The Gift of Gratitude

We recently received a thank you note from one of our parents, and we wanted to share it with you. Enjoy, and know that as our supporter and friend, you are part of an organization that truly makes a difference in the lives of families in need.

from December 18, 2008

"Hi,I'm a parent of Gian Carlo Daproza,one of the students that your organization is helping. He's currently attending at Cora Kelly Recreational Center.
My name is Rosita-Nitz Daproza. I'm emailing just to show how our family and I are so very grateful for what your organization have done for us.. From having us celebrate the Thanksgiving Holidays with peace with the help of the food you've provided our family,I personally is very thankful. Now, for having to provide my children gifts to open for Christmas and for our gift also. Our family is really going through one of the toughest time right now...my husband is trying his hardest to make ends meet but since our economy got hit really hard the company he is now working for decided to cut their hours and its been really hard for us. While fulfilling his duty to his ill mother who is diagnosed with kidney failure and going through her weekly dialysis...
So,every blessing that my family and I are receiving is very much appreciated...

Again, Thank You so very much for all the help that your organization have done for my family and I...

Sincerely,

Rosita- Nitz P. Daproza"

Cinderella's Dress

Sergio is a four-year-old student in our program and he is in Ms. Tonya’s and Ms. Ana’s class at our Birchmere site in Alexandria. He is bright and very funny…a big ham! His sister, Heidi, was one of our preschool students and now she is in second grade. She gets excellent grades and enjoys singing and creating any kind of artwork. I have one of her drawings in my office. Today Heidi came with her Mom to pick up her brother, Sergio. She was all dressed up in what Sergio calls her “Cinderella dress” because she sang in a holiday assembly at school today. She explained to me that she and her classmates performed songs in English, Spanish and even Japanese, and then – to my delight - she demonstrated a couple of the songs! It was gratifying to see her self-assured demeanor, and to take a little credit on behalf of CFNC, for her continued success in school and life.

I love working in a setting where I often have the opportunity and pleasure to see and talk with our former students and their parents at various points along the way and see how well they and their families are doing. I encounter our former students in the public schools in which we have classrooms and in CFNC’s Birchmere site where my office is located if they have a younger sibling enrolled in our program. I also see them in Arlandria, the Birchmere’s neighborhood, where my husband and I also live. What a gift and a joy!

by Donna Bain

Helping Parents Connect to Their Children

Every semester bilingual Program Officer Corrin Chambers from the Reading Connections comes to the Family Literacy classroom to teach parents how to read with their children. Every time she covers a different aspect of reading and shows the parents how to do it. The first session in October she talked about bilingual books and during the second session she talked about wordless books where parent and child can make up their own stories.

The parents love coming to these classes because they not only learn new reading techniques but receive free books for their children as well. This way they can immediately apply what they have learned in class.

I follow up on these classes by talking about what was taught and by having the parents read the books out loud in class. I make sure that everything is understood and that the parents are reading the books using the new techniques at home.

by Eugenie Ballering, M.Ed.
Family Literacy Instructor

Thanks for a Thankless Task

Every year we send out a holiday card to all of our supporters wishing them a joyous season from our staff and board members and the families who have benefited from their generosity throughout the year. Sending out over 2,000 hand addressed holiday cards is no small task. This year we were fortunate to have employees from Reed Technology, students from the Art Institute, and one member of Westminster Presbyterian Church volunteer their time to help us hand address, stamp and stuff the holiday cards. For anyone who ever participated in a large mailing, this kind of work has its own way of leaving you feeling a little drained at the end of the day. It is often a thankless act of generosity that goes unnoticed - but not this year. We are so thankful for the hours each of these groups gave to help us send out our holiday cards. Their hard work enabled program staff members to focus more of their time where it is needed most: at work with the 150+ children and families benefiting from our services.

Media Coverage in India

This past week we were contacted by Aunshuman Apte from Voice of America who, after reading the article in the Washington Post, wanted to do a story on the impact of current financial crisis on our programs. After inteviewing our senior managers, they spent time in each classroom. They asked almost every child (because the children loved to be on camera) what they wanted to be when they grow up. They got, as you can imagine, some priceless answers. My personal favorites were: "a butterfly" and "a princess who is stuck in a castle." One the mind boggling aspects of this whole story is the number of people who will view it. The news story will be broadcast in India, and the television station has a viewship of 25 million!