Fueling Young Minds Through Early Childhood Education
In honor of “Read a Book Day,” leaders from the Hyatt Tysons’ location visited Early Head Start-Arlington Mill to lead circle time and read fun books with our students.
Thank you, CJM Wealth Advisers, for spending their morning with our Head Start students during recess. They set up a bubble station, musical chairs, tricycle races, and a parachute ball toss. The company also returned to our Hunger Resource Center, ready to conquer bagging rice, organizing shelves and cleaning out all of our food vehicles! They donated some desperately needed food, diapers and wipes, and one of the staff members even answered our call for a new chest freezer!
Thank you, Discovery Communications, for visiting all of our classrooms to read a book about gardening to our students and decorate popsicle stick worms!
Thank you to the senior partners at Booz Allen Hamilton, who visited Head Start to teach students about aerospace engineering and help them make their own planes with handprint wings!
Spreading Joy and Support to Our Shelter Guests
Thank you, Katrina Wiley, for supporting the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center. Katrina is learning to assist with administrative tasks and helping the shelter assistants.
Thank you, Parties 2 Inspire, for hosting a Back-to-School party to kick off the school year. Shelter guests enjoyed games, party favors (school supplies/books), music, food, dancing/limbo/musical chairs, reading, science activities, and the adult favorite — bingo with prizes!
Thank you, Eileen Moore from Abrakadoodle Prince William County, for presenting another art lesson for the children at the Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center. Eileen taught the children about watercolors and printing techniques to make a dreamcatcher. The children also learned about the dreamcatcher’s significance to some Native American cultures.
Thank you, BRAWS, for returning to the SERVE Campus. Team members from BRAWS provided bra fits, new bras, new underwear and a boost in our shelter guests’ self-esteem. Most of our shelter families arrive with only the clothes on their back or maybe one bag. Once in the shelter, their primary focus is stabilizing their family, and bras are not a priority for time or money. But having a well-fitting bra can be just the boost some moms need to keep going.
Thank you, Grace UMC Prayers and Squares, as well as the Piedmont Modern Quilt Guild, for making beautiful and spacious tote bags that shelter guests will use to move their belongings when they transition to housing. Anne Young, a SERVE volunteer, organized the tote-bag-making efforts for the groups who wanted to use their talents to help the shelter guests at SERVE. Many times clients only have garbage bags to move their belongings. The tote bags will be a stylish way to move out of the shelter and a great way to get off on the right foot in their new homes. With storage space very limited in the shelter, the tote bags fold nicely for easy storage and distribution for families moving out.
Supporting NVFS Across the Region
Thank you, Transurban, for assembling 70 volunteers to pack 200 snack packs for the shelter, HRC and other programs. Employees also supplied 250 each of four learning activity kits (balloon tennis, textures and shapes, scavenger hunt, fishing).
Thank you, Financial Planners Association-National Capital Area NexGen Group and Aetna, for helping to organize, sort and price donations at the Falls Church Thrift Shop. And thank you, Northrup Grumman, for keeping it in tip-top shape for customers!
Thank you, Justice Suh, for helping with a variety of tasks, from administrative support for the Development Department to tech support for the Head Start staff. He goes above and beyond on every project and is willing to help wherever needed.