Author: Celeste Brooks

  • CKD 2026: a Rousing Success!

    CKD 2026: a Rousing Success!

    Despite the flip-flopping of the weather forecast (due to a nor’easter that drifted further west than originally anticipated) and the occasional sprinkle, over 400 children attended this year’s Celebrate Kids Day hosted by Warren Coalition on September 27th! The organizers were well-prepared for the crowd, thanks to the Senior Center generously allowing the Coalition to use their space, in addition to the 15th Street Gym and surrounding grounds. The Coalition also added a barrel train and an expanded petting zoo provided by Big D’s Pony Rides, and hosted a total of six inflatables, five of which were supplied by Incredible Inflatables.

    Attendees painted all 200 pumpkins, and even better, remembered to pick them up at the end of the day! They also took full advantage of free face painting and collected stamps at various games that they then used to claim prizes.  There were even performances by students from All-Star Legacy Cheer, Dance & Arts VA, and Jig ‘n’ Jive Dance Studio.

    The event brought together more than 20 vendors, agencies, and nonprofits from the local area, and put 11 individuals in the infamous “Pitch Burst.” Those individuals raised funds for the “honor” of sitting under 11-inch water balloons, with a friendly competition to see who could raise the most. Kevin Brooks won the Fundraising Championship title this year, bringing in $2,015, while Sheriff Crystal Cline took second place with $1,525. (After the event, Kevin obtained a final donation of $235 from the Auto Care Clinic, bringing his total to $2,250 and getting the Coalition to the $7,500 goal for the fundraiser!)

    “We are thrilled with how this year’s event went,” said Celeste Brooks, Deputy Director of the Warren Coalition. “Things flowed smoothly, because we had wonderful volunteers who were willing to step in and fill gaps wherever needed.”

    “I definitely had some periods where I got a little choked up thinking about what we truly accomplish with CKD,” said Warren Coalition Executive Director Christa Shifflett. “The prizes are structured so that kids have to keep trying, work toward a goal and then feel the joy of accomplishment, which I got to witness a couple of times! Children come out and perform, which gets them positive reinforcement while building confidence and maybe creating interest in other kids to sign up. And we have resources available for parents so they can get their kids more involved in the community.”

    “We couldn’t have done this event without our sponsors,” Brooks added. “There is no grant paying for Celebrate Kids Day. It is a day that is completely funded by local businesses and organizations.” This year’s sponsors included:

    • Giles B. Cook American Legion Post 53 (Inflatables & Pumpkins)
    • City National Bank (Petting Zoo)
    • Front Royal Dental Care (Event)
    • Rotary Club of Warren County (Train)
    • Northwestern Community Services Board (Inflatables & Promotions)
    • Kiwanis Club of Front Royal (DJ)
    • Front Royal/Warren County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #33 (Smile Maker)
    • Warren County VA Sheriff’s Office Foundation (Smile Maker)

    In-kind gifts were also provided by the Shawnee Farm Market, The River 95.3, National Media Services, and Play Favorites.

  • $5,000 MATCH CHALLENGE TO SUPPORT WARREN COUNTY CHILDREN ON GIVE LIKE DOLLY DAY

    $5,000 MATCH CHALLENGE TO SUPPORT WARREN COUNTY CHILDREN ON GIVE LIKE DOLLY DAY

    Warren County, Va. — In celebration of the first annual Dollywood Foundation’s Give Like Dolly Day on  September 25, the Warren Coalition announces a matching gift of up to $5,000 to support HALO (Helping All  Little Ones) Read, Warren County’s local Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program partner, which provides  monthly books to more than 400 children in Warren County.

    Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995 in honor of her father, who could not read or write. The program provides registered children from birth to age five with a free, age-appropriate book mailed directly to their homes each month. Local program affiliates like the Warren Coalition raise funds and build community support to cover the cost of mailing the books.

    Support HALO read and give like dolly!

    “Dolly understood that something as simple as putting a book into a child’s hands can change a life,” said Warren Coalition’s Celeste Brooks. Locally, the Town of Front Royal recognizes September 25 as Dollars for Dolly Day, and is launching a community-wide initiative encouraging residents to honor Dolly’s example of generosity by supporting causes meaningful to them.

