In long-standing tradition, Words Alive celebrates and honors the power and leadership behind our mission – our volunteers. Each year, our ability to serve the San Diego Community grows with increasing support from willing and devoted community members who step up to give their time and talent to work in our programs, develop curriculum, provide oversight and leadership, and engage with our students and families.
April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month, a month we look forward to as it’s full of recognition, sharing stories, connecting with our volunteers, and our annual Volunteer Appreciation Event. This year’s event was held last week on April 27th at the San Diego Central Library, our beautiful host venue and partner in literacy. The event was attended by 70 of our volunteers – some as new as a few weeks and some as veteran as eight years’ service. All came together to learn about the achievements of the volunteer program and of this year’s award winners, those who received honorable mention.
In the past year, for our purposes a year is April 2016-April 2017, our volunteer core grew to over 550 dedicated people. This team of people collectively gave 14,220 hours of time to serve the community through our organization - most importantly, enabling 5,725 students and families to benefit from our supplemental language arts programming. Though our work and reach is impressive, it’s the way this work is done that is most inspiring.
Volunteers join our team from all career paths and backgrounds, some having taught for 40 years and others having never worked with children a day in their life. They find common ground in our mission, in the beautiful relationships build with students and with each other, and in the reward of seeing progress and realizing a tangible way to contribute to the systemic issue of illiteracy.
Throughout the month of April, and specifically during the National Volunteer Appreciation Week, we highlighted specific volunteer contributions and achievements. At the annual event, we recognized ten volunteers for above and beyond service and advocacy. Read more about these amazing community leaders on our Facebook page, and view the award winners pictured below.
Thank you again to our strong and spirited volunteer team for carrying our organization forward and providing such meaningful education and inspiration to our students and families this year and every year!
