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).