It’s Volunteer Day at the Suzuki School!
Today we had a great day with 10 volunteers from Liberty Mutual (thanks to our SSN parent Lin who works there!), other community members, and staff!
We are making efforts to keep our lovely home in good condition and well maintained. These endeavors will be ongoing throughout the coming months.
For example, we are planning to repaint some areas that have peeling paint and fix some broken boards and steps. The walls got some touch up paint and we are hoping to add a new mural in the Preschool Whole Notes classroom to brighten our spaces! We are looking for a volunteer artist to suggest a colorful addition to this wall which today received a primer coat of white.
In the garden we have added some flowering plants, and the long fences bordering our property are getting some taller plants and climbing flowers to add more color and greenery.
I have received some feedback about issues around the building, so please let me know your suggestions for needed changes or improvements. As you know we are a non-profit, so wherever possible we rely on volunteers and donations to cover these improvements. If you have an idea and especially if you can help us with it, please come in and talk with me.
As we are rebuilding our programs in the Suzuki music and Suzuki preschool, we are also building our capacity by investing in more staff and growing our Board of Directors. Being on the SSN Board is a volunteer position and we meet monthly for about 90 minutes. In some months, smaller committees meet, so that there are only about 8 full Board meetings in the year. On June 5th we are holding our annual meeting, and this is for all parents and adult students of the school. We will ratify the slate of the Board of Directors at that meeting and report on the school year and note goals for the coming year. We are looking for people who are interested in the school to help as our compliance officer (either HR or some understanding of employment practices), fundraiser (good at helping us get donations both in-kind or grants etc.) or marketing expert (someone who can guide the staff about timing and mapping out communications). As you can imagine, as a school and as a cultural performing organization, we need staff in all these areas, so having experts guide our staff who wear multiple hats can help us tremendously.
I am a Newton resident, and one of the aspects of living here has always been the spirit of volunteerism in the community. People are active and busy, but they also are even finding the time to volunteer. Our Suzuki School community--many from far away towns--are also very generous with their time. I am so grateful to all of you who have been helping us for so many years!
Sachiko