Farewell, Intern Diana!

This past Monday, June 28, marked the last day of Foundation for Second Chances' first-ever Programs Intern, Diana Norton! Diana was an incredible asset to the Second Chances team, and provided a solid foundation for our Reading Wheels Literacy Program that will continue for years to come. Diana also made meaningful contributions to ensuring the success of our Community Health Festival, and in developing curriculum for our Mentoring Program. A wearer of many hats, Diana will sorely be missed here at FFSC.

Diana, right, with our new PR/Marketing Intern, Menchie Caliboso

Diana's energy, compassion, and sense of humor brought indispensable ideas and unforgettable memories to Foundation for Second Chances, and we know she is destined for great things. We wish Diana the best of luck in her aspirations to earn her Masters degree so that she can one day run her own non-profit organization--a feat we are confident Diana will soon conquer.

Thank you, Diana, for all your hard work and dedication! You will always remain an important member of the Second Chances family.

Reading Wheels, Class of '10!

The weekend of June 12th marked the end of the Reading Wheels Literacy Program for the school year. In honor of the close of Reading Wheels, Melissa Wyatt, Executive Director of FFSC, myself (Diana) and my fellow volunteer coordinators (Shannon and Su-yin) planned a very special final day for our kids and volunteers.

We began the day just like any other, breaking the kids up into K-2nd graders and 3rd-5th and assigning them volunteers. After reading " Here comes Summer!" with the K-2nd graders and "Phineaus Macguire Erupts" with the 3rd-5th graders, we decided to play a very special and wildly entertaining game. Created by Shannon, the game is a mix of musical chairs and a pop quiz. You begin the game just like musical chairs but instead of automatically being out if you dont have a chair when the music stops, must answer a pop quiz question related to the books. If you get it wrong, you are out, if you get it right, you get to keep playing.

After a very competitive game of Shannon's amalgamation of musical chairs and a pop quiz, (Congratulations to Aura for winning!) Melissa surprised everyone with a very special Graduation lunch! Nothing says "Congratulations on graduating from the first round of Reading Wheels" like fried chicken and red velvet cake!! As a thank you to all the kids for participating in the Reading Wheels Program, we created graduation certificates for all the kids so they would have something to take home with them....besides a full belly and left over pieces of cake.

Although RW has closed down for the summer all of us here at FFSC are very excited to start back up in September. See you all then!

Reading Wheels February 13th

Hey everyone

Diana here, an intern and volunteer coordinator with FFSC. Just wanted to tell everyone about the Reading Wheels Program and our most recent success!

Reading Wheels Literacy Program, our newest program, happens the second Saturday of each month. FFSC gathers together with our children and volunteers, from 10am – 1:30pm, for a fun and relaxing time of story-telling and literary games. Reading Wheels aims to improve our children’s reading and writing skills through the guidance and support of adult friends who will read to them and listen to them read. Volunteers can come read with our children for a one time commitment, or can make a longer term commitment to volunteer multiple times. Join us for on our reading adventures! ***Volunteers will be eligible for a ticket to Disneyland after volunteering with the Reading Wheels program for 1 Saturday.

The February 13th Reading Wheels at 42nd St Elementary, although only our third, was a huge success. Volunteers from LA works and UCLA dedicated their saturday morning to ensure our wonderful kids got the time and attention they deserve. Following a great round of introductions and icebreakers, we split the kids into k-2nd and 3rd - 5th. While the K-2nd graders read " Dick and Jane, How Can i Help?", the 3rd - 5th graders tackled the more challenging chapter book " Math Rashes and Other Classroom Tales" .

After an hour of reading and discussion, a delicious lunch of pizza was provided by our awesome executive director Melissa Wyatt. Seeing as it was a beautiful Saturday morning, handball and double dutch were the games of choice by the kids. Much to my dismay, i could not get Shannon, one of the volunteer coordinators from LA works, to double dutch for the first time, BUT a few of the kids got myself and Jasmine, another volunteer, to turn the ropes for them AND even got our UCLA volunteers to chase and play them around the jungle gym!

Sadly our day concluded at 1:30 after a few more rounds of reading, discussion and games, but on the bright side, many of the kids promised to come back for the next Reading Wheels and bring friends!....Maybe by then i'll find a better way to convince Shannon to try double dutching!

That's all for now, but our next Reading Wheels is February 27th and the following Reading Wheels will be on March 13th, and the one after that April 10th.

I am definitely looking forward to another sunny Saturday morning filled with reading, fun and pizza!