Assistance League ACTION! Week – Assistance League

Boise – Action Week 2023

Veronika — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:47:48 +0000

Assistance League® of Boise recently completed Action Week 2023. We donated literacy items to Boise, West Ada and Kuna School districts, based on what their needs were. Boise School District requested nine sets of early reader chapter books and 12 sets of graphic novels. West Ada requested two sets of basic phonogram flashcards for each of 34 schools and Kuna requested thirty sets of decodable books. Assistance League of Boise President Wendy Hartman and VP Marketing Marilyn Fowler recently presented the items to each district. This is another way that Assistance League of Boise is able to help students in our communities!

Boise – ACTION! Week

Veronika — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 17:11:51 +0000

Assistance League of Boise distributes books to Ada County elementary schools.

Assistance League of Boise has once again found a way to support our community by placing books in the hands of children. Assistance League chapters all over the country participate in what is deemed ACTION! Week.

Working closely with the Boise School districts, the Assistance League of Boise was able to identify a unique solution for the literacy needs of elementary school students in the Treasure Valley. ALB purchased and distributed 78 sets of decodable books called “The Frog Series.” Decodable books encourage children to sound out words using a learned decoding strategy rather than guessing from pictures.

Funding for ACTION! Week is generated from community donations, private contributions, grants and proceeds from the sales at ALB’s thrift shop in Garden City.

Greater Wilmington – ACTION!Week program produces early results

Veronika — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 18:02:04 +0000

Cape Fear ES Principal Sonya Oates and art teacher Amber Huckaby accept their award from committee chairs Anna Marie Allegretto and Cathy Grampp.

Assistance League of Greater Wilmington’s AL ACTION!Week project “You Gotta Have HeART!” is now taking root in the seven elementary schools selected for the $1000 awards: Belville and Lincoln in Brunswick County; Alderman, Bradley Creek, and Wrightsboro in New Hanover County; and Cape Fear and CF Pope in Pender County.

The art teachers are in the process of purchasing and utilizing materials and equipment to supplement and improve their programs.

Committee Co-Chairs Cathy Grampp and Anna Marie Allegretto joined VP Marketing Communications Cheryl DeVincentis to visit and/or communicate with one art teacher from each county.

Amber Huckaby of Cape Fear ES was “so excited to use the money for our classroom and kids!” Huckaby has recently been named Teacher of the Year by her school.

Clay projects are loved by students in Grades 2 and K.

One of her favorite things to do with her 550 students is work with clay. However, she noted that clay is expensive compared to other art materials. She applied for a Links to Learning grant last year to purchase clay. Huckaby plans to use the ACTION!Week award to purchase pottery wheels to take her students to the next level. She also plans to continue to apply for the Links to Learning grants.

Alderman ES, Megan Prey, responded to the news of the award with, “Wow! This is so exciting and unexpected! I feel like I just won the lottery!”

Huckaby is grateful. “Thank you so much for all your support of our school and the art program!”

Megan Prey and Committee Co-chair Cathy Grampp, a former art teacher, found much in common.

Cape Fear ES Principal Sonya Oates and art teacher Amber Huckaby accept their award from committee chairs Anna Marie Allegretto and Cathy Grampp.

The art teachers are in the process of purchasing and utilizing materials and equipment to supplement and improve their programs.

Committee Co-Chairs Cathy Grampp and Anna Marie Allegretto joined VP Marketing Communications Cheryl DeVincentis to visit and/or communicate with one art teacher from each county.

Amber Huckaby of Cape Fear ES was “so excited to use the money for our classroom and kids!” Huckaby has recently been named Teacher of the Year by her school.

Kathy Peck illustrates the variety of student art at Belville.

Peck has big plans for Belville’s award. She intends to improve the ceramic/sculpture materials her students will use. “Besides clay, I am working to incorporate more ways to build with students, through papier mache, wire armatures, modeling clay and using recycled materials for assemblage.” She also wants to use part of the grant to fund supplies to begin a student art club.

A Belville student works on a clay project featuring curves.

When Peck learned of the award, she responded, “This is incredible, and thank you for your support of the arts!”

This year’s ACTION!Week project will impact a total of 3,647 students.

Cathy Grampp noted the importance of this project. “Boosting the creative minds of young children and giving them additional resources so that they can explore their creativity is surely a great blessing, especially at this crucial stage of their lives. Seeing how “AL ACTION!“ enhanced the art programs in many schools makes us proud to be a part of such a wonderful organization.”

Chicagoland West – Assisteens deliver inaugural program for ACTION! Week

tempadmin — Tue, 12 Apr 2022 03:42:57 +0000

Assisteens^® of Chicagoland West organized their debut event with much enthusiasm. In honor of ACTION!Week, they shared Dr. Seuss’ time honored book The Lorax in three different ways: with a short re-enactment, a read aloud of the book, and a movie event at the Indian Prairie Library on Saturday, February 26. Kudos to the teens who conceived, developed and executed their first program as part of Assistance League Chicagoland West!

St. Louis – Celebrates ACTION! Week

tempadmin — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 01:53:15 +0000

Assistance League of St. Louis Books From Friends Celebrates National Assistance League’s ACTION!Week to promote Literacy at Mullanphy-Botanical Garden ILC. Volunteers from Assistance League and St. Louis Children’s Author Micheal Anderson Surprise Students!

