The Pen Pal program of Volunteer Connections in Clark County has been around for over 20 years now and there’s a good reason — kids absolutely love the experience.
Fifth-grade classrooms are the participants as well as volunteer adults. Throughout the school year a student and their pal will write back and forth each month for the length of the entire school year. After months of exchanging letters with their unknown friend, both sides are rewarded with the chance to finally meet in person at the end of the year during a dessert party.
"The most rewarding part of this easy-to-do program is to watch your student's writing progress throughout the year,” stated Martha Hancock, an experienced adult pen pal, in a press release. “Everyone loves receiving letters, but most kids never write nor receive a personal letter. Part of the attraction of this program is that the adult and the student both feel the same anticipation and satisfaction when the letters arrive.”
In the last few years the program has grown in bounds. Last year it expanded to about 200 total student participants and this year is at about 275. Twelve classrooms in five different schools make up those numbers. Additionally the operation focuses on serving children who attend Title I schools, which have high numbers and percentages of children coming from low-income families.
Someone who will be new to the program as a volunteer writer is Jessica Weber. She said the memory of when her sons participated is motivation.
“It is my pleasure,” she said. “I remember how excited my boys were to receive their letters. I would love to be that source of joy for a child"
The organizers and coordinators are in need of more people like her to get things started. At this time there are roughly 100 volunteers, but more are needed to support the number of students. Many volunteers will write to multiple students, but the program is hoping to get the adult number up to around 200.
Cheryl Luce, a coordinator, said the experience will be well worth it.
“At the end of the year party the kids are shaking with excitement,” she said. “It’s only an hour, but the energy is spectacular.”
Marna Hopkins, a recently retired teacher at Sarah J. Anderson School, is now volunteering, having seen it all before first hand and wanting to stay involved.
“The Pen Pal program allowed me to teach writing skills in a real-world situation,” Hopkins said. “My students cared about their pen pals and wanted to do a good job for them. Knowing they would be able to meet their pen pals at the end of the year not only created excitement, but also a sense of accountability that is difficult to establish in an artificial writing assignment.”
To sign up as a volunteer or learn more information send an email to rsvppenpal@gmail.com and one of the volunteer coordinators will get in contact with you. From there every volunteer will be screened and have a background check done. The program is hoping to launch once again this year in early October.
“It’s great to watch the kids learn about connecting with adults outside of their family,” said Luce. “You don’t see those connections with kids and older people as much these days, which is one of the cool things about this.”
