So What Else

Serving Our Community,Children, and Planet

August 2014 Newsblast

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Camp Round-Up
This week marks our first break from camp of the summer. We have completed two weeks of Broad Acres ES and White Oak Rec Center, respectively, working with around 120 kids at each. We have also completed four weeks total of camps in partnership with the PG County Community Services Foundation, visiting two sites per day and serving nearly 400 kids. Next week we will return to the Kingman Boys & Girls Club in Logan Circle for our final two weeks of camp for the summer. Thanks so much to our staff, providers, and interns. Although the MMYC internship program is technically complete, we look forward to the return of a few of our devoted interns to finish out the summer. Please read on for details of team events this week!

Recent Events
We would  like to congratulate the staff on yet another successful Olympic field day last Thursday, and thank everyone for their hard work! Twenty four of our PG County Centers were in attendance, and overall the day went very smoothly. The kids seemed to have a great time, and we can only hope that our providers and volunteers enjoyed themselves just as much! We look forward to our continuing partnership with Dwayne Dawson, the Community Services Foundation, and all the kids we’ve worked with throughout this summer.

Last Friday was Bike to the Beach, for which we have provided general volunteer recruitment support, in addition to taking responsibility for staffing our usual post-Bay Bridge bike unloading station. A number of our staff members and providers were generous enough to donate their time to volunteering at this event. Organizer Ben Dalley has repeatedly expressed his gratitude for our work. As always, the event was a success! Thank you to everyone involved!

Upcoming Events
We invite everyone to meet today, Monday, August 4 at 2:00pm at our Monroe office (200A Monroe St, Rockville, MD 20850). Look forward to some team building activities in the downtown Rockville area (specifics to be decided) and discussion/brainstorming on advancing our mission to encourage the youth we serve to “pay it forward.”

Wednesday, August 6 at 9:00 am we will be having a breakfast and service learning workshop at Dave’s house (11405 Guerlac Ct, North Potomac, MD 20878). This session is mandatory for all staff who plan to work with us as providers for our upcoming fall after school programming!

Saturday, August 9, we will be partnering with a new organization called Save Youth Football to staff their Charity Combine event, from 2pm-6pm at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. Money raised will go toward SYF’s mission of assisting needy families to pay youth football fees, which helps keep young boys motivated and out of trouble. We will be recruiting volunteers to assist with event logistics, and cheer on participants as they test their physical skills at a variety of stations. Amy will set up an information table on behalf of So What Else, while Daphne will be the project leader and point of contact for SWE volunteers.

The following are the details (thus far) of another event, just added to our calendar. We would appreciate it if as many of our staff members as possible could contribute some of their time in order to make this an effective venture. Look forward to a more detailed informational email to follow.

Montgomery County Agricultural Fair Promotional Booth with Nourish Now

Date: Friday August 8th, 2014 – Saturday, August 16th, 2014

Time: Fair is open 10am-12am daily; shift times for SWE staff members TBA

Location: Montgomery County Fairgrounds (16 Chestnut St, Gaithersburg, MD 20877)

Details: Our friends at Nourish Now have signed us up for a booth at the County Fair this year for both of our organizations to promote ourselves and each other. We will be promoting our mission to the large crowds at the fair, recruiting volunteers, and handing out swag. Both organizations’ staff members will be responsible for manning the booth throughout the fair, so that we always have knowledgeable representatives present to answer questions and establish contacts. Shift times and specific location of booth TBA.

Thanks for reading!

April 25, 2014 Newsblast

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Hi all! Hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather!

A few things worth noting this week…

SAVE THE DATE! Monday, May 12 6-7 pm at Shady Grove MS, SWE’s theater arts program taught by Tracy Lewis will be debuting “Sticks and Stones,” a theatrical production on bullying that the class has been preparing throughout the current session. We’d like to give a big show of support for our provider Tracy and all the wonderful kids that we’ve been working with! SWE will be providing pizza and refreshments for the enjoyment of all viewers.

This weekend, we’ve got another big volunteer clean-up organized in collaboration with The Harvest Collective! The event will take place from 10am-2pm Sunday, April 27 at the West Hyattsville Metro Station. We still have room for volunteers so please promote to anyone who might be interested. Breakfast and snacks will be provided. The weather is expected to be nice and springy, so it’s a great opportunity for everyone to get out and do some good for the community!

Calling all qualified providers for this year’s summer camps! We are in the process of recruiting paid activity leaders. These providers should have a special skill to teach such as a sport or craft. They should enjoy spending time with children, and be comfortable creating lesson plans and leading structured activities for 20 to 30 youths at a time. They will have additional help with supervision provided by our younger volunteer camp counselors.
Know anyone who would be available to participate in one to eight weeks of camp at locations in Silver Spring, Logan Circle, and/or throughout PG County? Please spread the word! This is an inspiring and energizing engagement for persons with flexibility in their schedule such as college students and school teachers! We have lots of availability at the moment, so anyone interested is welcome to give Dave a call at 240-602-0486.

This week we would like to highlight the success of our Move n’ Taste after school program. This program has shown the kind of progress in its development that will keep us on track toward our ultimate goal of opening our own community center. The Move n’ Taste curriculum was entirely devised by, implemented by, and refined by members of the So What Else team. Move n’ Taste is currently being taught in four locations, and our lessons reach approximately 70 youths per week. The next step for this program is the publication of a polished curriculum booklet, currently in progress, that we will be able to distribute for promotional purposes.

