In memory of Ms. Kathleen BrownOctober 12, 1934 - July 14, 2011

We lost a beloved member of the Little Lights family, Ms. Kathleen Brown, who was a part-time staff member working with Elementary-aged children. She also was a friend and a regular babysitter for the Park family as well as other staff. She fought bravely after discovering she had cancer. She is dearly missed at Little Lights and our deepest condolences go out to her family.

Featured in the 2011-2012 Catalogue for Philanthropy“One of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region”

6

7

Since 1995, Little Lights Urban Ministries has been committed to providing sanctuaries of encouragement, hope, and practical assistance to under-served children, youth, and families in Washington, DC.

The vision for Little Lights began in 1994, when Steve Park was helping with a day camp and met Darrell, a junior high boy who could not read a Dr. Seuss book. Moved by this new friendship, Steve started praying about how to combine his desire to share God’s love with helping children who were struggling in school. A year later, God answered that prayer by giving Steve the vision to start Little Lights. With the help of other volunteers, Steve launched a small tutoring pro-gram inside his parents’ Tae Kwon Do studio in Northwest DC.

Little Lights expanded with summer camp the following year and, in 1999, shifted focus to Potomac Gardens housing complex in Southeast DC. Steve and his wife Mary moved to Southeast DC several years later to be closer to the people they served. They live there today with their two children.

What was once housed in the small Tae Kwon Do studio has now expanded into a multi-faceted, holistic program that serves children, teens, adults, and families. Little Lights offers homework programs tailored to subject and age, individ-ualized reading and math tutoring, spiritual mentoring, enrichment classes, and even a Gospel Choir. In recent years, Little Lights has grown to address the community’s additional needs by offering job training through internships for teenagers and employment search and training services for adults.

LLUM programs operate from three locations: The Little Lights Center (formerly the Hope Center) was donated by a church in 2005; and the 1212 Units (2009) and the Family Center (2010) were given by the DC Housing Authority to serve as community centers within Potomac Gardens.

Throughout its history, nearly 1,000 children have participated in Little Lights programs, and more than 2,000 volunteers have been recruited for one-to-one tutoring, enrichment trips, mentoring, and special events.

In 2011, the Catalogue for Philanthropy honored Little Lights Urban Ministries as “one of the best small charities in the Washington, DC region” for a second time.

8

9

We want to see the children, youth, and families we serve flourish, not just get by. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word flourish as: “to grow in abundance” – it’s a word rarely associated with kids, teens, and adults living in public housing. Yet, that is the hope and increasing reality at Little Lights Urban Ministries. In our community, we witnessed great flourishing in 2011…

Our Teen Interns flourished in their jobs at Little Lights and some, like Geizel and Cierra, started college.

We welcomed former students who returned from college to work at Little Lights part-time with Middle School students – giving back to the community, in addition to finding full-time work elsewhere.

The Clean Green Team, our landscaping training and employment program, flour-ished. After taking the reins in the summer from another non-profit that could no longer sustain the program, Little Lights was able to negotiate an extension of the Clean Green Team’s contract with DC Housing to do all the landscaping maintenance work at Potomac Gardens and Hopkins public housing through 2012.

We continued to grow our Family Center, which provides high speed Internet access to adults in the community and serves as an employment and information resource hub. More than 180 adults used the new Family Center and 65 of them received résumé support – some were creating their first résumé. The Family Center housed many community events and meetings, including regular office hours for local elementary school administrators, as well as the debut of a film our students wrote, acted in, and produced.

We strengthened existing programs. Our academic and program staff continued to refine our academic assessment testing, curricula, and individualized reading and math plans for each student – continuing our tradition of one-to-one relationships with each child we serve.

Our faith-based mentoring program flour-ished beyond our expectations. The program, entirely funded by individual donors, started the year at 12 mentoring matches and ended the year with 21, an amazing 92% increase.

We participated in the inaugural Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington and, thanks to our amazing supporters, we won big with

$43,500 in prize money on top of the $37,388 we raised from 729 individual donors (includ-ing one from China!) in 24 hours.

Thank you. Your support in 2011 was crucial in keeping the hope of flourishing alive and well for underserved youth and families who show new, encouraging signs of growth here in Southeast DC. I hope you enjoy this edition of our Annual Report and that you’ll read it and share it with others knowing that you helped make these hopes a reality!

