On June 3 & 4, 2006, Kids to Kids celebrated its fifth birthday at a bash hosted at Providence, a new master planned community.

The two-day event featured a variety of speakers, storytellers, entertainment, tons of free food and drinks, and so much more.

About 2,000 people attended our birthday celebration. Thanks to our generous host and sponsor, Focus Property Group, and to everyone who helped make the event such a resounding success.

The event was jam-packed with guests (like Tales to Tails, a literacy program that takes dogs into schools to improve reading skills, above left) and activities like face-painting (above, right).

Storytellers, below, shared their favorite books with party guests.

Local Channel 3 newscasters Kendall Tenney (below, left, with Kids to Kids President Laurie Porter) and Maria Silva (below, right) joined in the fun by reading books to their fans.

Authors of a number of books came to share their work and their stories. Below, left to right, are Kim Davis, author of "Vegas: One Cop's Journey," Stephen Nasser, author of "My Brother's Voice," and Mike Miller, author of a series of books about Tomas the Tortoise.

Our young guests, below, took full advantage of the free hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, cotton candy and rootbeer floats, all courtesy of our generous sponsors at Focus Property Group. Our birthday event coincided with the official opening of the information center at Providence, located at I-215 and Hualapai.

The Las Vegas Gladiators' dance team, The Goddesses, joined in the festivities, signing autographs and showing off some moves.

Below, members of Sign Design Theatre perform sign language to music for an enthralled audience.

Above, members of the UNLV cheerleading squad provide some cheerleading tips.

Of course, an event like our birthday celebration takes lots of work by dedicated volunteers and Kids to Kids staff members (above).

How big was our birthday party? Click on the image above to see!

Photos by Scott Roeben.