Category «Education»

Bus and Park It Packs

Canadians have been encouraged to spend time in the fresh air and nature during this pandemic, because it is so important for our mental and emotional well-being. To that end, Altrusa International of Nanaimo members assembled 530 “Bus & Park It” packs, each containing 10 transit tickets, 2 face masks, hand sanitizer, a transit bus schedule, a map of Nanaimo’s parks and recreation areas, and instructions on Covid 19 protocol. The packs were then delivered to 16 community service agencies who helped distribute them throughout the city. These Bus & Park It packs enabled riders of all ages and abilities to safely reach playgrounds, beaches, sporting facilities and viewpoints. Altrusa targeted vulnerable citizens who fell into the following six categories: mental illness, poverty, Indigenous, homeless, disabilities or supportive living. The response to this project exceeded our expectations!

Essential School Supplies for Lake County in the “Red for Ed” Campaign

The children of Lake County have been significantly affected this year due to Covid-19 and our club was able to make a $250 donation to the “Red for Ed” campaign, which helps to stock the Apple Mart with school supplies for teachers to shop for their classroom and their students throughout the year for free. The stores are manned by a group of volunteers & there are 3 locations in Lake County. Our club was also asked to donate individually to this effort, resulting in additional funds donated.

No 12 Driver Training Programme

No 12 are going to use our donation to help with Literacy resources in English, Te Reo Maori and Samoan to help their students understand the meaning of the terminology used in Driver Training and the Road Code. eg what does the Give Way sign mean. All 16 year old students at Te Kuiti High School enroll with No 12 to do their driving training, which is in 3 parts, each one to be completed before advancing to the next stage. Adults are accepted for training also. As No 12 is dependent on funding, our cheque was gratefully received.

Make-A-Difference Day 2020 – Gateway Education Center

The 2020 Make-A-Difference Day is October 24th. For this year’s Make-A-Difference Day project, the Altrusa Club of Warsaw, Indiana partnered with Gateway Education Center to provide snacks for the students. Gateway provides various educational opportunities like Alternative Instructional Methods. This program provides an adult-like atmosphere where students are expected to develop self-control and maintain adult behavior. Half of their school week is an academic setting and half of the week provides work experience. Credits earned lead to high school diplomas.

Another program, Rebound, is a half-day program aimed at assisting students who have dropped out of school and want to return, or students who have served an expulsion and would benefit from learning in a smaller setting before transitioning to the general school setting full-time.
The Center’s Middle School Alternative Learning Program is designed for students experiencing difficulty in the general school setting and need a smaller environment to work on academic, social, behavioral or mental health issues. Gateway also provides Adult Education classes to serve non-traditional students.

The Altrusa Club members learned that students enjoy receiving snack awards for their academic accomplishments. Members donated seven big baskets of various snack foods for the Gateway classes. The Club also donated cards of appreciation plus a $10 restaurant gift cards to Gateway’s 23-member staff. Members wanted to partner with Gateway to help make a difference in the students’ lives, and to show appreciation to the staff for all they do to make a difference in the lives of some of our community’s future adult citizens.

Back to School – Back to Service

The Service Committee was approached by the Community Volunteer Program Manager of Muncie Community Schools to assist in providing needed school supplies. The committee approved the purchase of $500 in supplies for MCS. The funds provided 60 sets of colored pencils, 335 dry erase markers, and 5,760 pencils! The committee also placed labels on each outer package with the Club’s logo so that teachers and students know that Altrusa supports them! This activity was completed and in the hands of the school’s administration within one week, far ahead of the needed date.

