Our hearts go out to all who have been impacted by COVID-19. To our students, volunteers, and contributors, we miss you and want to stay in touch! We want our tutors and students to stay in communication with us, and each other. We need to stay connected, now more than ever, in this time of physical distancing.
We hope our learning pairs are succeeding with lessons conducted over the phone or online. Anyone facing technical challenges should reach out to our office for help at info@literacyforall.org.
I want to give a special shout-out to the healthcare workers in our community, which includes some of our students and volunteers. As you may know, over the past few years LVCA has been encouraging some of our students to enter healthcare certification programs (and helping them succeed!), knowing that those jobs are usually stable and in-demand. We also know the character and determination of our students make them a good fit for such a demanding profession. Our wish for them is an abundance of strength and courage in this challenge of a lifetime.
The staff has rearranged priorities for the time being, since we do not get to see our students and volunteers every day. I admit we are sidetracked by our confusion and grief over the loss of what was “normal” for each of us. But we have had several projects “on the back burner” for a while, so we are tackling them now (for some of us, it’s a nice distraction from worrying!) Most notably, we are developing a few online training modules for our volunteers to augment our usual in-person sessions, and we are converting to a new database system. These projects will help our organizational infrastructure and make us more efficient when we resume.
I know there’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding this virus, our health, and the impact this has on our lives. As Executive Director, I am going to name my fears for the organization so they don’t have power over me:
- What if our current students’ learning gets derailed to the point that they give up on their studies?
- What if our volunteers lose interest and don’t want to come back after the break?
- We know that in times of great unemployment, the demand for LVCA services increases enormously— how can we respond to the expected demand if we lose volunteer and financial resources?
- We were already facing financial challenges for the next fiscal year— how will an economic downturn affect us?
The staff and board continue to meet regularly to plan for all sorts of contingencies, but I welcome any thoughts you might have. In the meantime, please focus on your own physical and mental health and stay well. And please stay in touch.
Thank you,