Blessings,

Steve ParkFounder and Executive Director

10

15%

Administrative - $95,207

Program - $530,312

Fundraising - $108,944

TOTAL - $734,463

Program

FundraisingAdministrative

11

43%

5%4%

3%

45%

Foundation Grants - $339,950

Individual Donors - $332,290

One Time Gift

$229,801

Ignite the Light Partners

$87,056

Combined Federal Campaign

$15,433

Church Support - $37,912

Corporate Support - $19,815

Other - $33,009

TOTAL - $762,976

Individual Donors

Church Support

Corporate Support

Other

Foundation Grants

11%

2%

Combined Federal Campaign

Ignite the Light Partners

One Time Gift

12

13

1,104 individual donors contributed 2,141 financial gifts.

Capital Area Food Bank:

Kids Cafe (snacks and dinner for kids): 10,365 pounds of food valued at $16,584.

Weekend Bags (groceries for families): 1,360 bags of food valued at $6,120.

One Acre Farm:

CSA weekly donation of fresh produce for Potomac Gardens families: 706 pounds valued at $2,718.

DC Housing Authority:

Potomac Gardens apartment units: 3 units valued at $924 each per month, valued at $33,264 per year.

14

The Little Lights family of friends, supporters, volunteers, staff, board members, students, and parents gathered for another exciting and fun evening at the Ignite the Light Banquet & Auction, our yearly event to find new monthly donors and fellowship together, at the Hilton Arlington on October 22.

The evening’s events commenced with a silent auction with many exciting items this year, includ-ing Tiffany crystal vases and bowls, Gucci watches, theatre tickets, original artwork, autographed sports memorabilia, and cooking classes. The silent auction was a precursor to the evening’s much anticipated live auction.

Last year’s auctioneer, Pat Haggerty, who also doubles as a professional speaking coach, a journalist, and an actor, returned in 2011 as the auctioneer and Master of Ceremonies. He did an outstanding job entertaining the crowd and revving them up for the live auction that included a pre-Civil War Bible, vacation packages, Little Lights Gospel Choir performances, and even a tickets package to the Washington Nationals…which sold for more than four times its value.

Guests enjoyed musical performances by Ramzy and the Brothers Handsome and the Little Lights Gospel Choir.

The evening also included a touching student testimonial from Heaven Watson. Antonio Smith shared and an adult testimony and spoke about the challenges of being a father in Potomac Gardens, how Little Lights has helped him and his family, and how he is learning entrepreneurship and landscaping skills as manager of the Clean Green Team.

Our special guest speaker for the evening was Glenn Hoburg, Senior Pastor of Grace DC Presbyterian Church of Washington, DC. He touched on the topic of serving those in need through God’s love and encouraged staff and volunteers to continue in the work.

The 2011 Ignite the Light Banquet & Auction was a huge success: the evening’s grand total was more than $40,000 in profits and many new Ignite the Light Monthly Partners.

Little Lights launched the Ignite the Light Monthly Partnership program in 2009 to invite its supporters and volunteers to regularize their giving on a monthly basis. This allows staff to plan the budgets accordingly and to face fewer swings in funding.

The goal to grow the number of monthly donors in an effort to have more predictability in revenue has been met each year. In 2009, Little Lights launched Ignite the Light with 20 monthly donors contributing $4,155 each month. At the close of 2011, we had 87 monthly donors contributing $8,655 each month.

Ignite the Light has also reached another major milestone; it’s currently generating about $100,000 per year in revenue and has become a very stable and reliable source for monthly budgeting.

16

November 9, 2011, was a thrilling day for Little Lights, as our staff soon became overwhelmed by all of the donations and awards that poured in from midnight to midnight. Little Lights was one of 1,300 non-profits that participated in Give to the Max Day: Greater Washington —a 24-hour online giving competition for those of good will to raise as much money as possible for DC area nonprofits.

With the support of 729 individual donors, we raised $37,388 and garnered $43,500 in award money for an astonishing, one-day total of $80,588.

Little Lights collected nine awards in all, including:

• $25,000 Grand Award for most donors

• $10,000 Entrepreneurial Nonprofit Award for most donors for organizations under one million in revenue

• $2,500 award for placing fifth in most dollars raised

• Six $1,000 “Golden Tickets” for having the most donors within a certain hour.

