News Updates

  • Breakfast With Santa On Hold—But Pandemic Can’t Cancel Kindness!

    Santa’s Elves have nothing on our amazing staff and Jesuit Volunteers! At Northgate II in Camden, our JV Roisin, launched a social media toy drive that brought in $2,000! She put together Christmas food baskets and purchased a cornucopia of toys to bring good cheer to 150 boys and girls, Northgate II’s youngest residents, who suffer from food insecurity and the trauma of living in one of nation’s poorest cities. In Mount Laurel, our JVs Liam and Jackie also raised nearly $700 to purchase toys and other gifts for the boys and girls enrolled at the Margaret Donnelly O’Connor Education Center. Our team is distributing basketballs to each student (which will come in handy when we are finally able to open our new Recreation Area), as well as other tchotchkes and candies.

    Published on December 15th, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development | Read more »

  • What Does Our Virtual Homework Club Do?

    Our Virtual Homework Club offers individual tutoring from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. We serve between 50 to 70 elementary and middle-school students, as well a number of high school students. All tutoring is offered via Zoom and scheduled to meet the needs of our students. We also provide a daily enrichment/hangout call each day from 3 to 4 p.m. and encourage children to excel through our Peter Peso rewards program.

    Published on November 13th, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development | Read more »

  • Refusing to Let Our Kids Be Left Behind

    Students throughout the Ethel R. Lawrence Homes community have been struggling with technology and remote learning since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The story of 11-year-old Asir illustrates the challenges young people face today and what can be done to help.

    Published on November 11th, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development | Read more »

  • Organizational Skills, Self-Care Are Top Priorities For Our Youth

    Nearly half of our enrolled students are attending school via the hybrid model, which is a first for them. Hybrid includes a combination of in-school and online instruction with asynchronous learning. For many of our students, the learning curve has been steep. Hybrid learning expects students to be incredibly independent and efficient to successfully manage their school days. Students as young as seven years-old are routinely asked to remember class cohorts, in-school schedules versus remote learning schedules, and due dates for asynchronous assignments, all while still adjusting to new dynamics at home.

    Published on November 6th, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development | Read more »

  • Education Center Fall 2020 Update

    Being an educator in today’s world means facing challenges that I never anticipated when I first started out working with kids. In an afterschool setting, these challenges are even more pronounced as many of our extracurricular activities are also restricted. Here at the Margaret Donnelly O’Connor Education Center we are approaching all of these challenges one day at a time. Online schooling definitely takes its toll but in response we’ve increased our online presence with video hangouts, on-on-one tutoring, and correspondence with teachers and parents every day all in an effort to better support our families.

    Published on November 2nd, 2020 in Fair Share Housing Development | Read more »