on understanding peer pressure. To get the day started, the girls participated in a mindfulness deep breathing exercise and an ice breaker. The ice breaker gave them an idea of how peer pressure can influence how they feel when they are under the pressure of making a decision., especially when others are involved.
Then, the girls learned more about peer pressure. They talked about what peer pressure is, where it is seen, who experiences it and the many different types of peer pressure – including negative and positive and ways to overcome it. Throughout the presentation, the girls were asked questions about peer pressure to help get them engaged and to understand the importance of the topic. The girls ended with putting their skills to the test by role-playing peer pressure scenarios to help guide them as they may encounter peer pressure in their everyday lives.
March 2022 Wonderfully Me Session
Our March session was an exciting one. The girls were finally all back together in person and focused on learning about the female changing body and puberty. During the session, the girls heard from one of our very own Board members as she presented all the wonders of growing up and explained the changes that happen to a female’s body both physically and emotionally as they go through puberty and enter the adolescent stage.
To get started, the girls all participated in an ice breaker that showed how everyone enters puberty at various stages and ages in life and explained that it’s completely normal and it’s best to embrace the changes they will each experience as they grow into a woman. She also helped them understand why they may feel certain emotions and how best to control those emotions.
Following the presentation, the girls played an interactive activity followed by puberty BINGO – with prizes included!
At the end, the girls took home an emergency kit that provided them with resources should they go through some of these changes at school or in a public setting. This session was incredibly interactive and we encouraged the parents to stay as we all learned together the importance and beauty of turning into a woman.
The Importance of Body Positivity
Encouraging acceptance of self and others, regardless of body shape and size, is very important to building strong self-esteem and an overall healthy mindset, especially in young girls. Teaching girls from a young age to love themselves and all their imperfections as well as accept and be kind to others who may look differently than they do can have a long lasting effect on their well-being. Wonderfully Me encourages young girls to appreciate their beauty which is why the February session was all about the importance of body positivity.
The session began with a mindfulness activity where the girls learned the 5-4-3-2-1 model. This model helps with grounding yourself in a situation where one might feel overcome with doubtful emotions such as anxiety or fear to understand those emotions and focus on positive thoughts.
After our mindfulness session, the girls then reviewed the January session and talked a little bit more about representation. Following the recap, the girls were asked to share what they think makes their bodies similar as females, and what makes their bodies different. The girls were extremely engaged in this activity and enjoyed talking about their unique differences, what they love about themselves and maybe something that they would change, but overall they expressed what body positivity meant to them.
The end of the session concluded with an activity where the girls learned about the importance of what their bodies can do for them (e.g., use strong legs to play soccer) and not what it looks like. They debunked common myths and learned that it’s important to be kind to others and that it’s never acceptable to make someone feel bad based on their appearance. They learned that all girls are created differently and how you make people feel will always be remembered over how you look. The girls also reviewed images that were photoshopped of young women to understand how the media portrays females while reviewing the original photos to see the real beauty.
Throughout the session, girls were asked to say “you are wonderfully made and beautiful just the way you are '' as an affirmation after each time they shared a personal anecdote as a reminder that they are all beautiful just the way they are.
Celebrating Our Differences and Goal Setting
As 2021 came to an end, we celebrated our last session for the year in December. With many holidays celebrated in December, the session began with an ice breaker where the girls shared how they celebrate their holiday traditions. This was a great way for the girls to learn about cultural differences. Although there were many differences and unique celebrations shared, the common similarity was celebrating with family and friends over a delicious meal.
Following the ice breaker, the session began. The December session was focused on preparation to accomplish a goal and the importance of goal setting – especially as we entered the new year! The girls were taught how to effectively create a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) to help them understand how to identify, create, and achieve a goal. They also had the opportunity to create their own SMART goals.
After the girls created their SMART goals, they turned those goals into a vision board to showcase their creativity and to visual the goals and dreams they want to achieve.
Lastly, the girls all received a journal for daily use to document their goals, thoughts, and expressions of daily gratitude.
Between their goals, vision board and journal they now have the tools to enable them to achieve their goals and dreams, creating a positive habit that will be used throughout
their future.
