Workforce Spreads Holiday Cheer

[image 1]Spreading a little holiday cheer in the community is something NVC Workforce Education & Training employees enjoy doing every year with enthusiasm and creativity.

This holiday season, their project touched the lives of 50 children from St. Peter-St. Joseph Children’s Home (St. PJ’s), a home for children who are victims of abuse, neglect or needing emergency or long-term residential care.

The Workforce/St. PJ’s celebration on Dec. 12 included a catered dinner by Panda Express and donations from H-E-B and Bill Miller Bar-B-Q. Other food included pizza from Pizza Hut as well as sides and home-made desserts from NVC Workforce employees.

Workforce also secured tickets to Spurs and Rampage games for the children, including a suite at the Rampage event.

[image 2]“The kids that came were between the ages of 11 to 18 and this is the age group that’s most neglected during the holidays. We wanted to give them a little something they can remember,” said Pat Fontenot, dean of Workforce Education & Training. “By the sheer nature of their age, people are not rushing in to adopt them.”

Angelica Esparza said Workforce collaborated with other areas of the college, such as Recreations Sports and Public Relations to collect gifts for the children. The President’s Office also helped with decorations and funding, Facilities staff helped with set up and the cafeteria employees allowed the use of their kitchen.

“Even though this was a huge effort, we all felt good doing it and wanted to impress on the kids that college is an option and that it can be different from where they are at right now,” said Angelica, administrative services specialist in Workforce’s Corporate Training & Continuing Education.

Some of the activities included presentations from Workforce academic programs: Digital Media, Digital Video & Cinema Production and a robotics demonstration from NVC’s Texas Institute of Educational Robotics.