Volunteers are critical for Mommy and Me, a family literacy program, sponsored by Friends of Refugees, located at the Clarkston International Bible Church.
Volunteers serve in many capacities, including tutors for the moms who are enrolled in English as a Second Language classes, volunteers working one on one with children in the early learning program, as well as volunteers to help with a monthly clothes and toy sale. One group of volunteers is donating time to work on an outdoor play area and others donate books and children’s toys.
In January, a group of Emory nursing students is conducting the Ages and Stages Screening tool and working with the children in the classrooms one on one. This is their second year. Financial donations are needed to purchase furniture and equipment for the early learning classrooms and to pay for salaries and professional development for the early learning teachers and aides.
A newly recruited volunteer is a mother herself as well as an English as a Second Language professional. The volunteer described to visitors how she is working with three refugee mothers to improve their English by using a children’s story, The Ginger Bread Man. The moms read the story, next they made a flannel story board to tell the story, and next they wrote the story in English. One mom decided to read the book in English as well as tell the story to her children in their home language.
Jennifer Green is the energetic and committed director of Mommy and Me, a program that serves refugee mothers and their children, infants to 5 years of age. Mommy and Me has four components: English as a Second Language classes for the refugee mothers, early learning activities for children while the mothers are in class, , children and mother time together, and workshops for the mothers on a variety of topics, including nutrition, finances, and child development. Currently here are 80 mothers and approximately l00 children participating from diverse countries, including Burma, Sudan, and Somali.
CDF partners with Mommy and Me to connect them to resources and opportunities. Jennifer is now an active member of the Clarkston Early Learning Network (CELN), and a regular user of the Clarkston Library’s many activities for young children and their families.
Want to get connected to Mommy and Me? Contact: Jennifer Green, Jennifer@friendsofrefugees.com.