Vassar’s Community Works Campaign: A Helping Hand for Area Nonprofits
Every Saturday morning, more than a dozen recent immigrants to the United States assemble in a meeting room at Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, where they receive help in adjusting to their new surroundings.
The men and women who greet these immigrants are volunteers for the nonprofit organization Still Waters in a Storm, one of 10 local groups being sponsored by Vassar College’s Community Works program. The Still Waters volunteers’ primary purpose is to tutor them in reading and speaking English, but literacy training is only a part of what Still Waters is all about. “When they come to us,” said Still Waters founder and director Stephen Haff, “they know they will have a chance not only to learn the language, but also to tell their stories.”
As Still Waters volunteers get to know their students, they become more than simply literacy instructors. Bonds of friendship soon begin to blossom. “Yes, we help them with their English, but we help them with their lives too,” said Tagreed Al-Haddad, a Lecturer in Arabic at Vassar and a Still Waters volunteer for the past 18 months. “Recently, we took one of the women to an eye doctor, and we helped another with his driver’s test.”
Izid Bih Zeid, who immigrated to the United States from Mauritania last May, has been attending literacy classes for several months. “When I first came here, I was very shy and didn’t want to speak,” Zeid said. “Now that I have these new skills, I can speak and write with confidence, and I feel safe here.”
All of the organizations supported by Community Works are selected by Vassar employees through a nomination process, said Nicole Scalessa, Head of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services at Vassar College Libraries and chair of this year’s campaign. The College funds all administrative costs, so every dollar donated by Vassar employees goes directly to the selected organizations.
“Our goal this year is $87,500, and we’re planning a number of events to publicize the campaign,” Scalessa said. “Community Works is a way for all of us at Vassar to support a variety of organizations that are making our community a better place. They are agencies that directly serve people in our local community, including many of us at Vassar.”
Those seeking more information on grant recipients or to make a donation may visit the Community Works website.