Henrico Citizen Spotlights Volunteer Work by WLI
This week, the website for the Henrico Citizen newspaper featured the volunteer work of United Way's Women's Leadership Initiative volunteers from Dominion Virginia Power.
You can read the Henrico Citizen's short version here. Below is the full story.
It’s a small world at Jack N Jill School on Michael Road in Henrico County. Six nationalities are represented at this 60-year-old child development center that serves children ages 2½ to 12. Children with backgrounds from China, India, Japan, Latin America, Russia and the USA play on their diverse playground.
“Times have changed, and children are coming to us with differences in language, race, religion, culture and abilities,” said Mary Cox, owner and director of Jack N Jill. “We welcome them all and celebrate their differences.”
To encourage acceptance of that diversity, the children at Jack N Jill recently received a donation of multi-cultural clothes, books, posters and toys that were collected by female employees at Dominion Virginia Power. This volunteer donation project for United Way’s Women’s Leadership Initiative was the first in a new Lessons-In-A-Box supply drive that targets childcare programs that participate in the Virginia Star Quality Initiative (VSQI) rating system.
Childcare centers that volunteer to participate in VSQI are rated on many factors, including educational environment. Promoting acceptance of diversity starts young and is a measure of quality care. Young children are not born with attitudes that cause them to discriminate against others. However, they quickly learn such attitudes as they watch and learn what others say and do. High-quality early childhood education provides experiences to encourage acceptance of diversity.
This donation will help Jack N Jill School enhance its score on VSQI’s environmental rating scale.
“Acceptance of diversity means that instead of viewing differences as a negative, they are seen as strengths,” said Ruth Prideaux, a Dominion Generation Construction employee and a WLI volunteer. “As an employer, we value diversity in adults and hope to foster that value in children as they learn through play and discovery.”
To learn more about VSQI, call (804) 591-3918 or email lthompson@childsavers.org.
Pictured in photo
Front row: Harper Tyson and Beth Tyson of United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg.
Back row: Pam Brown and Mary Cox of Jack N Jill School; René Shepperson of Union First Market Bank and a WLI volunteer; and Ruth Prideaux of Dominion and a WLI volunteer.