We were left incredibly grateful for all of our donors, volunteers, and friends that stepped up to spread the word and personally respond to help us meet the needs of under-served children, teens, adults, and families. The support we generated from Give to the Max Day

could not have come at a better time as we were expecting $60,000 in grant cuts.

Our donors made an immediate and tangible impact on programs through the gently used van that was purchased with a portion of these funds. Having a reliable source of transporta-tion was an increasingly critical need as our old van wore down. Not only is the staff enjoying how smoothly the new van runs, but the kids love that the van has a working audio system to listen to Gospel music again.

In the days and weeks following Give to the Max Day, Little Lights staff members were asked to speak for a panel and were interviewed for fundraising blogs, academic journals, and even The Washington Post. The added publicity helped Little Lights find new friends, donors, and volunteers. Furthermore, Razoo, the organization that put on Give to the Max Day, named Little Lights as Fundraiser of the Year for 2011, out of more than 10,000 other nonprofits nationwide.

17

In the spring of 2011, a team of LLUM staff, board members, and volunteers participated in fundraising training, made possible by a grant from the Meyer Foundation. Our goal was to develop sustainable funding so that LLUM can be an even stronger, steadier presence in our community and in the lives of the kids and families served. For example, we want to expand the adult employment services offered at the Family Center, and we want to be able to compensate staff members in a way that allows them to thrive in ministry long-term.

As one result of Benevon training, the team established a new event to help us tell our story and enable members of the greater Little Lights family to introduce their friends to our work. Twice a month, we hold Little Lights LIVE, a one-hour introductory tour, where attendees hear firsthand from staff and community members about LLUM’s work serving Potomac Gardens children, teens, adults, and families through after-school programs, relationships, and economic empowerment. We appreciate all our friends who have spread the word and invited new community members to learn about Little Lights. We’re already seeing the fruit of this project through all the new volunteers, donors, skills, and connections we’ve gained.

A ONE HOUR TOUR

18

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3: 5-6

In 2011, the Little Lights Family Center was a busy place: we welcomed more than 180 parents and adults with a tour showing them our space. As they enter the center, a Resource Board displays employment opportunities and other resources and information about adult trainings that are available. We have a computer lab that parents are able to use twice a week for job applications, Internet access, or building computer skills. Six adults completed our first computer class taught by a volunteer; and Little Lights provided résumé help weekly for 65 parents and adults who requested it. Parents often came to sit quietly and read, watch CNN or relax with a cup of tea or coffee and a snack. We also have a private office for meetings with parents that Tyler Elementary staff used twice a month to help parents enroll kids in school or have conversations on other school related issues.

Other Family Center highlights of 2011 included several guest workshops like “Managing ADHD Behavior in Kids” and “Navigating The School IEP Process.” On Mother’s Day, we held a floral workshop honoring our Potomac Gardens mothers, where we taught them to make a corsage, bouquet, or a flower arrangement in memory of a deceased loved one. We also gave away Thanksgiving boxes and many other food items to families. We held Parent Orientations in the Spring and Fall where computers, gift cards, and movie passes were raffled. To have some fun, we held a Cupcake Bingo that was a great time for staff and parents. We also gave parents and kids popcorn, snow cones, and cotton candy several times to get them excited about visiting the Family Center. Every time any parent used our Family Center, he or she was able to take a gift or two, such as clothing, books, shoes, toys, or items of personal use. It’s been exciting to offer parents this great space, and we look forward to providing more services to our families.

20

In 2010, we helped initiate a partnership between a local non-profit and D & A Dunlevy Landscaping, a family-owned business in Maryland. Dave and Blake Dunlevy form the father and son team who run the landscaping business along with other members of their family. They are also long-time supporters and friends of Little Lights. Through the partnership, a landscaping training program was formed to beautify the community and provide training and jobs for residents. With the Dunlevy’s skillful training, the partner non-profit was able to secure a contract with DC Housing Authority to service the landscaping needs of Potomac Gardens and nearby Hopkins public housing. They officially became the Clean Green Team. Unfortunately, the other non-profit was no longer able to sustain the Clean Green Team because of lack of funding. They approached us to consider taking over the management of the team. After much prayer and consideration, the board approved the decision in September 2011 to administer the program. The ministry has grown and strengthened with Mary Park leading the program and Antonio Smith managing the Clean Green Team.