Tools 4 Teaching

A special project with Tools 4 Teaching, a program of our local public education foundation, was selected by the club members. Tools 4 Teaching was created by the education foundation to provide teachers with free classroom supplies and books since many parents are unable to continually purchase these basic items for their children. Community organizations, businesses and individuals donate supplies that are transformed into classroom learning materials and made available to all 3,500 public school teachers through a voucher system at the Tools 4 Teaching “store.” Organized to look like an actual store, Tools 4 Teaching is centrally located at the Thelma Parker Center, named in honor of one of our charter Altrusians. The club stocks three bookshelves at the Tools 4 Teaching store with books and school supplies, the shelf is named for another club charter member, Juanita Cunningham. This project has two important objectives: 1) to impact the supply shortage experienced by our teachers at area public schools, many of whom purchase books and classroom materials with their own funds, and 2) to promote Altrusa name recognition and our staunch support of literacy. Many of the books provided by Altrusa are purchased through our partnership with the First Book organization. First Book is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing educational opportunities for low-income children through services that include the sale of books at reduced prices. Supplies, e.g., paper, crayons, pencils, etc. were collected directly from our members or through supply drives members held at their local businesses. Over $2,000 was spent on books that were combined with the donated materials. At least one member oversees Juanita’s Bookshelf and coordinates with the Tools 4 Teaching staff to ensure the shelf is always full and contains relevant and useful items. The Literacy Committee monitors the book and supply inventory and notifies the membership of shelf “sales” and most requested materials at monthly meetings and through the club newsletter. Altrusa was originally given three shelves to stock at the store but our allotted space continues to expand over time. The public education foundation tracks the number of visits made to the Tools 4 Teaching store and the items purchased through the voucher system and provides these reports to our club. In 2017, 6,500 visits from teachers at 52 schools “shopped” the Tools 4 Teaching store and shared with their students over 4,000 books, of which 1,209 had been donated by Altrusa. We continue to provide funds, supplies and at least 1,000 books each year.

Make A Difference Day at the Arnette House

A delicious, homemade lunch was prepared for the youth of Arnette House and the club donated 35 quality books for their library and each attendee received a canvas tote stuffed with school supplies and personal care items.
Arnette House was co-founded by our first President and charter member of Altrusa International of Ocala, Sara Arnette.
Arnette House provides an emergency youth shelter, family counseling services,and foster care group homes to Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, and Hernando counties.

“Pete the Cat” Literacy Day

“Pete the Cat” Literacy Day: Happy House Daycare- a non-profit childcare center for the “working poor”. At Happy House Daycare, focus was on 30 newly located 3-4 year olds. As children progress from the “toddler” building to “big school” literacy is paramount from day one. Being read to by Altrusa volunteers increases vocabulary as well as promoting classroom behavior skills. Prior to the event, Altrusans cut out all the pieces to create a paper rendition of Pete. Altrusans assisted with a hands-on reinforcement of the story “Pete the Cat” by helping the children in gluing and placing Pete’s body parts on their project page, then choosing a “shoe color” for Pete to wear, that color name was then spelled out on their papers. Copies of the book “Pete the Cat” were given to each student and copies for each classroom. Literacy is paramount in Happy House from birth through Pre-k and afterschool programs.

Transforming Middle School Transitions

Transitioning from elementary to middle school can be terrifying. Creating a baseline of communication skills, self-dependence and organization at this age leads to better life-long learning success. Altrusa of Lake City created two events to transform these scary times into fun and educational half-day extravaganzas: Red Carpet Event and Girls’ Summit. “Red Carpet Event” provides a time to see the campus and meet peers prior to the first day of fall classes. Altrusa sponsors the event financially and coordinates and leads the breakout sessions- to reinforce the school’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program and included: Human Hungry Hippos, Slime Lab, School safety/Social Media presentation. The event ended with lunch. The Girls Summit event is to build leadership skills among young women by providing information and education concerning issues they encounter in their daily lives, through Art Painting Projects, Self Defense and Table Manners/Etiquette session with hands on preparation of their meal. Our most vulnerable young ladies have difficulty transitioning from elementary school to middle school. By creating fun and interactive events, these changes can be less scary and give them the chance to see they are not alone in their quest for fitting in. Transforming the transition process!

Pets, Prose, and Pickers: A musical and storytelling event to benefit local pet organizations.

Partnering with Covenant Pet Trust and Lake City Humane Society we used the interwoven love of pets, literacy and music, to invite Sean Dietrich to headline the community-wide free event featuring SongFarmers as musical entertainment. The community continues to benefit reading his weekly column in our newspaper. . We provided an uplifting and encouraging community event at no cost to local attendees. (Sean, a high school dropout, and 11-year community college graduate, with a tragic family history, uses his stories about growing up in the south to connect with readers and listeners of all ages. He embodies the spirit of literacy, resourcefulness and family that Altrusa strives to promote. He also LOVES his fur babies.) He told stories at our joint luncheon with Rotary as well as the evening community wide event. The SongFarmers is a group of local blue grass style musicians who meet regularly with local learning musicians to share their craft with the next generation. Nationally known picker, Skip Johns heads the group and to put he and Sean together with some of these eager to learn musicians was a natural progression. Donations of food and money were given to CPT and LCHS.