Please Support Neighborhood Kids This Holiday Season

Neighbors:

My name is Joseph Porcelli and I am the founder and organizer of http://www.NeighborsForNeighbors.org and #SnowCrew. I'll be blogging here on Patch about ways to get involved in your neighborhood, how to transform ideas into neighborhood action, and offering opportunities to be of service to your neighbors. 

Today, I'm inviting you to give what you can this holiday season to organizations that support neighborhood youth like the South Street Youth Center in Jamaica Plain. 

A couple days ago, Maura Ramsey, who leads the team at the South Street Youth Center who provide transformative services to neighborhood kids posted an update on NeighborsForNeighbors.org that they are $2,000 dollars short of their fundraising goal. I pitched in and I am hoping you will too. 

Please help them reach their goal by donating now!

How do your donations impact their teens?

“The center is my childhood, I made new friends, started to care about dancing and basketball. This is where it all started for me, it is my first job opportunity and where I learned how to work with kids.” –Danny, Age 13

“The Center should be open and stay open because it’s a chance for everyone to come to escape reality, to chill, to get help with homework and the staff are good to help you with life lessons and help you to put your energy to productive use.” –Rafael, Age 17

“The Center is a big part of my life. I grew up here. I’m learning the first steps towards being a man. Its helped me with my grades and I was an honor roll student all year last year because of it. I want to say thank you to the center.” –Ismael, Age 13

“The center is all about good intentions. It helps kids with homework, They push you to work and have good grades at the same time” –Jamilex, Age 15

Volunteer Opportunities (they re-open 1/6/14):

• We need Homework Helpers Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5:30-6:30pm. This is mostly for 1st-8th graders. We ask for a weekly commitment. Most of the homework involves English: reading comprehension and/or spelling. Math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and fractions. The biggest thing the kids need is an adult "buddy" for them to look up to and be reminded to read the directions!
• We have a group of volunteers who help work behind the scenes doing this like finding physical donations, grant writing, volunteer outreach and other supports. 

To volunteer or ask questions please email: southstreetyouth@gmail.com

Thank you very much and Happy Holidays!