New Volunteer Opportunities at El Nido
February 7th, 2017 by Chad Gurley
El Nido is expanding quickly, meeting the needs of so many mothers with babies and young children in Washington Heights, providing them hope for a future! Because of our growth, we need your help, and there are countless ways you can get involved and volunteer. Here are a few:
Teach English. Most of our El Nido parents speak little/no English. This limits their job possibilities and puts their children further behind upon entering kindergarten. Our families have expressed significant interest in learning English. We would like to create a program to help them achieve this goal or make it possible for them to participate in a program outside of El Nido by providing childcare. If you feel a calling to help our families learn English, we need you!
- Understand resources for immigrants. Many of our families are first-generation immigrants. Their legal standing varies widely (although the children are US citizens). Given the current political climate, we need to understand what resources our families can tap into (e.g., free legal services, seminars on current policies). We would like to organize a few discussions with experts for our community. If you feel a calling to help our families navigate the current immigration laws by seeking out speakers, legal aid organizations, and/or immigrant right advocates, we need you!
- Improve our marketing/branding/graphic design. We would love to create new materials and refresh our current materials. If you feel a calling to use your professional expertise to advance our image, we need you!
- Increase our presence on social media. We know we could do much more in this area to generate support and get the word out about our programs. If you feel a calling to use your social media expertise to serve our El Nido families, we need you!
- Encourage fathers. Help us organize and run a program for our fathers! We are exploring a grant with NY Presbyterian to create a multi-week session dedicated to our dads. If you feel a calling to assist the El Nido fathers, we need you!
- Showcase music. Our families love music- from any culture! The babies respond immediately to it. We would love to have volunteers on Thursdays or Saturdays who could share their musical talents. If you feel a calling to uplift our families with your musical talent, we need you!
- The Reading Corner. Every Saturday morning, we need a cadre of volunteers to make The Reading Corner a reality. If you feel a calling to model how fun and important reading to young children is, we need you!
- Mondays at El Nido. Every Monday we need volunteers to help us organize the various donations that come our way. If you feel a calling to help us provide to our families the right goods at the right time, we need you!
Please pray about all of these requests. We have been humbled by the talents and resources of many people already. Also, please think broadly – perhaps you have a friend, a cousin, a teacher/instructor, or a work colleague that may be able to help us on one of these topics!
Please get in touch with Lara Theriault at larat@me.com or Holly Fogle at fogleh@gmail.com if you feel called to help!
Chad Gurley
Chad Gurley serves as the Director of Connections and Communications at Christ Church.
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