Hello Pinewood Volunteers,
During this busy Holiday season, we hope you know how much you are appreciated. We are so grateful for your dedication to our children. Just like the world around us, we have seen more crisis and students in need (financial and otherwise) than ever before and I thank you for supporting us in every way possible. Through your time and talents we are able to provide multiple levels of support here at school for students to have a community of caring adults surrounding them at all times to support their learning. We have big gains to make in reading and math but feel confident that our students are working hard towards their future with your help.
Three volunteer opportunities I want to share with you if you have not already heard:
1.) We are in desperate need of mentors. A mentor is an adult that can meet with the students on a weekly (or biweekly) basis for at least a half hour. This could be embedded in their instruction so they are alongside the student giving one-on-one instruction, or a lunch buddy to eat lunch with the student to let them know someone cares about them, or someone to toss a ball with at recess. The goal of our mentor program is to show the student that someone else cares about them as individuals and to make them feel special. If you are interested in this, please e-mail me ASAP... we have a priority list of students waiting for you. If you know other adults in your office or have connections with another group of adults through a club, church or otherwise please ask them if they would consider being a mentor. We have a list of 88 priority students with only 11 mentors set up so far. One volunteer has even taken on two mentees! E-mail me: beth.wardy@cms.k12.nc.us to be set up.
2.) Santa's Secret Shop: We need additional volunteers to man the little store open in the parent room for students to buy gifts for their family members. It is so adorable to see those little ones with their pocket full of quarters or wadded up dollar bills. Please consider taking an hour to help them pick out gifts! Please e-mail our PTA president (jean.toscano@cms.k12.nc.us) if you are interested in this opportunity. It will be open from now until December 8th during school hours.
3.) Teacher's Secret Holiday Luncheon: On December 15 the school will be showing appreciation for the teachers. We are in need of volunteers to staff classrooms so that the teachers can have a duty free lunch for the first time this year! We are hoping that all teachers, assistants, custodians and office staff can be involved in the luncheon but that means we need A MASS of approved volunteers. Don't worry it will be easy... we are going to play a video closed circuit so the students will just be able to watch it and read and other quiet low maintenance activities. We need you!
Thank you for all you do. Please do not forget to log your hours that you have donated your time to our school. It is okay to go back and enter approximate if you have forgotten exact. Sometimes, corporate donors will give financial gifts related to the district logged volunteer hours. Any time you have spent here please log it! (Queens/UNCC students you can log your clinical hours too!) www.cmsvolunteers.com
Please encourage friends and family to sign up and volunteer here. We hope to be a welcoming community to everyone. We want you to know how much we appreciate your support. Pinewood is a fantastic place to be but we could not do it without you!
Thanks,
Beth Wardy
