Community Corner

Arlington Teen Organizes Virtual Activities To Help DC Nonprofit

A Yorktown High School student is organizing a week of virtual activities to help a D.C. early education center raise money.

Yorktown High School student Nina Parsee is organizing a week of virtual activities to help a D.C. early education center raise money.
Yorktown High School student Nina Parsee is organizing a week of virtual activities to help a D.C. early education center raise money. (Banafsheh Kamali)

ARLINGTON, VA — Even before the coronavirus pandemic began, Nina Parsee, a 16-year-old Yorktown High School sophomore, was committed to helping others.

"I've gone to different schools in the DMV and seen how a lot of kids don't have anything and there are a few kids who have a lot," she said. "I think it's important to try and give back and help the community."

Last summer, Parsee began volunteering at Jubilee Jumpstart, a nonprofit learning center in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C., that provides high-quality education for preschool children from low-income families.

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As a first generation American, Parsee found the mission of Jubilee Jumpstart especially meaningful, which is why she decided to volunteer there during the summer and throughout the school year.

"A lot of kids there have parents who don't speak English," she said. "Because I speak English, Spanish and Farsi fluently, they could use my help in translating. Also, they needed teenagers and kids in the classroom to help with reading and playing."

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Jubilee Jumpstart recently had to cancel its annual fund raiser due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event typically brings in $100,000, so canceling it has left the center facing a major financial deficit.

To draw attention to Jubilee Jumpstart's GoFundMe campaign, Parsee has gotten together a group of nine other area high school students, who will be hosting a week of virtual activities on the center's social media accounts for children to participate in and for potential donors to see.

"We're putting together live classes on Instagram and Facebook to try and keep the kids educated and entertained, and also to relieve parents' stress," she said. "We trying to raise money, but also help out that way at home."

According to Parsee, activities will take place twice a day during the week of May 4-8. In the morning, they'll be presenting cooking classes; arts and crafts, fitness and yoga. Around 5 p.m., they'll be doing book readings to help the children calm down and relax at the end of the day.

Parsee knows that people all over are struggling due to the coronavirus and everything else that's going on. In times like these, it's critical for people in the community to help each other out.

"For people that have stuff, a lot of people are losing the things that they have," she said. "And I think that the people that are being most affected are people who started out with less, people from low-income families. So, it's a good time to come together and help out and donate and do anything that you can."


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