Heroes and Highlights

Message from our Executive Director

We find ourselves in strange and unsettling times. Our annual fundraiser, Perfect Pairings, held barely a month ago, seems but a distant memory given all that has happened since.

And yet, Perfect Pairings 2020 was our most successful yet! We are so grateful for the overwhelming support from our community of donors, funders, tutors, educators, and friends of HCT, who continue to help us achieve new heights – reach more children, touch more families, and build a stronger community.

We are now just past the second week of school closures and Distance Learning in San Carlos and Redwood City School Districts. The incredible and dedicated administrators and educators in these districts pivoted quickly from in-class teaching to at-home learning.

At HCT, we’re working on adjusting our model to be able to support students using a remote tutoring model. We are working with districts to determine how we can best support the students in our program without adding additional burden to educator workload, which remains high as they refine and develop their distance learning capabilities.

We’re also mindful of the high level of anxiety in both students and our volunteers around the coronavirus and the ongoing impact to daily life.

Services like ours have never been more necessary. We know that our tutors are sometimes teachers and sometimes a sympathetic ear for students in our program. Now, more than ever, students need the well rounded support our organization and tutors strive to provide.

We are so appreciative of the support we continue to receive from so many of you.

Wishing you and your family good health.

Warmly,

Karen Molinari
Executive Director

Be a Hero

These days there are many heroes in our community. First responders, doctors, nurses, medical staff. Delivery drivers, grocery store staff, restaurant workers. Education workers and school staff. Food bank workers and many other not-for-profits mobilizing to help those in need during this crisis.

There are so many people stepping up and modeling resiliance, bravery, generosity and a commitment to community, we feel fortunate to count our almost 475 volunteers amongst those ranks.

Sadly, we know that although school districts have implemented distance learning plans, many students will struggle to adapt to this transition and will return to school next year needing additional support to find success in school. Our volunteers are going to be more necessary than ever before! We are projecting that we will see an increase in referrals into our program as students try to catch up and get back on track.

From 8th graders to retirees, our volunteers can find purpose and make a positive difference in just 45 mins once a week. All of our volunteer tutors are heroes and are changing the lives of the children they work with by building positive relationships and by being a consistent, reliable, caring person to guide them.

We hope you’ll consider being a hero to a student struggling to succeed. Go to our website today and sign up now so you’re ready to go once school gets back in session.

Resources

Keep up to date on San Carlos and Redwood City School District News about school closures.

San Carlos School District

Redwood City School District

Articles of interest:

How to talk to kids about coronavirus

How to talk to teens about coronavirus

Parent Resource Guide for Coronavirus

A couple of links to activities for kids and adults:

Common Sense Media list of free educational apps and activities

Smithsonian Institution is online with free access to millions of images

Spotlight

featuring San Carlos and Redwood City Educators

Our quarterly Heroes and Highlights Newsletter usually features a spotlight on a tutor/tutee pair that we want to recognize for their extraordinary dedication. This quarter though, we want to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on all the incredible teachers, administrators and district staff who are working tirelessly to adapt their curriculum and classes to an online model so that students in our districts can continue to learn while we’re adhering to the “Shelter In Place” mandate from the state.

It was less than a week, from the time the districts were notified that schools would be closed to the time they’d pulled together California Standards-based lessons and activities to help keep students learning from home, and built distance learning online portals for students and parents to access.

District staff, administrators, and educators have learned to navigate this strange new world of teaching via Zoom conferences, Google Classroom, shared docs, and lots and lots of emails, with very little lead-up time and training. It’s an amazing credit to the dedication and passion of our partners in education that they’ve worked together so collaboratively and constructively to ensure that students continue to receive the best education possible under the circumstances.

Our heroes this month are the teachers, educators, administrators, school staff and district staff who are doing their best to keep kids learning in the face of adversity.

Thank you for a perfect evening!

What an evening it was! Perfect Pairings 2020 had the highest attendance ever with almost 200 guests joining us to celebrate the positive impact Healthy Cities tutors have on students struggling in school.

It was the first year without the incomparable Cris Adair at the helm but thanks to her careful planning our new HCT team excelled without too many phone calls or emails to Cris. Thank you, Cris, Perfect Pairings wouldn’t be the event it is today without your leadership and dedication.

Guests were treated to a delicious meal prepared by Domenico Winery chef, Gino Gramegna, which they enjoyed while listening to two tutor/tutee pairs share heartwarming stories about their relationship and experiences.

Our event is also a success thanks to the numerous individuals and companies that stepped up to be sponsors for us. You can see a whole list of sponsors here but we want to give a special thanks to our Magnum Sponsor, the Guhr Family – thank you for your continued support of our mission and the important work we do!

Thank you to all the donors, sponsors and event help that made this such a special evening for all!

Healthy Cities Tutoring

Reach a child. Touch a family. Build a community.

Heroes and Highlights