March 21, 2014 So What Else Newsblast

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Hey yall! Hope all’s been well since the last newsblast–it’s been a while! We have lots of good news and new events to share with you today.
First, our Hains Point Clean-Up went excellent this Saturday! We had over 80 folks in spite of the rain and collected over 50 full bags of trash. We’d like to thank the many groups who helped make the event great–the National Park Service, Bike to the Beach, Keen Footwear, Nourish Now, the River Network, LearnServe, the Montgomery Avenue Women’s Center, and of course all of our wonderful staff and volunteers!

Coming up soonest is Autism Awareness Day, this Wednesday April 2. Please wear blue to raise awareness for autism and show support for Bike to the Beach. That evening, Bike to the Beach will be hosting a quick, casual training ride through DC, followed by a celebratory happy hour at Circa. Riders should convene at 6:30 at the Autism Speaks office at 1990 K St NW. A fun opportunity to support one of our great partner organizations and to do some SWE STAFF TEAM BUILDING!
Next up is the international Cultural Center’s Good Deeds Day, Thursday April 3 from 4pm to 6pm at Kehilat Shalom Synagogue in Montgomery Village (9915 Apple Ridge Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20886). SWE will be there directing craft activities for children and collecting in-kind donations for our summer programs! We will be looking for sporting equipment (any type of ball, air pumps for balls, cones, pinnies, jump ropes, hula hoops, etc.), art supplies (colored pencils, crayons, washable markers, tempera paint, safety scissors, gluesticks, construction paper, etc.), and crafts supplies (gimp, embroidery floss, glitter, fabric paint, pony beads, feathers, white kids’ tees for tie-dying, etc.), and any musical instruments. PLEASE HELP US WITH THE COLLECTION OF THESE ITEMS FOR OUR AREA YOUTH!!!

This Saturday April 5, SWE will be helping to staff a canned food drive organized by our partners at Nourish Now. The drive will take place from 12pm to 4pm outside the Giant located at 13060 Middlebrook Rd in Germantown. Please show your support for Nourish Now and contribute what you can! We are also still in need of 1-2 volunteers.

Next Monday, April 7 is SWE Baltimore’s kick-off event–a birthday party for the residents of the Sarah’s Hope shelter! A handful of volunteers provided by SWE will be serving food and leading activities for mothers and children at the shelter. For news on SWE Baltimore, please check out https://sowhatelse.org/blog. A big thanks to Patti Ross for organizing this event–for an intro to Patti and her work, visit https://sowhatelse.org/swe-team.
We recently signed on to help Many Languages One Voice with their “In My Own Words” dinner and art showcase in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Language Access Act. Three or four volunteers are needed to help with set up and break down of the event from 4:30 to 9:00 Thurs April 17 at the Pepco Edison Gallery (702 8th St NW). Dinner will be provided to volunteers. Attire is semi-formal.
Important update! The PG Community Foundation’s Spring Break Out youth Olympics event has changed locations from Anacostia Park in DC to Greenbelt Park at 6565 Greenbelt Road 20770. Please respond with confirmation of your availability for this event in light of changes.

Our volunteer of the month is Ben Dalley of www.biketothebeach.org who arrived bright and early to provide transportation and water to our Hains Point volunteers.
Our organization of the month is The Harvest Collective. In addition to consistently serving the community as providers for SWE’s conservation-oriented programs, they have planned two great events for the coming month–Earth Day team building for members of the SWE internal team, as well as another large-scale volunteer clean-up 4/27 at the West Hyattsville Metro!
Looking forward to all of these opportunities to serve our community! Hope you guys can make it out to a few of them. Thanks for reading!

SWE Opens Baltimore Operations

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In January of 2014, Patti Ross was appointed to head operations of a Baltimore outpost under the So What Else umbrella. We kicked off our efforts in Baltimore by establishing an arrangement to host bimonthly birthday parties for the resident families of Sarah’s Hope Shelter at St. Vincent De Paul of Baltimore. We are excited to be able to extend to reach of our efforts and philosophy to the City of Baltimore!

March 12, 2014 So What Else Newsblast

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A few NEW events to add to your calendars!

Coming up soonest, be sure to check your email for an invite to an outdoor Earth Day team building activity April 22!

Saturday April 26 from 10 am to 2 pm, we will be hosting a large-scale volunteer clean-up of the area surrounding the West Hyattsville Metro station. Thanks to Davey for coordinating the logistics of this project for us! We could use up to 100 volunteers, so spread the word!

Awesome news! We were just confirmed to participate in the At&T National golf tournament Tues June 24 to Sun June 29. As in past years, we will be responsible for staffing the same hole each day of the tournament. We have 142 volunteer slots to fill this year, with two daily shifts from 7 am to 2 pm and from 11 am to 6 pm. We need plenty of ADULT volunteers who can serve alcohol–an ideal opportunity to get corporate volunteers out!

Finally, be sure to look out for news on our annual SWE Gala coming up this fall! Details will be coming out shortly.

Thanks all for coming out to our provider meeting on Monday. Please remember to promote Hains Point to your students!

Those of you who are confirmed, we look forward to seeing you at the volunteer coordination meeting scheduled for tonight at 5.

This week we completed our STEM curriculum! Thanks to Brent Cash, Samantha Ross, Lisa Bartell and Rachael for their hard work putting it together! We are looking forward to having Lisa teach the program at MCPS beginning next school year.