It’s winter. Sometimes getting out of the house or leaving work to get to VU at 4:15 p.m. means braving the wet and cold. A volunteer might be tempted to think “they won’t miss me this one time. There’s lots of help.” Oh so wrong! We depend on our volunteers…
Report cards started coming in a week or so ago, and we now have just about all of them. It’s hard to believe it’s the second quarter already! One notable thing about the report cards is that the kids in grades 5 and 6 who have been coming to VU…
Parents are such important partners at VU. They faithfully bring their children to do their homework and read with our volunteers, often waiting at NRC for 90 minutes while their kids work. Over the past year, a couple of moms and dads have asked us to help them learn English…
After opening on September 18, VU has been up and running! Most Mondays and Tuesdays so far we have been averaging 15 students each night. And in addition to the seasoned volunteers who returned, we have oriented more than a dozen new volunteers so far! I know it’s a bit…
I wish I were going back to school. What’s more exciting than the promise of a new school year? You have new teachers; you get to see old friends and make new ones; and if you are lucky, you get to go back to VU to do your homework and…
As hard as it is to think about summer break ending, it’s a reality. For VU that means the kids come back! And we are so happy about that. We’re busy preparing to help with homework, do lots of reading and fun related activities, and serve some yummy healthy snacks.…
These VU students were among the readers who helped reach their reading goal–one sprinkle at a time! Every time a student read aloud to a volunteer for 20 minutes, they put a sprinkle/sticker on the ice cream cone. The goal was 120 hours of reading, and the reward was an…
We always try to make learning enjoyable at VU, but the fun factor got a boost with the recent addition of Kindle Fire tablets (kids version) to the program. As a result of a generous donation, students are using brand new tablets to aid them in learning and practicing math, money skills, telling time, spelling, phonics,…
Barbara Sorenson, a tireless volunteer, advocate, and former president for Vecinos Unidos, a nonprofit after-school program in Herndon, retired in 2016 after serving children in the community for 15 years. On April 19, Andrea Ciecierski, the current president; the board of directors; and 30 volunteers gathered to recognize her years…
Sometimes VU has the wonderful opportunity to hear from students who participated in the early days of the program. At that time, it was a bit different in structure and served older students, but the goal of helping students succeed in school and life was the foundation then as it is…
