鶹Ƶ San Antonio’s Response to COVID-19
As part of the 鶹Ƶ community, we wanted to reach out to provide an update on the impacts of COVID-19 on 鶹Ƶ San Antonio and how we are responding. We are working through what this means for our students, communities, AmeriCorps members and staff. The safety and well-being of our people and community remains our top priority during this uncertain and unprecedented time.
As you probably know by now, the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) and surrounding school districts closed following spring break and will remain closed at least through April 24. As of March 16,鶹Ƶhas paused in-person service for all AmeriCorps members. We are workingclosely with our school and district partners to identify strategies to support our students in a virtual capacity until school resumes.At the sametime,wearecontinuingto provide our corpsmemberswith virtual content to support their learning and development and prepare them for their future.We will continue to pay our AmeriCorps members during this time and provide resources for them as they work to earn service hours remotely.
We arecancelling or postponingall public events and gatherings for an indefinite period.This includescancelling our signature Ripples of Hope Celebration, originally scheduled for April 1.Thanks to the generosity of this community, our Ripples of HopeCelebrationgenerates close to $400,000 annuallyinsupportofour mission.This year’s event was in honor of Paula Gold-Williams, President and CEO of CPS Energy, and while we will not be celebrating her in person on April 1, in hopes of raising these same resources, we will celebrate her and our dedicated AmeriCorps members virtually. Stay tuned for your opportunity to participate.
Our staff and corps are committed to working together in this new way.We are staying positive and leveragingallour resources, both nationally with 鶹Ƶ Headquartersand locally with our school partners, district leaders,board members and champions.
A crisis of this magnitude has a disproportionate impact on the families we serve, who experience food and job insecurity and live in some of the most vulnerable and under-resourced parts of our city under normal circumstances. This disproportionate impact will certainly reach our students; now more than ever, 鶹Ƶ is steadfastly committed to our work supporting thousands of students in San Antonio.
Many of you have already reached out to ask how we are doing and how you can help– we are so grateful to you. As we continue developing plans for the comingweeks andmonths, we will keep you closely in the loop. In the meantime, our greatest needisadditional financial resources to ensure we havethefunds toadequatelysupport our AmeriCorps membersthrough this unsettling period. These funds will support everything from food and personal supplies for Corps Members who areadhering to the city’s “Stay Home, Work Safe” orders, to expenses associated with deploying our Corps in new ways outside ofphysicalschool service in the coming weeks.
If you would like to make acontribution, please clickbelow.
Wewillget through this together.We sincerely hope you and your families are well and staying safe. Pleasedo not hesitate to reach out to me orour Director of Development,Sandy Sullivan Gallagher ()with any questions you may have.
Yours in service,
KellyHughes Burton
Executive Director
Related stories
I’ve been sitting with some powerful insights about our nonprofit community in San Antonio, and I wanted to share them...
Read more about From Our Heart to Yours: Why Your Support Means EverythingMy name is Angel Rodriguez, and I proudly serve on the Valero AmeriCorps team at Lanier High School. I want...
Read more about Why I Serve: Angel Rodriguez鶹Ƶ San Antonio hostedour annualOpening Day, on Thursday, September 19th at theSanAntonio Zoo. Our new51 AmeriCorps membershave dedicated so...
Read more about CYSA Opening Day 2024鶹Ƶ San Antonio hosted its annual Ripples of Hope event, on Thursday, May 2nd at the Tobin Center Ripples...
Read more about CYSA Ripples of Hope: The Prism Effect
