Community Service

December's event was with Language ETC, RPCV/W's Partner in Peace. Every year since 2009, RPCV/W chooses a local non-profit organization to be the focus of our community service, programming, and fund-raising efforts in what we call the Partnership for Peace. This year, our Partner for Peace is Language, Education, and Technology Center (Language ETC), a Dupont Circle area, community-based program offering English and literacy training to low-income adult immigrants in the greater Washington area using volunteer teachers and tutors.

October's Community Service event was a success in combining RPCV/W and Rotary Club for a morning of grocery packing and delivery with We Are Family DC, a non-profit organization that serves seniors in the Shaw, North Capitol Street, Adams-Morgan, Petworth, and Columbia Heights neighborhoods. More than simply a social service project, We Are Family strives to build a caring and inclusive community, by providing services to senior citizens in need.

On Saturday, October 20th, Housing Counseling Services invited RPCV/W to their community center in Columbia Heights, Faircliff Plaza West, a center for low-income residents in the DC neighborhood. Eleven members and guests from RPCV/W attended for a morning of environment awareness building and fun with recycled art projects. The volunteers worked with the community center kids to make posters, wallets from milk and juice cartons, bracelets from candy and snack wrappers, and the most exciting project of the day, glasses from used wine bottles. The RPCVs enjoyed using the skills they developed during their Peace Corps skills to teach kids about the environment in a fun way, and using items that they can find in their own homes. The morning was big success, with many children from the residences coming to enjoy the recycled art projects and a lunch provided by Housing Counseling Services. Thank you to Faircliff Plaza West for hosting RPCV/W for the morning of recycling fun. We look forward to returning!

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11 members and guests of RPCV/W joined about 30 other area volunteers, including Spring Hill College Alumni and Howard and GW Students to unload, organize, pack, and deliver groceries.  We Are Family DC has a compelling mission to support seniors in need; especially as they have lived in the city for decades and as rent and other prices skyrocket, they struggle to meet their basic needs. As many of the grocery recipients live in the area, RPCVs set off on foot with groceries in hand to deliver groceries and smiles to those in need. Every volunteer in attendance was put to work, and expressed great satisfaction for the accomplishments made that morning. Finally, the RPCV/W volunteers gathered at SUNdeVICH for some amazing and well-deserved sandwiches!