Cherri Alcantara & Sonia Ayala, AmeriCorps PROMISE Fellows in Calistoga, CA
Community volunteers are essential to our after school programs at Calistoga Elementary and Calistoga Junior Senior High Schools. Volunteers play various roles in order to support our students—they provide one-on-one tutoring, lead sports activities, lead a variety of clubs, and mentor our youth. In order to show gratitude and appreciation to our volunteers, the Americorps Promise Fellows at Calistoga schools—Sonia Ayala and Cherri Alcantara—coordinated a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Friday, May 14.
Volunteer receives certificate from PF Sonia Ayala
The Volunteer Appreciation was incorporated in the Calistoga After School Programs’ Think Tank and 8th Period & Beyond Annual Pot Luck Dinner. Families, staff, school administration, teachers, students, and volunteers were invited to the dinner. Families brought in delicious main course dishes such as tamales, enchiladas, pasta, salad, and pozole. The event started with a slide show of Calistoga After School activities this year. Sonia and Cherri gave a short welcome telling about their pleasure and enjoyment working with the volunteers. After the speeches, the volunteers received certificates of gratitude. Each volunteer also received a gift bag that included a personalized mug and a constructed wooden sculpture both made and decorated by the After School students. The Pot Luck Volunteer Appreciation Dinner culminated with desserts, raffles and door prizes. Children’s raffle prizes included a goody bag of books, games and various activities for summer activities.
A Volunteer shows an appreciation she received.
The event was truly a community collaboration. Sonia and other community members donated raffle items that helped fundraise money for the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. Local businesses donated items from their stores as door prizes to our families. In addition, two local restaurants provided us discounts on the food purchased for the dinner. The Family and Volunteer Appreciation Dinner not only demonstrated the importance of community involvement and volunteerism for our after school programs, but also our ability to come together as a group. This shows our commitment to our community and brings together a vast representation of the cultures of Calistoga–Latino families, worldly retired intellectuals, leadership of both our schools, and our town.
PF Cherri Alcantera and a Calistoga Volunteer
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