Little Lights negotiated a new contract for 2012 with DC Housing Authority and also completed an agreement for leaf and snow removal. DCHA is so impressed with the work that they have given additional project contracts to remove trees and to beautify one of the deteriorating courtyards. The work has been beautiful. This innovative program provides much needed employment in the community. But more than that, it has been a source of hope, especially for the young men. One of the team members stated, “If it wasn’t for the Clean Green Team, it’s very possible that I may be locked up right now.” As Little Lights seeks to pursue a vision of community and family transformation, economic empowerment through job training and entrepreneurship has begun to grow and flourish inside Potomac Gardens and Hopkins public housing complexes.

21

2011 was a year full of learning, growing, relationship building and fun for Little Lights elementary students with Homework Club as the place to be for about 40 students. Students worked daily with tutors to complete their homework and got to work on comput-ers two days a week. A new addition to both Homework Club and Math Heroes was IXL, a math program aligned to students’ school math standards and each students’ math level.The kids looked forward to working on IXL each week. Since kids need a little fun too, Homework Club students enjoyed playing countless games of air hockey, challenging one another and staff on the Wii, and cooking food in our play kitchen. Each day, students also received nutritious meals and snacks pro-vided by the Capital Area Food Bank.

At Reading and Math Heroes, students were paired up one-on-one with dedicated tutors and have continued to work on their computa-tion skills using both computer software and hands-on learning activities. Our students love our new math software which allows each student to have an individualized account on which to master their school-based Com-mon Core math standards – students beg for more time to use it. We continued to support students’ mental math—computing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division math

facts—using our other math software, UberS-mart, and saw students master mental compu-tation (as opposed to finger counting) for these foundational math skills. We further supported students’ learning and sustained engagement with our many hands-on math manipulatives. These resources range from fraction pies and Base 10 cubes to measuring weight and volume with scales. During one Math Heroes session, first-grader Brandon still had homework to complete, which meant he could not begin his math manipulative lesson. When he quickly finished the homework, his tutor praised him for working so hard and being so motivated to complete his homework. Brandon replied, “I want to do my lesson now!”

In weekly Bible class, students not only learned Bible stories and memorized verses; they worked hard with Ms. Tiffany to memorize all 66 books of the Bible in chronological order through a dance and rap. Twice a week, art class gave students the opportunity to get creative. During the month of December, students made four different crafts which they proudly gave away as Christmas gifts to their family and friends.

“I want to do my lesson now!”

22

Middle School Homework Club runs similarly to its Elementary programs counterpart, with a few changes that ideally reflect the in-creased maturity and independence we would like to foster in our students.

Middle-schoolers can enter our doors anytime between 3:30 and 3:45 for a time of games, snacks, and fun with the staff and students. This gives them a brief time to unwind from their potentially long or stressful days and get themselves ready to start afresh for afternoon and evening programs. On Fridays, this extended time of relaxation lasts nearly the whole afternoon, until we close programs at 5:30!

We officially begin our days with Community Time, a brief assembly where we have the opportunity to review our rules, make announcements, and have a short Bible lesson. Those lessons work in conjunction with the curriculum we use for Girls’ and Boys’ Night -- programming that hopefully brings our students closer to the Lord.

After Community Time, the next phase of Homework Club works in two rotations – students have 40 minutes to relax on one side of our facility, and 40 minutes to work on their homework on the other side. Staff and volunteers assist students in completing their assignments and help them to grasp ideas

introduced in school. As an added bonus, we have recently implemented our Scholar Dollar program, an incentive for students who work diligently on their homework to actually be paid for their earnest endeavors! We seek to promote the ideals of academic responsibility and ownership of one’s work; students who consistently fulfill these expectations are additionally rewarded with special trips (as well as improved grades in school). Our hope is that our students might see their scholastic careers as mature adults view their own profes-sional careers, and establish responsible work habits that will last throughout their lives.

Three nights a week, Homework Club closes with dinner, a fresh healthy meal lovingly prepared for our students by our staff.

Students again get an opportunity to converse and fellowship with peers, volunteers, and staff before transitioning into evening programs – either Reading Heroes, Math Heroes, Girls’ Night or Boys’ Night.

Although many people might assume that their parents’ urging is the primary reason for their attendance, most of our students faithfully

participate in both afternoon and evening programs, independently citing personal academic growth on our semiannual surveys. The burgeoning work ethic of so many of our students at Little Lights is truly inspiring. While it is unfair and unfortunate that they belong to a demographic so often stereotyped as having counterproductive characteristics, it takes very little time at all to witness how ridiculous those assumptions are.