    The giving initiative will extend beyond September 25 through DollarsForDolly.com, a website sponsored by the Rotary Club of the Northern Shenandoah Valley and launching on Friday, September 25. Both the website and the broader Dollars for Dolly campaign will highlight the $5,000 HALO Read match, along with other local fundraising efforts inspired by Dolly Parton’s legacy, and will continue through Giving Tuesday on December 1, 2026. 

    Rotary has a connection to the Imagination Library’s presence in Warren County.  In 2020, an $18,000 Rotary District 7570 matching grant helped bring the program back to the community through a collaborative effort among the Rotary Clubs of Front Royal, Warren County and the Northern Shenandoah Valley, in partnership with the Warren Coalition and Warren County Public Schools.

    Beth Medved Waller spearheaded that effort as a charter member and former president of the Rotary Club of  the Northern Shenandoah Valley. She is personally funding the $5,000 match as part of the Rotary-supported  effort, in recognition of her longtime passion for the Imagination Library and in gratitude for the real estate  clients whose trust makes her charitable giving possible. 

    “I’m honored to be part of this Dolly-inspired effort to raise funds for a program I first learned about on the day my son was born—which, coincidentally, was September 25, 2003,” Waller said. “Some of my favorite memories are of reading Imagination Library books at bedtime with my kids.”

    visit dollarsfordolly.com

    “You don’t have to make a large donation to make a difference,” Waller added. “Give $5. Give $9.25 in honor of September 25. Give $25. Give whatever you can, and invite friends to do the same. When dollars are joined together, dreams can come true in the lives of children here and beyond.”

    Community members may donate directly to HALO Read at HALORead.com. Donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by Waller until the $5,000 matching commitment has been reached.

    Through DollarsForDolly.com, local nonprofits and community organizations can register their efforts, and residents can discover participating causes and follow links directly to each organization’s official donation page.

    Dollars for Dolly does not collect or process donations. Dollars for Dolly Day launches September 25, “Give Like Dolly Day” and continues locally through Giving Tuesday, December 1.

    HOW TO HELP

    Learn about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library: ImaginationLibrary.com

    Donate to Warren County’s Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library through HALO Read program: HALORead.com

    Learn about continued donations through December 1, 2026 : DollarsForDolly.com

    HALO Read is administered by the Warren Coalition and provides enrolled Warren County children from birth through age five with one free, age-appropriate book mailed directly to their home each month. All donations go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

  • A Brand That Encompasses All We Do

    A Brand That Encompasses All We Do

    As we celebrated our 30th anniversary in 2024, it became clear that we had once again outgrown our mission, vision, and logo, as we no longer served only the youth and teens of Warren County. We were serving everyone from infants to the elderly, and our brand needed to reflect that.

    Vision:

    A resilient, healthy community.

    Mission:

    Empowering Warren County through education, awareness, and prevention, creating a resilient, healthy community.

    Pillars:

    • Leadership
    • Education
    • Awareness
    • Hope
    • Support
    • Collaboration

    As we re-examined ourselves and our place in Warren County, our focus returned again and again to resilience and hope. While we have continued to focus on drug education and building awareness in the community, we have also learned the importance building resilience in our children, their families, and our community, and we have been implementing that philosophy into our work for more than six years.

    Wellness, resilience, and hope came through as themes that the Coalition now embodies. They are important for the children we want to equip to avoid substance use, and the adults we support as they embark on their recovery journey.

    Thus our new vision, mission, and logo were developed. Rather than a drug-free community, we now focus on building a healthy, resilient community, one able to overcome the challenges of today’s world.

    The lifted hands in our new logo continue representing the care and support we provide to our community, but they now raise up a radiant star of hope for all ages, pointing towards a bright future for the Coalition and Warren County.

  • New Attractions for Celebrate Kids Day!

    New Attractions for Celebrate Kids Day!

    After seeing a record-setting crowd last year, event organizers from the Warren Coalition added an extra inflatable game and a train ride to this year’s Celebrate Kids Day line-up of activities!

    Celebrate Kids Day 2026 will be held from 1 pm to 4 pm on Sunday, September 27th, at the Health & Human Services Complex at 465 W 15th Street. The cost for a bracelet that provides unlimited access to all activities is $1 per child (no cost for parents). Participation in one of the Sports or Cake Walks is an additional $1 per participant. 

