Through the time I’ve built Treefish to where it is today, I’ve built a connection with incredible non-profit organizations. They inspire me to continue my work. I would like to highlight some of these organizations today.
Flowers for Ann
I met Sydney from Flowers For Ann this year as I was looking for remote volunteering opportunities for teens. Volunteers write message cards of hope, love and encouragement to individuals in isolation. Sydney’s journey began during the 2020 quarantine when her family said goodbye to her grandmother, Ann. Ann lived her life boldly loving people in spite of Huntington’s Disease and planted seeds of hope, love and kindness in so many. Flowers for Ann is the blooms of her life’s work! Their mission is to connect with nursing home residents and fight isolation and loneliness that is so prevalent among them.
So far 9000+ cards have been delivered, 40 nursing homes have benefited and she has had 1900 worldwide volunteer card writers! Activity directors at the nursing homes have got back to Sydney about how residents “keep the cards in their rooms”, “use them as a bookmark”, “show their family that comes to visit them”. Volunteers have the ability to make a difference in their lives by letting someone in isolation know that they have a friend and somebody cares about them. As Sydney says, “Something that takes up so little of our time can be so impactful in somebody’s life and their well-being”.
Technology Access Foundation (TAF)
I came across TAF in 2020. I created a couple of music concert fund-raisers for their amazing program. I am grateful that I was able to share their cause and receive amazing support from the audience ($5000+ raised!)
TAF was founded by Trish Milines Dziko. When she started working in the tech industry in the late 1970s, people who looked like her were missing. After spending 15 years in the tech industry, she decided that it was time to try something different. While mentoring students at Microsoft (where she worked), she found that 2 African-American students had been funneled into the wrong math track for their abilities, jeopardizing their chances of making it into a college engineering program. Their experience struck a chord – because the same thing had happened to her. She saw the need for more rigorous supplementary education in fields that would help prepare kids of color for tech majors. She started TAF to create more opportunities for students of color to engage with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and prepare them for college-level study and professional roles in those fields.
Through afer-school programs, school district and teacher training partnerships, TAF has impacted over 24000 diverse students and reports a 95% on-time high school graduation rate and 100% college acceptance rate.
From this Geekwire article: https://www.geekwire.com/2016/inside-pioneering-seattle-area-school-thats-shaking-stem-education-taught/ “Housed in a series of bland, portable classrooms — tucked like an afterthought between a middle school and elementary school just east of Interstate 5 and some 20 miles south of Seattle — the school can send one repeatedly back to Google Maps with doubts that you’re in the right place. But inside those modest walls is something approaching a revolution in STEM education. TAF Academy, a sixth- to 12th-grade public school focused on teaching kids science, technology, engineering and math, is defying the odds.
Roughly 20 percent of the students are black, 20 percent are Hispanic and 30 percent are white. Half of the 300 kids qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. Yet, 95 percent of the high school students graduate on time — compared to 78 percent of kids in public schools across Washington, and only 68 percent of African American students hit that mark statewide. And with stats worthy of elite private schools, 100 percent of the TAF Academy graduates are accepted into college.”
I interviewed Trish for my club at school. Here is a summary of the interview: https://howibuiltthisclub.wordpress.com/
Classroom Central
I found Classroom Central in 2020 when I first started Treefish. They had virtual volunteer opportunities to create flash cards for school children. At Classroom Central, they believe every child deserves a level educational playing field. Because when teachers and students have the resources they need, every class becomes world class. They empower teachers and students in nearly 200 schools across six Charlotte-area school districts, providing supplies and resources through our Free Store, Mobile Free Store and several other community-supported programs. Since opening it’s doors in 2002, it has expanded into six school districts, serving some 127,000 students in nearly 200 schools in CMS, Gaston County, Iredell-Statesville, Union County, City of Kannapolis and Lancaster County, South Carolina. Teachers and other school personnel are eligible to receive free supplies if 50% or more of their students receive free or reduced-price lunch.
This is a touching story from one of their teachers:
“I had a student recently join my class. All she came to class with was an empty book bag. When other students began to take out their materials, she was ashamed because she didn’t have anything. I grabbed a zipper pouch filled with crayons, pencils, glue and scissors from Classroom Central and no one thought anything of it. The little girl looked as though she had won the lottery. The materials I receive from Classroom Central have been a life saver on more than one occasion.”
See: https://classroomcentral.org/our-impact/ for the amazing impact ClassroomCentral has on the lives of students
Raising a scholar
Yemi and I met this year when she was starting Raising a Scholar. Treefish is a Raising a scholar partner! Yemi is a student at the University System of Georgia. She grew up in Africa in a poor educational system. Her opportunities were limited because of her family’s lack of financial stability. When she moved to the US, she realized the “colossal difference” in quality of education. She started Raising a scholar to bridge the gap.
She has a successful mentoring program: https://raisingascholar.org/?page_id=908 , a resource donation program to KIVA (Kids Voice Africa) an organization in Zambia and scholarship opportunities for eligible students: https://raisingascholar.org/?page_id=197
Here’s wishing Yemi and Raising a scholar much success!
In summary, especially at this time of the year, I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to these organizations for letting me be a small part of their magnanimous work! Treefish and my involvement with these organizations has made me much more resilient during stressful times. I look forward to watching these organizations achieve great impact in the coming years!
You can donate to these organizations here:
- https://www.flowersforann.com/donate
- https://classroomcentral.org/donate2cc/
- https://techaccess.org/donate/
- https://raisingascholar.org/?page_id=906
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