Standing Strong

Greetings from Puerto Rico! It’s been along time since I've talked to you about numbers. This time, the numbers have a very special meaning. While we are all experiencing a different reality due to COVID19, for thousands of children in Puerto Rico the quarantine adds up to previous life-changing experiences. If we put together an average of 92 days of class lost after hurricane Maria in 2017, a couple of months of schools closed after the earthquakes in January 2020 and now the quarantine, there’s a whole generation of teens who don’t know what a normal high school is. Our hearts go to the kids starting their learning experience in kinder to third grade, where crucial skills like reading and comprehension are developed.

The good news is that the tireless leaders at Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico were very fast at finding solutions. Through phone calls, text messages, and other digital communications, they have been able to reach 3,965 Participants with activities to do at home as if they were at the clubs, and to assist with the modules assigned by the Puerto Rico Department of Education.

As children were mandated to stay home, parents became teachers. Many of our parents found several degrees of difficulty when helping their children with schoolwork. Therefore, in an unprecedented effort, our leaders designed a way to support, reaching 3,503 Parents.

All the learning resources developed at this time plus the virtual activities designed for the after-school program can be found at our website. I want to take this opportunity to invite you to stop by and take a look at the resources at bgcpr.org/educateencasa. They are free and children do not need to be club members to benefit from them.

I also want to thank all of you who contributed to the project on May 5th during #GivingTuesdayNow. Your contribution at this time is greatly appreciated.

I hope next time I write we are all healthy and standing strong!