Project Read Book Club in October

by Stephanie Braun

The Project Read Book Club had seven attendees in October, who joined together to read Excuse Me, Are You A Witch? by Emily Horn. This book tells the story of Herbert, a lonely black cat, who learns at his local library that witches like black cats. Herbert sets out to find a witch as he wanders around town asking ever so politely, "excuse me, are you a witch?"  Luckily for Herbert, he eventually finds a group of witch schoolgirls who take him home to care for as their own.

After reading the book, which is reading level 2.7, we created our own black cats out of construction paper and some foam pieces that served as eyes, noses, and ears. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

More information of Project Read:

In partnership with Project READ Redwood City, Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula (JLPA-MP) volunteers tutor children in grades K-8 at the downtown Redwood City library. Each child has an individualized learning plan that is provided by Project READ to the tutor.  A typical one-hour tutoring session includes helping students complete their homework, reading aloud together and playing games or other fun activities that further strengthen literacy skills.  League members also facilitate book club sessions and other literacy enrichment activities throughout the year to help encourage a lifelong love of reading. 

Leaning In … for Nearly 50 Years!

By C. Anne Vitullo, 2013-2014 Communications VP

Like many women here in Silicon Valley, my summer reading has included Sheryl Sandberg’s "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead." Although her book is largely about our roles in the workplace, one passage struck a particular chord with me—and the work we do as League members in the community.

Here it is:

"At Facebook, we work hard to create a culture where people are encouraged to take risks. We have posters all around the office that reinforce that attitude. In bright red letters, one declares, “Fortune favors the bold.” Another insists, “Proceed and be bold.” My favorite reads, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

When it comes to League members, I think it’s safe to say we’ve never been afraid! Risk-taking is part of our organizational DNA. Consider some of the ways in which League members have contributed to our community over the years: mentoring teens to help them build personal growth and self-awareness ... working with children whose lives have been touched by addiction … teaching life skills to formerly homeless families … educating parents on the importance of reading to their children.

We’ve never been afraid to tackle the hard, seemingly intractable problems in our community: illiteracy, homelessness, drug addiction, at-risk youth. With nearly 50 years of service here on the Peninsula, we can point with pride to programs begun by our League, such as Rebuilding Together Peninsula and the Daybreak Program for Homeless Youth, that are still going strong more than 20 years later. We roll up our sleeves ... contribute our skills and abilities … make time to volunteer even when our days are squeezed and our commitments many. In short, we lean in! Indeed, we were leaning in long before Sheryl’s best-selling book!

The summer issue of Piper features a special “Year in Review”, highlighting our involvement and celebrating our impact over the past year. You'll find a copy on our web site at www.thejuniorleague.org. I hope this report renews your commitment to the League—and makes you proud to be a member of this wonderful organization.

Spanish Homework and the Solar System

By Kirsten Crum, Project READ Committee Member

Project READ student and JLPA-MP Volunteer

I recently had the pleasure of working with a second grader, Michelle, while volunteering at Project READ for my League placement. She was extremely bright and finished her homework in about 5 minutes and without any assistance from me. This was very fortunate as she was in a Spanish immersion school and my Spanish no es muy bueno so I was struggling to understand the assignment.

After we finished her Spanish homework we moved on to working on her science project. The project focused on the solar system and space travel. I consulted a bit on the overall layout and helped her to create the tape circles she used to paste down various parts of the poster she was working on. The most enjoyable aspect of the evening was spent admiring her focus and enthusiasm. Her mother had to drag her away at the end of the night since she was so wrapped up in adding material to her presentation.

Overall, I’m so impressed with the kids at Project READ, and also have so enjoyed meeting their parents, all of whom have been really involved with their children and very committed to helping them get ahead. What a wonderful organization!

Project READ Tutor Shares First Experience

By Marisa Dittmer, Project READ Committee Member

The big day arrived. After days of training and meeting together as a committee, I was ready for my first Project READ tutoring experience. Filled with excitement and plenty of nerves, I hopped in my car and headed for Redwood City.

I walked into the charming library and felt more at ease. Once upstairs I was happily greeted by Kirsten Crum, one of our fearless leaders, and guided as to where I should sign in and get my badge. Quickly I was ushered out into the FLC (Family Learning Center) and seated at a table with a darling, and quite precocious, 2nd grader. We worked, chatted and got to know one another over math and language arts worksheets. 

While finishing up with her, and ready to play an educational game, I was asked if I could go help another 2nd grade girl. Yet another sweet, hard-working girl whose goal was to complete all her homework packet for the week. Once finished, she rushed to the bookshelf, stating “I want to read you two books! Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat!” The evening quickly drew to a close, with the immortal words of Dr. Seuss, hugs, thanks yous and a smile on my face, grateful for the evening experience. 

