Homestretch article in the Fairfax Times

An amazing article - please read!

http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/cms/story.php?id=2398

Volunteers-R-Us

With the new school year just around the corner, Homestretch is preparing to meet the needs of our children and parents by recruiting some AMAZING volunteers. In just the past couple of weeks, individual volunteers and companies from all over Northern Virginia and DC have contacted us about volunteer opportunities with Homestretch. From ESL assistance, GED tutoring, children's tutoring and Life Skills assistants, and painting and preparing homes for our new clients, our volunteers are ready and eager to make strong commitments to Homestretch. It has been such a pleasure to work with such enthusiastic, generous, and passionate individuals and corporations, and I am thrilled to continue to watch our volunteers change the lives of our clients for the better.

On behalf of Homestretch, I am sending an enormous THANK-YOU!!! to all of the wonderful volunteers at Homestretch (past, present, and future!) We love and appreciate all that you do, and we could not continue to achieve our mission without you.

Lots of volunteer love,

Lauren Padgett

Volunteer Coordinator

Back-to-school Picnic

The hottest day of the summer was not enough to prevent us from having our annual International Back to School Picnic on July 24th. Set under the broad shade trees of Cherry Hill Park, the projected heat of 100+ degrees did not deter our families from coming out with their children for a lovely time together. Our intern from Exxon Mobil, Kaitlyn, organized a series of creative games that expended minimal physical energy and yet were fun for children and adults alike. One little boy had the grueling duty of spraying everyone with his water gun. Others just poured water bottles onto their heads. Families in Homestretch come from over 25 different countries, and the delicious picnic foods represented that wide spectrum of tastes and cultures. We closed our time together with a distribution of back-packs filled with school supplies to all of the school aged children, which elicited many happy smiles. We give special thanks to our volunteers from BB&T Bank and from Executive Women International (EWI).

Words from an intern...

As a college student, I would tell you that my ideal summer consists of sleeping in, freedom from homework and studying, and hanging out with my friends as much as possible. As a future professional hoping to pave the best possible path towards my future, even in this downturned economy, the reality of my summer is vastly different.

This is not a complaint. Yes, I would love to sleep away my summer, but I also would feel entirely useless as a result. Instead, I am spending my summer interning. I am not sleeping my days away – I am making a difference in the lives of others. Trust me, you can’t feel like your time is better spent than this. I am working at Homestretch, a non-profit in Northern Virginia that provides transitional housing for homeless families. Beyond working in a place that, simply from the description, sounds honorable, I am lucky enough to have received a position that is well-suited to my future career goals. I am the child services intern, and I intend on working with children in the future. Ideal, right? I agree.

I spend my days working on projects that will directly impact the lives of the families that Homestretch helps. I have only interned five weeks so far, and I have already planned an entire summer picnic for the families, organized backpack stuffing for the school-aged children, collected over $300 in donations, executed a clothing drive to get new school clothes for all of the kids 18 and under, and coordinated a summer theatre program. I can’t provide a look into my typical day, because no day is the same. Some days I am traveling to local businesses to make connections and get donations. Other days I am writing up a lesson plan for a summer field trip with the teenagers. Each day is unique. No matter what I’m doing though, my time is definitely well-spent, and my projects always reach back to help the people. That’s what matters the most to me – the people.

A position where I could help others – that was my requirement for my summer internship. Yes, I wanted an internship that would compliment my future goals and expand upon my educational instruction. But none of that would matter if I wasn’t helping people with my internship position. I got lucky with Homestretch. As a small non-profit, there is constant close interaction between the employees and the clients. This fuels the whole environment – open, caring, productive. You would be lucky to be helped by these people, just like I am lucky to get to be a part of it all.

Homestretch Wins Awards at Volunteer Fairfax Service Awards Celebration

This past Friday, April 23rd, Homestretch attended the Volunteer Fairfax Service Awards Celebration with some of our amazing volunteers. Volunteer Fairfax is an amazing non-profit partner of ours that is located on Main Street in Fairfax. They are the volunteer portal for all non-profits and corporations. We get a good percent of our amazing volunteers who find us through the Volunteer Fairfax website!

There were many categories that were competitive, and Homestretch had nominated some of our beloved volunteers, and some other categories were Volunteer Program, and Corporate Volunteer Groups. And what do you know? Homestretch won for the best Volunteer Program, and our amazing partners at Excella Consulting won for best Corporate Volunteers. We were just blown away, and are so thankful for these two amazing honors!

We will post pictures soon!

Employment Center Keeps Moving Forward During Tough Times.

As of February 2010, Virginia had one of the highest unemployment increases at 7.2 %. The national average remains at 9.7%. Meanwhile, the unemployment rates for Homestretch clients closely mirrors that of Virginia at anywhere between 5-13%.

The Employment Center is open for job seekers to find employment, brush up on their skills, or research training opportunities. Homestretch requires that all unemployed clients spend 40 a week doing any and all of the above. The Employment Counselor works one on one with jobseekers to develop resumes, cover letters, and locate employment and volunteer opportunities. There are roughly 4-8 job seekers each day in the Employment Center.

While finding employment is a necessity, it is just as important to develop new skills. This month, the Employment Center will reinstate computer training classes for job seekers looking for develop or brush up on their computer & typing skills. The Employment Center also works with the Falls Church SkillSource Center and Fairfax County Adult & Community Education Center (ACE) to refer job seekers for further training programs.

As every job seeker should know, finding employment is a fulltime job. The Employment Center is available M-F from 9:00 – 5:30pm to assist in all aspects of job seeking.

If you are an employer who would like information on working with Homestretch to hire a job seeker please contact Maryna Pim at mpim@homestretch-inc.org.

exCelebrating Excella Consulting!

On Monday January 18th while most people took the day off to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, the staff of Excella Consulting took their day to help make a difference at Homestretch. 50 Excella employees came to help make a difference in their community.

The group was split up in different teams and did various projects for Homestretch. There were some people who helped paint two of our units; there was a group that helped paint our Homestretch offices, and another group that helped move all of our donations from building 360 to building 350…all in just FOUR HOURS!

We are so thankful for Excella and all the work that they did, and continue to do to help further the mission of Homestretch! For more information on Excella please go to http://www.excellaconsulting.com/.