“We seek to promote the ideals of academic responsibility and ownership of one’s work…”

23

Little Lights’ Teen Interns had another successful year of training, bonding, playing, and grow-ing. We met weekly for an hour to RELAX, REFLECT, and REINFORCE. As most of our interns come from a long day of school, followed by a long afternoon of programs, we have to start with RELAX. So, we opened each training session with a fun icebreaker game to release the stress of a long day. Then we REFLECT on how the week has gone: what went well in programs, what didn’t go well, and what we would like to see change. Finally, we REINFORCE the topic for the semester. We’ve been focusing on how to be effective leaders in both the work place as well as in personal lives. We started by looking at who they saw as significant leaders in their lives and discussed what qualities and traits they brought to the table. We then looked for common qualities and compared that with what they saw in themselves. It has been a joy to see these teens start to realize the amount of power, influence, and importance they have in their community. Our teens are learning how to faithfully and responsibly use the power they have as leaders to be good role models for the kids in programs and in the community. We discussed topics like what leadership means, being a leader and not a follower, how to use power and not abuse power, and how to be a leader that listens more than talks. As it always is with teens, it is as much a learning process for their supervisors as it is for them as interns.

Twice a month Little Lights opens its doors on Saturday morning to welcome our students to Saturday Urban DiP (Drop in Program), one of our main group volunteer opportunities. The kids excitedly line up outside the door waiting for a day of fun as fifteen adult volunteers are paired one-on-one with a buddy for the day. Once paired, the duo has a variety of fun activities to choose from. They can play video games or surf the web (using approved web sites), enjoy board games, arts and crafts, or go outside to jump rope or shoot hoops. Our goal is to provide a safe and fun place for the kids to play on Saturdays. Each volunteer’s job is to just have fun, focus on his or her buddy, and make sure everyone is safe and following the rules. It’s one of our highlight events that the kids look forward to every month.

“After spending two days with one of the girls it was so encouraging when she just wanted to sit and tell me about her day and then talk about what was important to her.” - Annie, Volunteer

24

“One of my favorite moments was on the first day I met the

kids. I was buddied with George and I met Thaddeus and

D’Angelo. These kids were amazing. They didn’t even know

me, yet they were so open and they wanted to do so many

things. On that day we decided to go outside and play basket-

ball, even though it was almost 100 degrees. It was [fellow

team member] Austin and me against our buddies George,

Thaddeus, and D’Angelo. While we were playing I saw these

big smiles on their faces. They were having so much fun;

it was as if there was nothing bad in their lives. These boys

taught me to love others even if you don’t really know them.”

Kevin Lee, volunteer with 5th-8th graders

Summer Lights is a four-week summer day camp for 55 students, grades K through 8th. In July our theme was “Celebrating You and Me” as we want our kids to celebrate how God created each of us and to celebrate each other. Speakers kicked off each day with messages encouraging kids that God loves them, and that we should celebrate the way He uniquely created each of us.

We were able to utilize all three of our sites—the Little Lights Center, 1212 Units, and the Family Center. We stocked up each of the loca-tions with board games, video games, arts and crafts activities, sports equipment, and lots of love. Kids also went on a weekly field trip to an indoor swimming pool.

Two groups of people in particular made Summer Lights possible this year. First, 15 Teen Interns worked hard all month and did a great job caring for the younger children. They also spent time in trainings studying The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, which emphasized being proactive and taking responsibility for their actions and decisions. Second, we truly could not have held camp without our volunteer teams each week, from Chesterbrook Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, Korean Presbyterian Church of Greater Washington, Fourth Presbyterian Church, and Covenant United Methodist Church.

25

2011 was an excellent year for the Little Lights Gospel Choir. With twelve singing and dancing choir members our focus was learning a new song named “Excellent.” God gave us an excellent group of children to work withwho really have a genuine love for one another and a true desire to live out what they are singing about. They are constantly using words to build up and not to tear down, which is a staple Little Lights rule. It’s very exciting to witness young lives being transformed.

Some 2011 highlights were performing for Chinese Christian Missionary Church, Little Lights Closing Ceremony at Potomac Gardens, the Christmas Party, and the annual Ignite the Light Banquet, where we also auctioned off a performance by the choir. We were blessed to learn that when we performed for them at their December Christmas party, it was actually a choir fundraiser for new uniforms. God is great and worthy to be praised. The choir kids love praising God in song and dance, and we look forward to many new opportunities for the Little Lights Gospel Choir to perform.

“Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things.” Psalm 98:1

26

Each Spring, Chinese Bible Church of Maryland hosts a camp, led by Angelo Capili, for kids involved with Little Lights Urban Ministries. It took place at Camp Bennett and provides kids from Potomac Gardens a chance to spend their Spring Break at a sleepover camp. The 2011 theme was A New Attitude and the verse was 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here.” The verse was used to stress the new nature that we receive in Christ. We had 20 counselors and 18 kids, and several part-time volunteers from both Little Lights and Chinese Bible Church. Camp Hope was a blessing to everyone involved, and it truly helped many kids grow by learning to trust God more.

27

At the Little Lights 2011 Closing Ceremony, we wrapped up our school year programs and recognized the great work of our students with a cookout, awards, and talent show.

Hot dogs and freeze pops were served while staff, kids, and families enjoyed celebrating the successes of the academic year. In the talent show, many kids took to the spotlight: elementary students played recorders, Thaddeus and George showed off their guitar skills (courtesy of lessons with Dr. Allyn Lloyd), the Little Lights Gospel Choir sang their hearts out, and some of our Girls’ Night ladies showed us all how to bust a move.

Each student received special recognition for his or her great work during the school year – from Math Master and Phonics

Our annual Christmas party, started in 1997, has been a long-standing tradition at Little Lights and continues to be one of our largest events. One-hundred children, 20 parents, and an additional 100 volunteers enjoyed this great holiday blessing in 2011. We were once again at the Chinese Bible Church in Rockville, Mary-land. Diana Bantu and George Jones were our staff/student Masters of Ceremonies duo and kept everyone laughing the whole evening. Pastor Frazier White from Faith Temple Church led our praise and worship time and shared an encouraging Christmas message. The evening was rounded out by performances from the Little Lights Gospel Choir and Thaddeus Campbell on the guitar. Many volunteers and donors provided a delicious dinner and beauti-ful gifts to complete this joy-filled party.

Superstar, to Most Improved Listener and Helper Award, to Future Performer and Biblical Scholar. Every single student made a special contribution to Little Lights, and staff, students, parents, and volunteers were all smiles and cheers as kids received their certificates.

28

MALE36%

2011 was an incredible year for our volun-teer team. We saw our volunteers come, give of themselves, impact the students, and have their own lives changed at the same time.Since Little Lights is largely focused on education, most of our programs parallel the local school calendar and our volunteer program is no different. August starts with heavy recruiting. Volunteers come to us through many different avenues. They find Little Lights through our web site, VolunteerMatch.com, and especially through word of mouth. Little Lights also attends five recruiting events each fall including community events such as the Barracks Row’s Fall Festival or campus events like University of Maryland’s First Taste Fair. In 2011, we continued to build relationships with volunteer-minded cam-pus groups at various schools around DC, including University of Maryland (Terps for Change), Virginia Theological Seminary, and Howard University.

Before joining the ranks, our new recruits go through a short screening process that includes an application, background check, and tuberculosis testing. Once all information is processed they are welcomed as members of our volunteer family and may start serv-ing our kids. Nearly every night of the week you can find our volunteers changing lives at Little Lights’ programs. During Homework

Club, volunteers work one-on-one to help students with their homework, assist with arts and crafts projects, and encourage the kids to give their best. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings our dedicated Reading and Math Heroes tutors come and work one-on-one with a student whom they are paired with for a whole semester. As they build a relationship of trust, the tutor/tutee teams overcome the academic challenges through personalized curriculum created for each student. On Wednesday evenings volunteers and staff work together in a small group setting in Boys’ and Girls’ Night. They help the students deal with tough life issues by looking at the Bible and what life lessons it teaches us. Little Lights also has many groups come through our doors. They serve us in a variety of ways from painting and cleaning, taking our students to museums, and especially through our Saturday Urban DiP program. In 2011, we had six groups donate their spring break or summer break to come serve with us. These groups stayed for a week at a time. They enthusiastically helped with our programs, led activities, and helped with cleaning projects around our facilities. There is no way we could have given our students one-on-one care and the attention they needed, hosted so many events, or completed the renovations and clean up of our facilities

without volunteers. We are very thankful they gave so much of their time, energy and love. They truly made a difference in 2011.

