During National Volunteer Appreciation Week April 18-24, we celebrated volunteers for helping support our mission. Each department at StepUp also recognized a volunteer (not a board member) for outstanding support in the past year. Thanks to the following for their exceptional contributions to StepUp: Danny Cook, Adults Program; Cynthia Cooper, Alumni Program; Vintage Church, Children’s Program; and Caroline Lewis and Amanda Lima of Windrose Management, Development 

Click the link below to watch our volunteer recognition video. Visit our website to learn how you can get involved as a volunteer!

The young adults in our Real World program kicked off Music Month by expressing themselves through song, poetry, and art! We welcomed back E. Jones from Jamla Records/RocNation to judge the music competition and share his insights on being “dedicated to your craft.” Real World was so inspired by E. Jones and he encouraged each of them to submit any music or poetry for critique. We’re excited for E. Jones to return for our Virtual Career Panel in a few weeks!

“I like this!”  - Royality Hill, Children's Program participant

Royality has enjoyed all of the April activities from decorating Easter eggs to talking about empathy to planting a garden. 

This month in the Children's Program, we celebrated Easter with an egg hunt and a basket full of activities thanks to our amazing volunteers. We also focused on nutrition and learned how to grow our own food. StepUp children got to plant herbs and tomatoes with the help of a lesson created by one of our Life Skills alumni!

We have had a busy and exciting March in the Children’s Program! Our youngest kids learned about spring flowers and planting in the Pre-K class, and just like the Middle Ground group, they had an educational and fun class activity focused on St. Patrick’s Day.

We hosted our first ever Positive Parenting Program virtual event for families and community on March 24th alongside Project Enlightenment and trained Triple P practitioners. StepUp staff, volunteers and families were all able to benefit from the evidence-based training that supports parents in raising resilient children. The sense of unity and excitement from everyone in attendance was encouraging as we all looked to how we can grow as parents and as families.

“It was the coolest virtual atmosphere! I liked seeing other parents all logged on to get parenting support. It was great to know that I am not the only parent struggling at times and that it’s ok to reach out to get advice and support. Everything I heard was practical and made lots of sense. I feel like I have more parenting tools to work with now! ” - StepUp participant

Along with the virtual event, pizza, snacks, door prizes and activities were also offered to our participants safely in their homes. It was a wonderful night for over 30 families. What a great start to the spring season!