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July 12th and 13th, Youth INC and nonprofit partner Change for Kids engaged over 220 RBC summer interns in meaningful volunteer activities at P.S. 142, an under-resourced elementary school on the Lower East Side. Interns participated in activities including Hour of Code, an interactive, one-hour introduction to computer science, Graduating into Greatness, a series of workshops designed to prepare scholars for the middle school application process, and Build-a-Book, a hands-on literacy activity that invited volunteers to share their joy of reading by helping students create their very own personalized books.
During the Build-a-Book activity, RBC intern Steven partnered with 6-year-old David to create a personalized book. Minutes into the activity, the pair discovered they shared more in common than the average college student and first grader. Both Steven and David are from Ecuador and both of their fathers still reside there. The day before this Build-a-Book activity, David was participating in a family tree activity, and he became very upset because most of his family does not live in the United States. After the Intern Volunteer Day, however, David had not only created a book, but a life-long friend and mentor. In David’s 6-year-old words, “Steven is the closest thing to a father that [he] has ever had.” The pair exchanged contact information and plan to keep in close touch.
It is serendipitous moments like these that highlight the value of emotional investment. Equally as important as financial investment, emotional investment from our corporate partners helps Youth INC build community and connection across the social service and financial sectors. Thank you, RBC, for investing both financially and emotionally in NYC kids to help Youth INC RAISE OUR CITY!
To see more of what happened at RBC Intern Day, click here.
