Dear Friend, Although Thanksgiving has come and gone, it’s always a season of gratitude here at Center of Life – and we are so thankful to all our volunteers and partners. You have helped us to support our community in ways we'd only ever dreamt of before this year. This year, volunteers were indispensable in making our Juneteenth concert a success. With a last minute change of venue due to a rainy forecast, our lovely volunteers from Maxim Staffing turned our office space into a concert venue in what felt like mere minutes. The turnout for the concert was one of the largest of the year with the crowds spilling out onto Sylvan Avenue to enjoy the music and event activities. During September's Week of Caring, the United Way of Southwestern PA and Williams Company came for a much needed clean out of our well-loved program space for the KRUNK Movement. Our students were blown away to have a fresh start to the program year and have taken full ownership over keeping it clean since. Our annual Turkey Drive went off without a hitch, and with the help of our volunteers, we were able to give over 330 turkeys and sides to the community. Our Turkey Drive started 23 years ago with only 10 turkeys for the community. Thanks to the support of our dedicated partners, volunteers, and staff, we were able to host the largest drive in COL history this year, more than doubling last year's numbers! Finally, we could not show gratitude without including a special thanks to our tutors. In the last 11 weeks, our tutors have provided over 150 hours of one-on-one tutoring to our K-8 students! Our students are now receiving individualized education support to help them stay on track academically — which is truly invaluable. My heart is full with all the wonderful work you've done to make life just a little bit easier for our community. It's truly amazing how far a little help can go. Many, many thanks and have a safe and warm holiday season! See you in 2024,  Volunteers and Partnerships Coordinator volunteers@centeroflife.org |
