Newsletter – We send out a monthly newsletter with updates on everything that is happening at Empower and Help. Our ambassadors work together to build the content, format the newsletter, create the writing pieces, choose what they want to highlight, and do it all by a certain deadline. This collaborative effort will require planning, brainstorming, and supporting each other in a friendly and respectful space.

Social Media Collaborations – This is a fun and interactive activity that requires creativity and some out-of-the-box thinking. This will be a group setting to plan, create, and execute weekly social media posts for our pages. Every week there will be a meeting to discuss a certain theme that reflects on different worthy causes, and the team will be tasked with creating content related to these causes.

Tasha Toth

 

Book Club – Reading teaches us empathy and social awareness; that is why we are happy to have a book club for the ambassadors to have a chance at learning more about the world around them. Given our world’s climate, we believe diversity is an important topic for our ambassadors to explore. There will be two books to read over the summer, which equals one book every month and a half. Middle schoolers and high schoolers will each have their own assigned books to read. We will meet in a group setting to discuss the book to hear what everyone thought of the book and what they took away from the book. This summer, we will be focusing on refugee and Native American groups. This Book Club is in collaboration with Tasha Toth from The Book Smart Project. The Book Smart Project works to get books in the hands of students from low-income school districts around the state of New Jersey.

*Note: We will not provide the books; it is your responsibility to purchase them or check them out from your local library.

Middle School Book Club Books:- 

  • The Arrival by Shaun Tan. (Monday, June 28th, 7 PM – 8 PM). They say a picture is worth a thousand words; I want to hear yours. This wordless graphic novel tells the immigrant story through pictures. It is a story about family, new beginnings, and a new world. The meeting for this book will be all up for interpretation of what story you saw and what words you would use to tell the story of these pictures.

Interactive Activity: Share your arrival story through pictures (Monday, July 26th, 7 PM – 8 PM).

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (Monday, August 23rd, 7 PM – 8 PM). This is based on a true story about a Native American girl left stranded on an island for 18 years and is forced to learn how to survive. It is an emotional journey of courage, inner strength, determination, and resilience.

High School Book Club Books:- 

  • The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Tuesday, June 29th, 7 PM – 8 PM). They say a picture is worth a thousand words; I want to hear yours. This wordless graphic novel tells the immigrant story through pictures. It is a story about family, new beginnings, and a new world. The meeting for this book will be all up for interpretation of what story you saw and what words you would use to tell the story of these pictures.

Interactive Activity: Share your arrival story through pictures (Tuesday, July 27th, 7 PM – 8 PM). 

  • There There by Tommy Orange (Tuesday, August 24th, 7 PM – 8 PM). This is a book written by and about the Native American culture and background. This novel includes several essays on Native American history and identity.