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Celebrating the End of an Amazing Year
One of the many words I used to describe this program year of Wonderfully Me was PERSEVERANCE. The commitments from the parents to keep their daughters engaged; the girls' resilience when so many emotional things were going on around them and the unwavering support of my Board members and volunteers are ways we met the challenges to complete an AMAZING virtual program year.
I am so glad we were able to gather and have fun with their families and each other but also celebrate each "Wondergirls" program accomplishments who were in attendance.
Enjoy this video from a portion of the day. Registration is underway for the 2021-2022 program year. Click to enroll your daughter or volunteer. Forward questions to wonderfullyme4ever@gmail.com or 484-713-8254
April 2021 Wonderfully Me Session
“Choose to be Fit” was the focus of the April Wonderfully Me Empowerment session. Allyson Hotz of Main Line Health gave many examples of how to be fit while navigating spending a lot of time at home during the pandemic. The girls learned how to read food labels, portion control and how hidden sugars are found in food. The importance of rest was discussed. They even got moving by doing easy exercises as part of their computer breaks. The session ended by being reminded that because we all have different body shapes; when choosing to be fit, we must concentrate on eating healthy, feeling healthy and loving who we are in the process.
December 2020 Wonderfully Me Session
Most often, one of the main reasons people have conflicts may stem from not accepting one another's differences. During our December session, “Embracing and Celebrating our Differences”, the opportunity to discuss the importance of embracing a person for who they are were taught.
The girls shared experiences, showed clothing items (Christmas pajamas), and artwork that illustrated their diverse cultural identities through family heritages, beliefs and traditions. Notably, the differences, similarities and their uniqueness were compared to demonstrate that it is important to be open-minded and accepting of one another differences.
By the end of the session, tools were given to help decrease the negative stereotypes and prejudices that are generated from perceived points of views as well as celebrate one another and not their differences.
October 2020 Wonderfully Me Session
Our October session was very busy for the girls of Wonderfully Me. The monthly Zoom session was entitled, “How to Respond to a Bully” in recognition of Anti-bullying Prevention Month. Many wore orange, the color of the cause. The girls were given tool on how to recognize a bully, to help those being bullied and how to stop a bully. The parents were given resources to aide them if needed. After wards, breakout sessions were conducted to reinforce the topic.
Saturday evening, the families gathered for a socially distanced outdoor Movie Night. They were excited to personally reconnect with friends from last year and meet the newly joined. Wrapped in blankets, enjoying good food and drinking of hot apple cider, they enjoyed watching Zootopia.
We are thankful that BJ’s Wholesale Club, Wawa and Wegman’s of Downingtown are committed to aide nonprofit organizations in their communities during this time of decreased funding. The evening would not have been possible without their support.
On Saturday, September 19th, Wonderfully Me, Inc. began its second program year. We were excited to welcome several new girls to the program and were thrilled to welcome back our returning young ladies. An icebreaker, program overview, and orientation were conducted during the virtual session. The girls had the opportunity to provide input on topics they want addressed this program year.
Although the meetings are virtual, the topics and activities will still engage, empower, and encourage our young girls. The online discussions with their peers are especially important as they are still socially isolated and/or experiencing anxieties from distance learning. To help the girls with this adjustment, Wonderfully Me has added a classroom success tactic portion where suggestions are given to help when subject anxieties arrive. In addition, a one-to-one virtual mentoring component is being developed to allow for more social interaction opportunities.
Volunteers are welcomed to join us as we help our Chester County families nurture our phenomenal girls to EMBRACE who they are, LOVE who they are, and SUCCEED in what they do. All volunteers must have current Child Abuse History Clearances and Mandated Child Abuse Reporter Training.
For more information contact, Angela at 484-713-8254 or at wonderfullyme4ever@gmail.com
Wonderfully Me Goes Virtual in Response to COVID-19
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
Who Am I/Self-Awareness Meeting
Support and Promote
PRICE: $12.00
includes shipping
Please support and promote Wonderfully Me Incorporated as you protect yourself from COVID-19. Your purchase will offset costs for our programming.
Price: $12.00 includes shipping
Description: A full color reusable 3 layer face mask with filter pocket. The outer layer is made of polyester and the inner made of cotton.
A nose bridge and adjustable ear loops are provided for idea comfort and support. 8.5"L x 5.25"H.
Contact 484-713-8254 or wonderfullyme4ever@gmail.com for questions. We thank you for your support.