AFT Members Help Children Before Getting Down to Convention Business

by James Parks, Jul 5, 2010

Before delegates to AFT’s national convention get down to business July 8 in Seattle, they will do what teachers do best and give of themselves, their time and energy to help children. One day before the convention opens, the teachers will help AFT members in Seattle who work with young children by joining together for a day of community service. They also are collecting supplies to help homeless students.

Before each convention, AFT members take time to give back to the community where they are meeting, says AFT spokesperson Cynthia Garza.

More than 50 delegates have volunteered to help move the Tiny Tots Development Center in Seattle, where members of AFT’s Washington Educators in Early Learning work with young children. They’ll take on several projects, including moving the center to a new location, setting up classrooms, landscaping, making building and roofing repairs, helping teachers as they work with the children and leading arts and crafts time. 

At the end of the day, teachers, delegates and union leaders will come together to dedicate a plaque to Felecia Hollinguest, a 17-year teacher at the center who died unexpectedly in November 2009.  

Delegates also will help out members of the Tacoma Federation of ParaEducators, Local 461/AFT, who work with 1,400 homeless students and their families in the greater Seattle area. The delegates are purchasing basic supplies, including backpacks, toiletries and uniforms for the children and bringing the items to Seattle and drop them off at the AFT Gives Back booth outside the convention hall.

For more information on both projects, click here .

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