National Assistance League’s annual ACTION! Week focuses on children’s literacy and this year, the St. Louis chapter’s celebration proudly included children’s author, Micheal Anderson.

There were 475 preschool through 5th grade students from Mullanphy Botanical-Garden ILC entertained by a parade of costumed Assistance League volunteers dressed as book characters, who brought the books alive. Costumed volunteers, including Pete the Cat, Thing One, Thing Two, Clifford the Big Red Dog, the Cat in the Hat and a charming unicorn, assisted 1st through 5th grade students to select two new books to take home.

Preschoolers and Kindergarten fourth grade students to present Zoey Lyndon’s Big Move to the Lou. Micheal’s books have a special focus on STEM for girls and the main character, Zoey, is a fourth grader. Micheal encouraged her own daughters to study STEM and one is now a scientist and the other is pursuing a PH.D. in biomedical engineering.

Montgomery County – Celebrates ACTION! Week

tempadmin — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 02:53:40 +0000

February is “I Love to Read” month and Assistance League of Montgomery County’s Operation School Bell^® program held its annual ACTION! Week Book Drive. Volunteer members actually kicked off the drive in December with individual book donations and, for the first time, the drive spread to the local community. We are grateful to all who contributed.

With a focus on literacy in our community, each year Assistance League chooses a school in need to be the beneficiary of this popular event. With 703 books donated, we were able to support two Montgomery County schools. Books were given to E. B. Canaan Elementary and Mel Parmley Elementary, both located in Willis ISD. The schools choose how to use the books based upon their knowledge of need. Many are placed in classroom libraries for the benefit of all the children, but some may also be given to individual students who may have never had a book of their own. We estimate the number of students reached to be approximately 3500.

San Jose – Assistance League completed ACTION! Week

tech11 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 18:15:17 +0000

Assistance League of San Jose just completed taking part in ACTION WEEK, Feb. 20-26.

As in the past, Assistance League of San Jose partnered with Barnes & Noble Book Store for Action Week. Our chapter has enjoyed a strong partnership with them for the past 10 years and they have been instrumental in OUR Readers Are Leaders (RAL) & Assist-A-Shelter Programs. Working together, we have made it possible for schools in low social economic areas and service agencies to acquire high interest and level appropriate books.

The books were donated over the holidays by customers at a local B & N Store. When purchasing a book, customers have the opportunity to buy a book (s) and donate it (them) to the chapter RAL program. This year over 800 books were donated. Barnes & Noble also contributed books, puzzles, and other activity materials that they were clearing from their shelves. In all B&N contributed well over 2000 books to Action Week.

The donated books were disbursed amongst 10 elementary schools that are part of the Readers Are Leaders Program, 3 family shelters, a local community hospital, and two high schools which reside in the RAL boundary.

The books were then distributed to the students, teen-agers, adults, and mothers of the preschoolers who are able to keep and enjoy the books. This was all done in the spirit of “Action Week” which is designed to make a significant contribution to the literacy of the community.

Northern Virginia – Assistance League ACTION!Week

tech11 — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 01:48:46 +0000

Assistance League of Northern Virginia plans to provide ‘Bedtime Hugs’ packages to Pre-K and Kindergarten students as part of our Action Week campaign in February 2022. Each Bedtime Hug package will include a small hand-made pillow, a Beanie Baby, toothpaste & toothbrush, and a copy of The Hug Book, by local author Sue Fliess. We plan to purchase enough copies of the book to ensure that all our intended recipients receive the Hug Package, develop good bedtime habits, and have sweet dreams.

Metro-Columbus – Assistance League ACTION Week

tech11 — Sun, 16 May 2021 18:20:43 +0000

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Indianapolis – Assistance League ACTION!Week ‘call to action’

tech11 — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 20:25:19 +0000

In September of 2020, Assistance League of Indianapolis participated in ACTION!Week, a “call to action” by National Assistance League to address needs in our individual communities. Our chapter responded by initiating a food, hygiene, and cleaning supplies drive for 100 economically disadvantaged families at two local elementary schools (50 families per school). Members shopped from provided lists of groceries and supplies (totaling approximately $15 per person) and dropped their donations off at the chapter office. In addition, the ACTION!Week planning committee bought paper products in bulk. All the groceries and supplies were put into cloth shopping bags provided by a local radio station, WIBC. Each family received 3 shopping bags each. The donations were picked up from the chapter office by the school district, where they were taken back to the schools and distributed to the students’ families.

The school administrators and social workers were thrilled for this partnership and the generosity shared with their school communities, as were the thankful families. After staying in touch with our school contacts and understanding that food insecurity remains a problem for a large portion of their student populations, the ACTION!Week planning committee recommended that we repeat this service project once again before the end of the school year, just prior to Spring Break in March 2021. This was approved by the Board and membership.

Assistance League of Indianapolis members were even more generous with their donations for “ACTION!Week #2”. Enough food and money were donated to again provide 100 families with three shopping bags each of groceries, cleaning and hygiene supplies, and paper products, as well as to supply the two school social workers with $100 each in grocery store gift cards to use in emergency situations at their discretion ($200 total).

The value of the groceries and supplies given to the community of ACTION!Weeks #1 and #2 totaled over $7000. Due to the generosity of our members, no chapter funds were used to finance this project.