Vista Magnet Middle School in Vista, California enrolls 852 students from grades 6 through 8. It is a STEM magnet school where the curriculum includes 2 classes of science and math each day. In addition to rigorous academia, each 8th grade student is responsible for a Community Service Project and a report about it. On September 12th, instead of having their regular schedule, the students rotated through classes that were presented by representatives from local nonprofit organizations such the Boys and Girls Club, Women's Resource Center, Make a Wish Foundation, and the Assistance League of North Coast, to name a few. The focus of the day was to educate the girls and boys about services in the local area and opportunities available.
Fran Tovar was the presenter for ALNC. While showing a power point presentation, she explained about the beginnings of the Assistance League, the founding of the local chapter, and the 12 philanthropic programs provided to the community. Assistance League of North Coast is dedicated to serving the needs, primarily of children, in the communities of Carlsbad, Oceanside, and Vista, with the goal of providing a positive starting point for academic success. The students recognized the "I Love to Read" tee shirts and the "Home Alone" booklets since many of them had participated in these programs. They did the math to figure out that if 70 students arrive at Payless Shoe Source each week to get new shoes, and this happens 35 weeks a year, then the result is that 2,450 children get new shoes, socks, and health kits from the "Footsteps" program annually. One of the "Baby Real Deal" infant simulators was on display, and was the center of attention. These 8th graders are now looking forward to participating in that program in high school. Every student was respectful, attentive, and took notes. They asked relevant questions about the programs. The students were then challenged to find a way that they could support the Assistance League's programs. The idea of a sock drive or clothing drive for the Thrift Shop was enthusiastically discussed.
As the first class was exiting, one student was slowly gathering his papers and back pack. When the rest of the class had left, he came up to Mrs. Tovar and said, "I want to thank you. I was one of the students who got shoes. It made a difference for me. What you do is important."
That simple statement makes all of the hard work worth it.
The Assistance League is wonderful! Our students at Palmquist Elementary are so blessed to have their support. A few years ago we received grant money from them to buy new library books to support our Core curriculum, which we spent on non fiction books. The kids love them and they are checked out most of the time. We have also received books to support our Accelerated Reading program. When the kids get 30 points they get to choose a free book to keep. They are so excited to see the great selection from the Assistance League. Their faces light up and they run to show their teacher and friends what they picked out. The selection this year from the Ella Fitzgerald Foundation is awesome! Our libraries get so little funding that it is such a help to be able to spend all my book fair money on new library books instead of prizes. They also gave us red shirts that we give the top readers from each grade at the end of the year. The schools of the Oceanside Unified School District really appreciate the Assistance League. Thank you!
Review from Guidestar
The Assistance Leagure of North Coast supports Maryland Elementary in Vista, CA.
Maryland is a Title I school with 96% of the students on free/reduced lunch and appoximately 36% of our students are homeless as defined by the McKinney-Vento Act. Our students do not come to school with a strong skill set to make them successful. We strive to create an environment where our kids feel safe and cared for. This is why the Assistance League is so valuable to Maryland. They supports us in a variety of ways:
The CATCH (Caring Adults Teaching Children How) mentors are Assistance League volunteers who come weekly to read and mentor students. We typically select those students whose home life is not very stable. We believe that matching them with a 'Caring Adult' gives them one more person in their life who cares. The students look forward to their weekly visit with their mentor. The relationship with the mentor is such that the mentor requests to have the same student each year until they promote to middle school.
The 'I Love to Read' books program helps put books into the hand of our students. The Assistance League provides books and t-shirts for incentive programs.
We select those students who do not get the opportunity to go to a store and purchase new clothes and shoes. The Footsteps program offers those students that opportunity. We are grateful to Payless Shoe Source store for partnering with the Assistance league to provide our students with new shoes, socks, and personal hygiene items. It is very rewarding to see the children get to 'pick' their new shoes. The pride and joy on their face is priceless.
The Assistance League also provides Maryland with Emergency Clothing. Children have accidents at school and often parents are unable to get off work to bring a change of clothing. The Emergency Clothing we have on-hand allows us to get our kids changed and back in class to learn.
We are very grateful to have this 'rich' partnership with the Assistance League of North Coast.
Carol LaBreche
Principal
Maryland Elementary
Vista, CA
Review from Guidestar
ALNC runs a thrift store in Oceanside completely managed by volunteers. The profit made from the sale of donated items is used to support the 12 ALNC philanthrophic programs. Just recently ALNC members joined with Barnes and Noble for the book store's annual book drive. ALNC was the designated recipient for these books collected for a month at B & N book store. The members volunteered time to do story time for children at the book store, volunteers also collected 2700 books, individually wrapped each book with holiday paper and a special card, then delivered the books to every child at a local high poverty school. Many of these kids had never had their own books. Getting kids excited about learning and being prepared to learn is very important to the members of ALNC.
Assistance League North Coast has a new program called "I love to read". This program donates books to elementary schools as incentives for children to read. This month the elementary school in Vista, Crestview, got 500 books and over the Thanksgiving week 29 children read the required number of books to get a reward. "The kids were so excited to get a book to take home and read" said the Librarian. What a great program."