Altrusa International Service Projects
A database of Service projects from throughout our Altrusa organization
Using the Donors Choose website, our Service Committee selected local classroom projects to support at low-income schools. The projects we selected promoted active learning. This club year, we supported 7 schools and supplied them with hands-on materials to learn about food, sensory materials for preschoolers, school and art supplies, coding robots, books, solar-powered rover kits, and jumbo building blocks.
The purpose of the project was to aid mothers and newborns at the outbreak of the War in Ukraine. There were pregnant women travelling alone to the maternity hospitals to give birth. There were photos of strollers left at train stations for mothers who fled their home for their own and their children’s safety.
Olena has relatives who work at a Maternity Hospital. She devised a plan and connections to ensure the goods we gathered would get DIRECTLY into the hands of those who needed it most.
Olena sought Altrusa’s help to advertise her collection of comfort goods for “Mommies and Babies” in Ukraine Maternity Hospitals. Altrusa Intl. of Central CT, Inc. advertised on social media… word spread like wildfire to Altrusans and friends. Donations came in from 16 states from Maine to California! We then assisted with collection, sorting, and packaging donations alongside of Dancers, Dentists and Daycare Workers, to pack 27 pallets, filling a 50-foot trailer, in one weekend.
We took part in a humanitarian effort to supply expectant mothers and newborns with desperately needed supplies in war-ravaged Ukraine.
We have collected over 125 books in Spanish and English from Baker Books and they will be displayed at the 2 Habitat Restores marked for 1 book per child that comes in with a parent to shop at the Restore. The books range in reading ability from beginner to chapter books for older children or adults. The Service committee will be checking the crate of books every couple of weeks to replenish the supply. We have marked the books with a label that they are donated by Altrusa International Inc. of Grand Rapids, MI and Baker Books.
Each year the Sikeston club chooses a project for Make a Difference Day in October. This year it was decided to fund a project for the Missouri Department of Youth Services and serve underprivileged at risk youth. The club donated money to pay for a field trip to a recreational center, where the children attended a water safety course then enjoyed time in the pool. Afterwards, all the children were treated to ice cream before being returned to their home, foster home or group home. All the children who participated were selected because they had experienced abuse during their short lifetime. Altrusa is proud to be a positive influence in their lives and to show them that their community does care about them.
Morrinsville club hold an annual Literacy award for primary aged children from 11 local schools. The recipients are the children who have improved the most in their reading and writing.
The children invite their parents and grandparents to afternoon tea and an award presentation. Each child chooses a new book to keep.
Our Morrinsville club heard from member, who is a primary school principle, of her schools need for clean, warm clothes for children to change into. Being wet and cold is not conducive to learning and is distressing for children. Our club provided 5 local schools with Emergency Kits containing track suit pants, T-shirts, under wear, socks, shorts, knitted slippers and beanies in a variety of sizes. We provided a plastic box for the clothes to be kept in. We regularly contact the schools to ask if they need a top up and what they need if their individual needs have changed. The schools decide how the use the kits. Parents can wash the clothes and return them to the school. The schools can give the clothing away to children in need. The feedback has been positive. Children who have had accidents have been able to have new underwear, children who have gotten wet in winter have been able to change into warm clothes and children without adequate clothing have been given an outfit.
You don’t normally associate hospital and reading room, but Altrusa did. They felt there was a need for a bookshelf and assorted reading materials for the ICU waiting room at the local hospital. So they created a reading area in the waiting room. Every month two Altrusans volunteer to stock the bookshelves with new books and magazines. They remove any worn out reading materials. For the many hours that families spend waiting in this room, they now have an alternative to mindless television programming and can maintain their literacy skills. This club addressed a little known need of the community in an effective and supportive manner.
Each year on World Literacy Day in September, the Sikeston club partners with the Sikeston Public Library. After consulting with the Director of the public library on a special theme book or topic about women, $50 is donated to purchase one or more books commemorating this UN Observance. This project not only supports literacy but also promotes Altrusa’s special relationship with the UN and its sustainable goals agenda.
Schoolfest is a long standing literacy project held at the annual Saturday parade prior to the 4 day community Rodeo. A large variety of children’s books are purchased as well as adult books. Tables are set up in a local park to display books and they are given away at no cost to recipients. Over 600 books are given away by club members manning the tables. Just another example of how the Sikeston club is leading to a better community.
Celebrate Reading is an annual Altrusa literacy project held on Dr Suess’ Birthday and the same time as the Read Across America program. The club purchases class room sets of books to read at the public and private preschools as well as public kindergarten in the community. Altrusans read the book to their assigned class then distribute new copies of the book read to each of the children. This project supports the literacy skills of each child and advances their education. Generally, 300 to 400 books are distributed by the Sikeston club at the completion of this project.