    Celebrate Kids Day includes all the activities kids love. This year’s inflatable rides, once again sponsored by Giles B. Cook American Legion Post 53 and Northwestern Community Services Board, will feature a moon bounce, giant dual-racing slides, a “wrecking ball,” a football target throw, a T-ball game, and a climbing wall! There will also be a petting zoo sponsored by City National Bank, pony rides, and face painting. The train ride was added thanks to a generous donation from the Rotary Club of Warren County.

    Coalition staff and volunteers will host games in which stamps and can use those stamps to go “shopping” at the prize tables, where they may choose from a variety of board games and toys.

    One of the activities the event is known for is the opportunity for children to paint a small pumpkin (included in the price of the bracelet and sponsored by Giles B. Cook American Legion Post 53) while supplies last. More than 25 agencies and businesses have signed up to participate so far! A DJ sponsored by Front Royal Kiwanis Club will be accompanying demonstrations presented by students at Jig ‘n’ Jive, All Star Legacy, and Dance & Arts VA. Several food trucks will be in attendance, including C & C Frozen Treats, Sipsy’s Dirty Sodas, and Talk of the Town.

    In addition to the sponsors already mentioned, Front Royal Dental Care, Front Royal/Warren County Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #33, and the Warren County VA Sheriff’s Office Foundation have chipped in funds to help make this event possible, helping to cover non-sponsored costs such as the pony rides, face painting, and promotions.

    In conjunction with the event, the Coalition hosts a fundraiser featuring the Pitch Burst, a machine similar to a dunking booth, except that it drops an 11-inch balloon full of water on top of the “volunteer.” Community members have been challenged to raise $500 each to earn the “honor” of sitting in the Pitch Burst on the 27th. To see who has accepted this challenge, and/or make a gift to ensure that they get to sit in the “cold” seat, visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/peer-to-peer/pitch-burst–2026.

    For more information, visit https://warrencoalition.org/celebrate-kids-day/ or email wc@warrencoalition.org.

    Warren Coalition is a nonprofit agency established in 1994 to help fill the gaps in health care and substance misuse awareness to the community. The Coalition began under the guidance of Warren Memorial Hospital as an outreach project, but it has since grown and was incorporated in 2001.  The office is currently located in the Warren County Community Center.  Their mission is to make Warren County a safe, healthy, and drug-free community through many programs and in collaboration with 15+ member agencies.

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  • Who’s Sitting in This Year’s Pitch Burst?

    Who’s Sitting in This Year’s Pitch Burst?

    A group of local volunteers, ranging from fairly new residents to people who have grown up in Warren County, are competing to see who can raise the most funds to support Warren Coalition’s children’s programs. All 13 people will end up sitting in the Pitch Burst during Warren Coalition’s Celebrate Kids Day on September 27th. In question is how long they will have to sit there as children pop 11-inch balloons over their heads. The top three fundraisers will only be in the wet seat for 10 minutes each; the others will be in there for 15 minutes each. The overall top fundraiser will also be recognized with a traveling trophy and a small goody bag of gifts.

    The (surprisingly) cheerful volunteers come from across the community (places of employment are for reference and are not an indication of the organization’s support of this fundraiser):

    • Dr. Matthew Rosario
    • Mary Carnahan
    • William Huck
    • Jen Avery
    • Bret Bement
    • Tyler Cheely
    • Crystal Cline
    • Lori Cockrell
    • Cheryl Cullers
    • Kevin Brooks
    • Jason Neale
    • Kenzie Kidwell
    • Brandace Kerns

    Each person has been asked to raise a minimum of $500. Some have chosen to increase their goals from that amount. The group’s overall target is $7,500. To see who is in the lead, or to donate towards one of the volunteers’ campaigns, visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/peer-to-peer/pitch-burst–2026.

    Support warren county kids today!

    The Pitch Burst is part of the Warren Coalition’s 13th annual Celebrate Kids Day, which will be held on Sunday, September 27th, from 1 pm to 4 pm at the Health & Human Service Complex at 465 W 15th Street. There will be pony rides, inflatable rides, a petting zoo, free pumpkins for the first 200 children, a train ride, and plenty of games and prizes. The cost is $1 per child, which includes almost all of the activities except for the cake walk, which is an additional $1 per person.