Be a K-12 Education Champion by Donating to the
Verizon Foundation “Tools for School”
Donation Drive Campaign
July 19 to August 6!
The Verizon Foundation is sponsoring its companywide "Tools
for School” donation drive of essential school supplies
(pens/pencils, notebooks, rulers, crayons, backpacks, etc.),
to help local public schools prepare students for academic
success.
This year, there are two ways to donate:
§Online through
www.donorschoose.org/verizon to
Donors Choose, our campaign partner! §At a
collection box in almost 300 participating work locations
across our footprint.
Suggested items you can donate in-person include… üPens, pencils, pencil
cases/sharpeners/erasers
On average, teachers spend $1,200 out-of-pocket per year for
necessary classroom supplies to offset budget shortfalls
More than 11 million children in the United States live below the
poverty line and don't have the basic supplies that they need to
succeed.
Public schools in poor neighborhoods get about half as much
money per student those in affluent communities.
Sources:
National Education
Association and DoSomething101.org
Happy 100th birthday, Lil Davis!
Watch the "Today" show this week! Willard Scott and Smucker's
might be celebrating Lillian Davis' 100th birthday, which is
July 18. With 55 years of service in the Maryland Chapter, Lil
has held the position of Metro East life member president on and
off since 1976. For the past 10 years, Lil has worked in the
Pioneer Office in Cockeysville, MD.
Lil actively supports the chapter's Vial of Life and Book'em
projects. She also works with outside vendors selling their
wares to help raise thousands of dollars for the chapter. Lil
heads the life member club committee that has produced thousands
of Hug-A-Bears for the Maryland Chapter. Lil also continues to
participate each year in the Pioneer Spring Beeping Egg Hunt at
the Maryland School for the Blind. Apart from her commitment to
the Pioneers, Lil also volunteers with the Red Cross and the
National Dyslexia Foundation.
"She is legendary in Maryland for her spirit and enthusiasm, and
for her dedication to Pioneering," said Mary Weber, Maryland
Chapter president.
What is a Pioneer?
The Liberty Bell Chapter's Northeast Council noticed that some
of the people and organizations that it serves ask what the
Pioneers are all about. With a desire to spread the word about
Pioneering, one of the Northeast members designed a brochure.
The pamphlet is three panels on each side of an 8-1/2 by 11
sheet. About half of the brochure describes the overall Pioneer
organization. The remaining half explains many of the community
service activities in which the council is involved. That
section is illustrated by eight small color photographs taken at
the various locations falling under the community service
description. The entire project was created in the Microsoft
Word program. If you're interested in a copy to customize for
your council, please contact Al Collins at
acolphoto@verizon.net.
Reaching out to the hungry
On June 22, Dot and Dom Shiavone and Marge and Hank Koehler
delivered food that was collected at the Paumanok Chapter's
Spring luncheon to the Queen Of The Most Holy Rosary Outreach
Center In Roosevelt, Long Island, NY. The members collect food
items, school supplies, toys and $10 food mart gift cards at
their open meetings and luncheons for donation to this center,
whose staff then distributes the items to those in need.
Golf Ball Drop
The Maryland Chapter Pioneers is holding its 3rd Annual Golf
Ball Drop fundraising event. It will take place at Maple Run
Golf Course on Friday, September 17, 2010 in connection with
the chapter's Annual Golf Tournament. Tickets are $5 each
for a golf ball with a number on it. On September 17, the
chapter will drop 500 or more golf balls from a bucket truck
onto a putting green. The closest ball to the pin will win
$500, the next 10 balls will win $50 each and the next 20
balls will win $20 each. That is a total of 31 winners. The
prize money is based on the number of tickets sold, so the
prizes could change. Proceeds will help fund educational
projects such as Book'em and Students Under Construction.
Please send a check made payable to MD Chapter Pioneers and
mail to: Pioneer Office, 99 Shawan Rd., Room 200,
Cockeysville, Md. 21030. Mark your envelope "Golf Ball Drop"
You'll be sent a stub with your golf ball number on it. For
more information please call the Pioneer Office on
410-393-6648 or 6649.
A Day of Caring at Playland
June 7 was the 35th Day Of Caring at Rye Playland, New York. The
Pepsi-Cola company and Westchester County opened up Playland to
all special education and special needs children and adults in
Westchester County for a day of fun with free rides. The
Mountain Valley Empire Pioneers volunteered their time to assist
people getting on and off the rides, painting faces and applying
temporary tattoos. More than 2,000 people attended this year.
Many thanks to Eva Tyler, an active Pioneer, who has been
organizing Pioneer participation in this event for many years.
NY's Employee of the Month
Dalia Santiago is Verizon New York's "Employee of the Month" for
her outstanding contributions to the community. She currently
serves as the vice president of the Nova 5 Chapter. Her position
with the Pioneers gives Dalia an opportunity to engage with the
Verizon Foundation so she is excited when she can join
organizations like Community of Mayors, an organization that
provides recreational therapy for kids with special needs. Dalia
and the kids have a great time participating in events and
activities that include special outings to amusement parks and
museums. Dalia especially enjoyed participating in Operation
Santa Claus at JFK Airport. The program hosted more than 4,000
kids with special needs who were served lunch and refreshments,
received toys and greeted Macy's Santa Claus, who arrived via
Delta Air Lines shuttle.
