A Brown Street Academy student receives help from a Target volunteer. (Photo by Sarah Milnar)
Excited students and volunteers show school pride at Longfellow School. (Photo by Sarah Milnar)
On a recent school day, Target employees and the Zilber Family Foundation joined forces to promote education, art and fitness at four Milwaukee Public Schools.
Volunteers worked with hundreds of elementary students at Anna Doerfler Community School (304 W. Scott St.), Brown Street Academy (2029 N. 20th St.), Browning School (5440 N. 64th St.), and H.W. Longfellow School (1021 S. 21st St.).
A pep rally at H.W. Longfellow Elementary School in Clarke Square kicked off the day for the students and Milwaukee-area Target volunteers. About 300 students attended the morning rally.
Weeks before the event Sarah M. Milnar, Zilber community engagement specialist, met with school principals to plan the day for students and volunteers.
Mindful of school schedules, the volunteers rotated from classroom to classroom in 90-minute blocks to conduct reading circles, art projects and physical education activities. Volunteers and students ate lunch together.
“Today was beneficial for both volunteers and the young people,” said Susan Lloyd, executive director of the Zilber Family Foundation.
“I thought it was an absolutely wonderful success. Any time we can get corporate volunteers and also MPS school children involved, it is successful,” Lloyd added.
Lloyd said she hopes that the experience not only will build a strong relationship between Milwaukee-area Targets and the community, but also a stronger bond between volunteers and the children.
The Zilber Family Foundation and Milwaukee Target stores plan to work with MPS schools on a regular basis. Organizers said they hope to involve Target volunteers in the Math Olympics in Lindsay Heights this spring.
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