Open Arms Community

Our tutoring / remote learning center is the largest program we operated in 2020. Pre-pandemic we served an average of 20 students each week. We fed them dinner and then gave them help with homework or provided additional instruction in basic skills such as reading or math skills. During the pandemic, we offered a place for students to attend virtual school and then get additional help on school / homework and tutoring in areas they were struggling in, such as reading comprehension, algebra, or even learning to speak english.we provided traditional tutoring and a reading club in the first few months of the year, with 11 volunteers providing 175 hours of service (a $2,625.00 value). Then, when the pandemic hit and traditional programming changed and schools switched to virtual learning, we became a remote learning center one afternoon a week and offered tutoring in a different format. During that time, 4 volunteers provided 105 hours of service (a minimum $1,575.00 value). We also provided meals and snacks for all students during both forms of tutoring with the remote learning center, and the winston-salem/forsyth county school district provided lunch.

We have a fund for "discretionary relief". This is an emergency fund for when families are going through a crisis. In 2020, one of the families we work with had a child die of cancer. We helped pay for funeral expenses as well as other relief for the family. We also helped when that same family lost their home to a fire. These are just two examples of how this program assists families in need.

Each summer, right before school starts, we hold a school supply give-away for the families we serve and others in the neighborhood who are in need. In this program we supply children in grades k - 12 with a backpack as well as basic supplies such as pencils, crayons or markers, notebooks, binders, etc. We also try to supply older students with basic hygiene supplies.