July 2022 Newsletter
EnE July 2022 Newsletter
“Kindness and helping others will return to you when you least expect it, and maybe when you need it.” Catherine Pulsifer
Hope all of our volunteers are enjoying their summer break with family and friends.
On July 23rd we had our 7th annual volunteer appreciation event. It was a great opportunity to recognize the impact of our young volunteer service works and the power of young hands to be a force that transforms the world. We are happy that we are able to shine a light on the people and causes that inspire us to serve, recognizing and thanking each individual who lends their time, talent, and voice to make a difference in the community. Thanks to all the volunteers, families, leads, core members, advisors, and board of directors for making the appreciation event a success. Your support has helped us continue to expand our mission to empower our own children and make a huge impact in our communities.
Please note that, by end of Aug 2022, volunteers need to renew their membership. Look out for messages in the WhatsApp group for reminders and details.
Now for a Quick Recap of Our July 2022 Activities
Volunteer of the Month: Taylor Nguyen
Taylor started volunteering with E&E during the summer break. She is one of the active volunteers who is playing a vital role in offering STEAM activities to Gilroy’s low-income community. Taylor had put in a lot of effort preparing optical illusion materials for the Gilroy STEAM program. Her hard work is sparking interest and a lifelong love of the arts and sciences in children from an early age. Keep up the great work Taylor. We are proud to have.
We had E&E advisor Mahesh Nihalani, Ajay Bhutoria who is an Advisor to President Joe Biden for Asian American Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian Commission, and also Deputy National Finance Chair for Democratic Party and a National Community leader, Tara Sree Krishnan from State Senator Dave Cortese’s office and Tara is also Santa Clara county’s Education and Sustainability board member,
Paul Murphy on behalf of Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, and Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto on behalf of Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee to appreciate our volunteers for their dedication to serving the community.
Hector Garcia, Suman & Swati Tol joined us as guest speakers to share their experiences with E&E.
E&E volunteers have been meeting special needs at Emerald Glen Park park in Dublin, and spending quality time by doing fun activities together.
Beautiful handmade greeting cards for children at hospitals.
Leaving everything behind, coming to a strange new place, and re-settling in that new place is not a small thing to deal with it. It is even challenging for those coming from war zones, Our volunteers launched a Clothing drive for refugee families to give them a little comfortable by providing basic clothes. Smile things like new clothes can really improve people’s lives and just make them feel welcome and that people really care about them. Volunteers worked hard to sort, and label by size and gender so that families grab and go.
Knitting caps for cancer patients continues by our young volunteers.
Volunteers helped to pick up food for the elderly from restaurant.
Young tutors had fun teaching their little tutees different subjects, chess, and art. Our volunteers ensure that tutoring programs are culturally responsive and tailored to meet the unique needs of student populations.
Thank you volunteers family for cooking delicious dinner for patients families in Santa Clara.
Little bakers baked 100’s of goodies for the community
Our volunteers conducted STEAM activities for children from low-income communities in San Jose and Gilroy cities. It’s great to see kids having fun. We had raffles and fun incentives and Lunch for participants.
Volunteers cooked delicious food for the unhoused populations in South Bay, East Bay, and Santa Cruz areas.
Volunteers distributed food packages, care packages, and sanitary napkins, to the unhoused population in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz, and Fremont
- EnE volunteers and their families have been wholeheartedly supporting AshaJyothi, a shelter for abandoned special needs kids in India through their generous donations and meal sponsorships.
- A BIG Thank You to Masson Family, Narayanam Family, Ojas Gupta, Trivedi Family, Kolluru Family, Potula Family, Cheruvu Family, Fotedar Family, and an anonymous donor for food sponsorships to disabled orphan children.
- Please sign-up here if you are interested in sponsoring meals for ~70 special needs kids and their staff of 15 people. We are very happy to share that our anonymous donor is matching two meals for every meal sponsored in the year 2021. Cost: $200 for full-day meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), $80 for just Lunch or Dinner, $40 for breakfast:
- https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948AFAE2AAAF49-2022
- Payment Info: Use one of the methods below to make a payment (Please note that online transaction fees are charged to E&E, so please include those fees as well.). Please do company matching wherever possible. (Tax-id: 47-3656395)
- Pay online at: https://empowerexcel.org/donate/
- Zelle transfer to: empowerandexcel.np@gmail.com
- Mail the check, payable to ‘Empower and Excel’ to: Empower and Excel, P.O. Box 21555, San Jose, CA, 95151 U.S.A
- By Cash
Important Monthly Reminders:
Instructions on How to Check your Event Sign-up on DonorView:
- Log on to E&E volunteer DonorView
- Click on the “Events” button
- Click on the “print ticket” button
Please Remember the following
- Please sign in to your DonorView account before you sign up for an event. (The advantage of signing in to your account first is that the attendant fields will be auto-filled for you, making your signup process a lot more efficient. Also, it will avoid the creation of multiple accounts.)
- Make sure to check your email for sign-up confirmation and event ticket.
- In the event that an update is required we will post it on the group chat and send Donorview update email.
- The event sign-up page also has the latest info. Please check there first if you have any questions.
- Please Note: Deleting a sign-up requires admin intervention so please only sign up when you are certain of your availability.
- We announce new events on the WhatsApp group first as events become available. If you have recently joined E&E, it’s best to sign into your Donorview account to see ongoing events. Click on the “event” icon. In the upper- right hand corner you will see a pull-down menu for ongoing events. Here is a short info document on Donorview:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XnpAMjnXXaVjcqG27_WW2tnnFMX8dJoSvXK139z0j_0/edit
* Please Enter Your Volunteer Hours as soon as you are done with your activity
Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA):
- To learn more about hours required to earn PVSA awards in each age group, go to: https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/eligibility
Shopping on Amazon:
- Please use the following link to shop on Amazon.com: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-3656395. When you shop using this link, Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to EnE.
