My Nonprofit Reviews

Sole Effects is an amazing program that I am honored to be a part of as a member of the Sole Effect’s board. I am a former teacher and counselor of 35 years, and now retired, find that my own passion for what I did all of those years in education is able to be carried on in a most meaningful way. After seventeen years working at the middle school level, I watched as the needs of our students changed dramatically; becoming even more challenging for them to navigate the social fabric we all inhabit, which has been significantly impacted in a fast paced world of non-stop stimulus and technology. The family unit, also affected by the pressures of both parents having to work to make ends meet, students often trying to figure things out for themselves, teachers realizing how much of their day is dedicated more and more to the personal/social needs of their students in addition to teaching their subject matter has only continued to increase. Not only did I see it through the 8th grade at the middle school, but then I watched and had to constantly improvise each year with more ways to help our kids at the high school level. Sole Effects, just as a concept, helping students learn from other students, the many facets of navigating the difficult times they live in, and personally ‘just growing up’, could not have come about at a more perfect time. The growth of, not only our role models from the college level, but also their influence on the young minds and hearts of the students they work with, is more than amazing. The changes are being seen in the lives of students who are so positively being affected by the teachings and positive influences of the lessons of Sole Effects. I am sure with time; this program will become the model for programs across the state, and will continue to be relevant in the lives of students. The significance of the Sole Effects program, sown here in Poway, is only the beginning of the direction schools everywhere will find inspiring and a most welcome addition to meeting the needs of all our children to become strong, confident leaders who will ‘pass it forward’. Making a donation, no matter how small, will be returned in the most meaningful way, through our kids.