What’s your Lea Love Language?
The Lea Home and School Association believes we all have a role in making Lea a wonderful place for kids, educators and families. We don’t shy away from big stuff, but we’re also around for any small projects that pop up along the way. Whether you want to work on one project for the year, building a better library or launching a Spanish program, or whether you can contribute an afternoon to clean up, a tray of brownies to a bake sale, or a donation to cover the cost of teacher appreciation week, there is a way for you to show your love for Lea.
**You must have certain clearances to volunteer at the school building or with children. HSA can help you with this process.**
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Do you love kids? Check out these opportunities.
Book Fair
Each year, Lea partners with Scholastic to host a book fair, which is open to all Lea students and any interested community members. The book fair provides a fun chance for kids to shop for books, and for the past several years the HSA - with the generous support of donors - has provided every Lea student with a book voucher, which students can use to buy a book they love! It’s a great program, and offers lots of opportunities to volunteer. We’re looking for folks who can spearhead organizing the book fair this year (with mentorship from past organizers), as well as folks who can staff it for one or more shifts while we’re actually selling books! We’ll hold one book fair in the spring and, if there is enough interest, one in the fall.
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Library Volunteer Corps
The Lea Library is staffed by family and community volunteers, in partnership with the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) and the University of Pennsylvania. Our library is well-stocked and provides a soothing but creative place for kids to develop their love of reading. Spending time in the library is a great way to get to know the kids at Lea, while providing an amazing resource. Volunteers are typically asked to commit to at least one volunteer slot per week (~3 hour time commitment).
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Lea Pretzel Sales
The HSA is partnering with Lea staff to help with our traditional pretzel fundraiser. If you are interested in selling pretzels, please let us know and we'll connect you with the pretzel dream team.
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Do you love beautiful spaces?
Hundreds of kids and grownups can make Lea a little loveworn. If you’re into cleaning, organizing, gardening, or general beautifying, we need you! HSA helps organize to clean the yard, tend to our gardens, do classroom cleanup, and pitch in where needed to beautify the place our kids and staff spend most of their days. These are relaxed, fun opportunities to hang out with fellow members of the FamiLea while making a real difference. Often, members of our community pitch in as well! Our first Clean Up is 10/21, 9-12. See you there!
In addition, the first floor faculty and staff lounge is a place teachers can grab a cuppa, take a small lunch break, or relax between classes. It’s often especially important for subs and part time teachers. HSA members helped to carve the space out, and now we stock and maintain it. This is a low-commitment but vital role for folks interested in donating for coffee and tea, setting up and maintaining the space as a cheerful, seasonal, relaxing place.
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Do you love showing your appreciation?
HSA loves to show our love for our safety and administration officers, recess and cafeteria staff, and crossing guards. Opportunities for providing cards and expressions of appreciation from families and students at a few discrete times throughout the year.
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Do you love a special occasion?
Lea is a special place, and we have lots of special events. The HSA supports school-led events, including project exhibitions, the school play, and middle school dances. We also work to build community through HSA-led events, such as Family Movie Night, Grown Up Holiday Socials, and the soon-to-be-famous Chil-Lea Cookoff. If you’ve got the bandwidth to boost just one event or want to be part of a crew that forms the backbone of special events, we’ve got a place for you.
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Do you love supporting kids in becoming well-educated, well-rounded, well-cared for kids with a variety of experiences?
Lea is extraordinarily lucky to have partners across our community and with the University of Pennsylvania. Through these partnerships, enrichment and educational opportunities abound. The HSA can support existing partnerships by working with Family and Community engagement liaisons at Lea. We can also spearhead projects that benefit the Lea student body, such as accelerated math programs, foreign language clubs and after-school sports. With our commitment, there’s no limit to what we can offer our kids. If you have a great idea, connections or expertise for such a program, we want to make it work.
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Do you love the last minute?
In addition to all of this, opportunities to help Lea are constantly popping up. Teachers find they need supplies, students have an inspired idea for a small business, or a class trip needs chaperones. We post opportunities for pitching in as the need arises. The best way to never miss a call is to join the HSA google group. We also post on Facebook, Class Dojo and leahomeandschool.com, where appropriate.
Do you love spreading the message?
A key component of HSA work is communicating our projects with our families. If you’re adept in almost literally any language and want to help get the word out, please join our small communications squad. We write and translate HSA posts and docs, leverage existing channels and look for new ways to spread the word (and the love!).
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Love to Contribute Financially?
The bread and butter of any home-school organization is, well, the bread. The Lea HSA fundraises through local business partnerships and community-building events like movie nights, and needs volunteers willing to build and work those networks. We are also funded by direct donations from families. All donations to Lea HSA directly support the school and its people!
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