This week is Volunteer Appreciation Week at the National Parent Teacher Association, when the PTA honors the network of millions of people who work to make sure each child’s potential is realized.

Volunteers from the 129-year-old organization regularly welcome families at back-to-school nights, raise funds for amenities on campus and run carnivals and other after-school events to promote the family-school connection in California and across the nation.

National PTA President Yvonne Johnson said the volunteers fuel vital programs and resources for our children.

"Their unwavering commitment strengthens not only the schools but the communities," she said. "It inspires students and educators, and it ensures that every child has the support that they need to thrive."

In just one example, the Special Education PTA in Redlands created the Sensory Dispensary, a mobile "thera-play" unit that provides sensory-friendly, therapeutic activities at school events. They also make sure all flyers are translated into Spanish, provide live Spanish translation at meetings, and administer translation devices that work in 44 different languages.

Johnson noted that the PTA is also the country’s largest and oldest child advocacy organization.

"We are the reason there [are] kindergarten classes in schools, child labor laws, hot and healthy lunch programs, juvenile justice systems, mandatory immunizations, and arts in education," she said.

The PTA’s current advocacy work focuses on school safety, including common-sense gun laws. It also promotes digital safety, mental health, healthy meals and a connection to nature via school gardens.

Source: Public News Service