Pregnant? Teenaged? Homeless? Assistance League of Los Gatos-Saratoga volunteers opened their hearts again this year to help very young new mothers who are part of the Nurse Family Partnership with East Valley Medical Clinic in San Jose. Assistance League provided gifts for each child whose mother participates in a program of education and wellness for their babies sponsored by the Public Health Nurses. The colorful packages made a special backdrop for the holiday event on December 9, 2015, at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga. Nurse managers spoke about the challenges that face the young families they see and expressed appreciation, not only for the holiday gifts, but for the support that Assistance League provides their program all year round. A dozen nurses and staff from the clinic attended and loaded their cars with 101 gift bags, valued at more than $4,000, to distribute to their clients. Members and guests were entertained by Magic Makers, a special-needs choral group that definitely brightened up the room.
 “We do, we do!” say the third graders in the Campbell Union School District. “We found out how to spell words and learned their definitions. We even found out that some words have more than one meaning—who knew?”
On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, 44 volunteers from the Assistance League of Los Gatos-Saratoga and the community presented each of the 872 third graders in the district with a dictionary to take home. The volunteers also taught a fun lesson about how to use the dictionary, and talked to the students about the importance of literacy in their future lives at school and work. These small dictionaries also contain information about states, nations, solar systems, languages, calendars and other almanac subjects. Assistance League coordinates with The Dictionary Project, a national organization that seeks to present every third grader in the country with a free dictionary. Dictionaries continue to be a valuable learning tool, even in this age of technology. |