I look forward to this year of learning together with my committee and the family that is Project READ.

March General Membership Meeting Roundup and Placement Time!!

By Summer Brill, Web Marketing Assistant Chair/Social Media 2010-11

Did you miss last week's General Membership Meeting? Not only was this our March GMM, but it was our first Prospective Member social as well! Membership Outreach and League Members brought in over 40 prospective members to our pre-meeting social and they stayed to see what a League meeting is like. (If you know someone who would be a great asset to our League, visit the Join section of our website for more info and future Open House dates.)

Eugenie Atherton and Alexia Clements from Fund Development held a second raffle for a luxurious Four Seasons Spa day (the first one was at the last GMM), the lucky winner was Sara Hollister! Congratulations Sara! Sara won the package (valued at $700) which includes a yoga class, lunch, and a 60-minute spa service for four. We raised over $2,000 for the League with these two raffles, and Fund Development will raffle off another Luxurious Four Seasons Spa package at the May GMM, be sure to purchase your raffle tickets at the meeting!

Angela Espinosa (Strategic Planning MAL) introduced the Strategic Planning Task force including herself, Ansley Jentz, Vanessa Roach, Jill Shanmugasundaram, and Jan Woolsey. The Task Force identified five areas the League should focus on:

Strategic Planning
Strategic Continuum
On Going Strategic Planning Council
Training
Leadership development
Volunteer training
Nominating Process
Place best fit candidates
Continuity and League career planning
Membership
Opportunities and responsibilities
Membership satisfaction
Sustainers
Sustainer satisfaction
Connecting Sustainers and Actives

Expect to hear more about this in the future!

Project News: First Teachers is sunsetting...Introducing our New Project

Redwood City Library's Project READ

Project READ Co-Chairs for 2011-12 are Holly Tambling and Kirsten Crum

Here are some facts about our new project:
Founded in 1987 at the Redwood City Public Library

Project READ provides individualized literacy learning plans and tutoring to children from the most disadvantaged areas of Redwood City

Project READ gets results. After a year with Project READ, students improve their reading by 3.5 levels on average

Opportunity to help between 40-80 children grades K-8 significantly improve their reading skills

Great one-on-one volunteer experience in the evening

Convenient Redwood City location

So what exactly will our Project READ committee members do next year?
1. Work with students to develop and run monthly book club.
Book club will be facilitated and led by League volunteers and held in the evening during tutoring hours.
2. Tutor children at the drop in tutoring center from 6pm-9pm.

What potential impact will the League have on Project READ?
With the monthly book club, Project READ will be able to offer an additional literacy enrichment activity that currently is not available to students.

League volunteers on a regular basis mean more students can be tutored one-on-one and students won't have to wait as long for tutoring.

After serving on this project, our volunteers will be trained literacy tutors for life.

We also had a very heartfelt presentation by Project READ's director Kathleen Endaya. It was very inspiring and it is clear that with the League’s involvement, Project READ will be able to help many more clients than they currently serve.

In addition to a great overview of our new Project, we had very informative and inspiring presentations about two of our current Projects, Fostering Families and Shelter Network. Keep an eye out on our Blog for future stories and our Facebook Page (Newsfeed) to see some interesting facts about these Projects. (www.facebook.com/jlpamp)

It's Placement time again!

We ended the meeting with our annual Placement fair, where all Members had the chance to ask questions of current committee members and in many instances, next year's leaders, to help them determine where they want to spend their valuable volunteer time for our next League year. Can you believe that is just around the corner?

There are so many ways to spend your time and we have many resources to help you figure it out. Visit our website and either click on the Green Placement button on the home page, or login to the Member Area and scroll down to the Placement Manual. This year the Placement Manual also has a nifty graph to help you get a feel for each placement’s "busy times".

Also, if you've received your Piper magazine, there are several articles that can give you additional insight into a few committees.
Interested in helping the League increase Member and Community awareness of our activities? Read "The Social Network" on page 12 to learn more about Communications, our League's Social Media initiative and next year’s new structure. Looking for a Community Project? Peruse this issue for DIAD and Fostering Families (start page 8). Ready to dive into fundraising? Check out the Home Tour Wrap Up on page 24. Read on to see why several of our Members "Belong" to our League, maybe they will inspire you to try something new!

Even if you were already slated by Nominating, be sure to complete your online Placement by April 1st! And don't forget to pay your dues!

As usual, our GMM was festive and in keeping with the St. Patrick's Day theme, we all had pots of gold that were likely eaten by the end of the meeting! Thank you to the Enrichment Committee for their hard work in creating a fun environment for our GMM!

And Mark Your Calendars for our next GMM on Wednesday, May 18th!