“My first impression of the kids was that they were really excited

to be here.”

“Awesome one-on-one and focused tutoring sessions. The binders

and prep work really make a difference.”

“Excellent venue for getting involved in student academic

growth, led by a very passionate and dedicated staff.”

“It’s very organized which helps the tutor ease into the program.”

“Great program to teach children social respect and good living

life skills.”

“Encouraging and effective tutoring program filled with

caring volunteers and fun kids!”

29

Weekly Volunteers

Individual Weekly VolunteersSpring Break and Summer groupsOne-Time GroupsDIP GroupsChristmas Party Volunteers

996111155100

426 volunteers 9,533 hours

5,4952,134572832500

2011 Totals

Type # of Volunteers Total Hours for Year

MALE36%

FEMALE64%

AGES

18-30: 66%31-50: 26%50 plus: 8%

Our volunteers saved us $32.79* per hour, in 2011 that totaled…

*information is based on DC statistics from http://independentsector.org/volunteer_time

$312,587

30

You’re told that there is this higher purpose for you. If you’re lucky as you grow older, little by little, you’re told, you’ll be able to discover that purpose and at the time that you become a “real person,” that purpose will be your calling, your liveli-hood, and your day’s work. However, for most young people, it’s hard to believe in this cliché of ultimate success. But the moment you step foot into any of the Little Lights offices, you realize that such a cliché is obtainable. For the Parks and all of the other staff at Little Lights, the purpose they are fulfilling is a grand and grati-fying one—and to be a part of it has been amazing.

Volunteering both administratively and with the kids, I have seen the tremendous amount of work the staff at all levels pours into the kids. The amount of detail the staff pays to the children is amazing. The selection of books, lesson plans, and ways to get kids motivated about learning requires meticulous time and detail that the staff is always more than willing to give for the children.

I came to Little Lights not sure if I wanted to pursue a career in teaching. However, after seeing intimately an organization with such a steadfast goal to provide for children, my interests in teaching have been solidified. There are many aspects of Little Lights I hope to carry with me into my classroom, from respect to community and the moral components of faith. Thank you, Little Lights.

Wendy is an alumni of University of Maryland,

College Park and graduated in December 2011.

She volunteered with Little Lights in Elementary

Homework Club, Summer Lights, and in our

administrative office during her senior year. She is

now applying for Masters of Education programs.

“...after seeing intimately an organization with such a steadfast goal to provide for children, my interests in teaching have been solidified.”

31

G.E.M.S! (Genuinely Exciting Moments).

Lindsay Phipps and Lauryn Bullock: Lauryn is so extroverted and loves meeting new people. One day she came to my house and my roommate and boyfriend were there and we all made cookies. She was so respect-ful and careful not to make a mess, helping us clean up. But the thing that caught my attention was how engaged she was with my friends there and really making a point to be intentional with them. That’s when I realized how mature she is!

Andy Campbell and Terrence Jackson: I watched Terrence’s football game with his grandfather, and his team ended up win-ning on a 60+ yard pass play in the final minute. It was a great moment to spend with his grandfather and made me feel like a part of their family and their community. It was awesome to see the kids and their families and friends so excited about the comeback win.

Our mentoring program at Little Lights seeks to pair up responsible, godly adults with children from Potomac Gardens. Along with displaying what a positive role model looks like, we also want to display what a follower of Jesus Christ looks like. Mentors are required to spend a minimum of 5 hours a month with the child they are mentoring and are also required to attend monthly meetings on the first Saturday of every month. These meetings are a time to mutually support one another as well as offer different trainings to help each person become better equipped to mentor their student. Another requirement of our mentoring program is to submit a monthly update of any time spent with the child being mentored.

We ask that every person seeking to be involved with the mentoring program commit to this relationship for a minimum of

one year. Mentoring is a slow, growing process and we feel that it is important for this relation-ship to have consistency in order to build trust. As a mentoring team, we take time to prayer-fully consider each mentoring pair and look to common interest as a strong indicator as to how successful a mentor-mentee pair will be. Once a mentor has met the mentee’s family and the relationship has officially begun, mentors have a lot of freedom in the activities they choose to do with their mentee. Previous activities have included baking cookies, playing football in the park, and attending an auto show in DC. One of our mentors was even able to take her student on a tour of the White House.

760 7th Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 • 202.548.4021 • www.littlelights.org • CFC #89156