Dalia partners with the Foundation in serving as the campaign
coordinator for initiatives at her Flatbush Avenue office
including Showers for the Shelter, Tools for School, Hopeline,
and Season Readings. She recognizes the importance of supporting
Verizon's sustainability efforts. She recently volunteered to
support "Go GREENgineering," an E-waste, acid recycling
initiative that helps reduce, reuse and recycle Verizon-owned
assets. Dalia and the members of the Network Engineering
department are making great strides in the cleanup of all
abandoned and unwanted equipment in Brooklyn by collecting and
properly disposing of monitors, printers and fax machines. Dalia
has worked in Payroll, Human Resources and OSP Engineering. She
is currently a Drafter with OSP Engineering.
(Photo:) Dalia is dressed as Jelly Bean the clown in the
Community of Mayors event held in Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn
for autistic and disabled kids.
Join the Pioneers on
Facebook
The Pioneers' Centennial is approaching in 2011. In preparation for
this momentous anniversary, the organization has launched a
Pioneers' Facebook page and invites you to 'like' its page!
Pioneers have joined the Facebook community to provide members with
an avenue for online fellowship without geographical boundaries to
network, reconnect and share ideas, best practices and resources to
support your hometown volunteer efforts. New to Facebook and need
assistance?
Access resources available to support you in joining the online
community.
The Pioneers also added a dedicated
Centennial section to its website to share news and
opportunities for ways you can participate in this one-in-a-lifetime
anniversary. Be sure to bookmark the site and visit often for
updates.
Thank you for Operation
Pajshir
Last month, we ran a story asking for winter weather clothing and
school supplies to be sent by the McCully Upstate Chapter in care of MSG
Chad Rhinehart to the children in Panjshir, Afghanistan. The
response was overwhelming. Following is a heartfelt thank you from
MSG Rhinehart.
Verizon Pioneers,
I want to thank you all for your donations and all your hard work.
Your contributions and generosity have changed the lives of many
Afghan children. My team's mission involves the rebuilding and
reconstruction of Afghanistan. This includes new construction
projects, such as; schools, clinics, bridges, and many more. At the
same time, we focus on encouraging both children and adults to
attend school. This is done by delivering school supplies and making
cosmetic repairs to the classrooms. This improves both attendance
and morale of the students. It may be difficult to change the hearts
and minds of the older generation, but the children are the ones
that will change Afghanistan into a country that they can live and
work in safely.
Once we receive the donations, they are opened and sorted. We break
them down according to the age group that they are intended for,
including: Primary school, Secondary school, High school, and Adult
Education. Then, they are further sorted according to what gender
they are intended for. The amount of supplies delivered to a school
depends on how many students attend. Since I have been back from
R&R, we have delivered school supplies to four primary/secondary
schools and one Adult Education school. The students are in the
midst of their "midterms." They are currently taking tests, and then
will be released for a couple of weeks. Our mission on July 6, 2010,
took us about four hours up into the mountains. There, we delivered
supplies to children who had no school building, and another that
used a mosque as their classroom. The children and parents were very
excited and requested that we extend their appreciation to you all.
We explained in detail how the school supplies and clothes make it
to their villages. So, on their behalf, "Thank you."
MSG Chad Rhinehart
SPC Alison Cherkosly
SPC Christopher Buckley
Southern Mass
Council donates field
guides
Karen Arruda, president of the Southern Mass Council of the
Sherwin Pioneers, visited the Bristol County Agricultural High
School April 30 to deliver 82 Peterson Field Guides
funded by a Verizon Foundation Pioneer grant. Peterson Field
Guides have long been the tool of choice by many amateur
nature lovers, conservation professionals and biologists. These
new guides will be integrated with the Natural Resource
Management (NRM) curriculum so students may learn to use this
and other diagnostic tools. NRM students and teachers were very
excited and appreciative to receive this donation.
(Photo: NRM students with Karen Arruda on far left.)
Help Stave Off Summer Learning Loss. Learn more on Thinkfinity.
According
to Education Experts, Students on Average Lose two Months of
Grade-Level Equivalency in Mathematical Computation Skills During
Summer Vacation
Finding free
educational resources and entertaining online activities to keep
students excited about learning throughout the summer
– and to help them retain what they
learned during the school year – just got easier, thanks to a
host of free materials available at Verizon Thinkfinity (www.thinkfinity.org).
According to the
Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning,
all young people experience learning loss when they do not
engage in educational activities during the summer. To address
this issue, Verizon Thinkfinity has created a special
Summer Learning featurethat includes
engaging activities and educational resources created by some of
the nation’s leading educational organizations. Verizon
Thinkfinity is a comprehensive educational website that contains
tens of thousands of free educational resources to make learning
fun and improve educational achievement. Parent-friendly
resources, in-class activities and homework help can be found
quickly and searched by grade level, keyword or subject. In
addition, Verizon Thinkfinity also offers
literacy
resources to assist adult learners. Among the K-12 resources in
the Summer Learning feature are:
Shop and Save
The Verizon Pioneers are pleased to announce a new member
benefit in partnership with the Pioneers Association, the
Pioneers Online Mall. This program is so full of benefits that
it is truly win-win, for the member and the organization.
Shopping has never been easier or more secure with more than 500
best-in-class retailers in over 20 categories, such as Sears,
Macy's, Target, Circuit City, Barnes & Noble, Teleflora,
Expedia, eBay and many more.
You'll find all of your favorite merchants in one place and
you'll be able to take advantage of exclusive offers and rebates
not available in stores. Plus, you'll earn rebate points on
every purchase you make that convert to cash back to you paid
automatically each quarter (once member reaches the $10
threshold of 1,000 points). So the more you shop, the more
you'll save. You'll be supporting the Verizon Pioneers while you
shop and save because a portion of every purchase will be paid
back to the organization.
So click
here to visit the Pioneers Online Mall and start shopping
and saving today!
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