It has been a hot summer! Things around the office have been busy and we are working hard to get everything ready for the new school year.  On August 28th we meet with the campus Site Directors from each of our participating sites.  We ask each of them to turn in their campus' days and time for tutoring.  As soon as we get these we in turn start to notify all of you so that you can start deciding on your preferred day and time to tutor.  It gets a little crazy trying to match five hundred (hopefully more) Reading Buddies, but magically and with the help of dedicated staff, our goal is to get people tutoring by the first week of October.

Speaking of dedicated staff, I want to update you on a few changes we have had around the office.  All of you know Mary Flannigan and the work she does to ensure our volunteer pipeline is seamless and moving full steam ahead.   While she loves working directly with volunteers, she has always had a passion and a knack for creating and distributing our marketing materials.  We have created a new position for her this year as the Director of Communications and Partnerships.  She will still oversee the volunteer pipeline but will also work hard to ensure that SAYL's visual presence is top notch.  In addition, she will also manage our Corporate and University Service Learning Partnerships, making sure they connect to our program and have a meaningful volunteer experience. 

Also in a new role is Laura Nygaard. Originally a Program Coordinator, Laura is now our Volunteer Manager and will work with Mary to ensure the volunteer process is smooth sailing for all of you.   On the program side we are thrilled that Robyn Myers is back and managing almost all of our NEISD sites, including ten new schools.  New to our staff is Colton Powell, our other Program Manager, and he will be handling thirty-five program sites this year.

And last but not least we have Pat Medina, SAYL's longest tenured employee. She is our Director of Fund Development.  In this capacity she is our grant writer, special event coordinator and in charge of managing any and all of our funding campaigns.  This year, we are once again kicking off our Sustaining Campaign and are looking for gifts big and small to help SAYL support the services necessary to implement our program.   Be on the lookout for more information as we get ready to kick off our campaign this fall.

We are planning on having another great year; stick around and be a part of it! 

Christina M. Martinez-Rodriguez

Executive Director