By Sharnae Scott, AmeriCorps VISTA Member
On July 13th, Atlanta-Fulton Public Libraries and the Preservation of Life afterschool program hosted a pajama day at College Park, Dogwood, Cleveland Avenue, East Point, and Atlanta Metropolitan Libraries in celebration of National Summer Learning Day.
National Summer Learning Day, hosted by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), is a day of advocacy and celebration, which aims to promote the importance of keeping children learning during summer to ensure students are prepared to succeed beginning school in the fall. Access to high-quality, enriching summer learning experiences mitigates gaps in achievement, employment, and college and career success for low-income students caused by the loss of academic skills over the summer.
City of Atlanta firemen surprised a group of young children at Atlanta Metropolitan branch. They spoke to the preschoolers about fire safety, told stories of the courage and bravery it takes to fight fires, and didn’t forget to play, of course!
City of Atlanta Fire Station 20 visits Atlanta Metropolitan library for Summer Learning Day
The boys and girls were all smiles once they learned their next activity would be making ice cream! Preservation of Life staff and parents guided them through the steps of homemade ice cream making—to fill one small sandwich bag with milk, sugar, chocolate powder, and vanilla and place it into a larger plastic bag filled with ice and rock salt. Then, shake, shake, shake!
These mothers stepped in to help their sons with the twenty minutes of shaking required to chill and thicken the ice cream
After quite a while of shaking to chill the ice cream, kids didn’t wait long to enjoy their treats!
Preservation of Life founded in Houston, TX in 2014 is an afterschool program that serves low-income communities. The program expanded to Georgia in January 2017 and offered programming in Clayton County Public Libraries until the end of the school year. The program’s goal is to provide a well-rounded meal, educational support, and a positive, enriching environment for at-risk students.
Preservation of Life has currently served over 453,000 meals to children in Houston and Atlanta through the federal assistance programs, Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The program will offer afterschool programming in Dekalb, Clayton, and Fulton County Public Library Systems beginning August 7th. Applications for enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year can be found on the program website and at Fulton, Dekalb, and Clayton County Libraries. For more information about Preservation of Life, visit https://www.preservationoflife.org/ or contact Latoya Burrell at lburrell@preservationoflife.org.