This year our Annual Dinner will take place from 6:00pm-9:00pm on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at:

Silver Spring Civic Building
1 Veterans Place
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
(GPS: use 8525 Fenton St.)

The Civic Building is noted near the red “A” marker:

Due to a scheduling change with one of our featured VIPs, registration will open at 5:30pm with reception to begin at 6pm. Our program will start promptly at 7pm with the presentation of the Washington LEADer Award to Montgomery County Executive, Ike Leggett.

Regarding logistics, if traveling by Metro, the closest stop is Silver Spring (red line). If driving and using GPS you will want to type in: 8525 Fenton St., Silver Spring, MD, 20910. The Civic Building is across from the Regal Majestic Theatres and there is an ice rink directly in front of the building. There are several public parking garages in the area, including one that is adjacent to the Civic building near 825 Ellsworth Drive.

Join us as we highlight the personal success stories of our students, introduce you to our VIP hosts, and much more. At our event, you will have the opportunity to network among some of Washington’s top business and government leaders who are all committed to  serving the needs of Asian American youth.

Featured Guests:

Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Julia Chang Bloch as keynote speaker, the first Asian American in US history to hold the rank of ambassador, as well as president and founder of US-China Education Trust (USCET).

Washington LEADer Award recipient: Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett

Comedian: Dan Nainan (www.danielnainan.com)

Master of Ceremonies: Kathy Park, Anchor/Reporter from ABC7/WJLA TV and NewsChannel 8.

Individual Ticket: $125
Table of Ten: $1000

Contact: Rick Chen
(202) 884-0322 x 104
rchen@aalead.org

Please enjoy the photo highlights from last year:

This MLK Jr. Holiday one of our very own AALEAD mentoring program pairs – Nikki and her mentor, Beadsie – got the opportunity to volunteer with President Barack Obama and the entire first family! Nikki and Beadsie participated in a community service project organized by Greater DC Cares as part of their “Mentoring Matters” initiative. Volunteers gathered at Stuart Hobson Middle School and worked diligently to paint murals, inspirational sayings on the walls, and college logos on canvases in an effort to prompt students to think and talk about higher education. Nikki and Beadsie worked in the school cafeteria, where in addition to the canvases with college logos, volunteers painted images of “exercising fruit” on the walls. They were soon joined, in a surprise visit, by the President and his family. “This is part of what America is all about,” Obama told reporters at the school, “…this kind of service project is what’s best in us. We’re thrilled with everybody who’s participating.”

Nikki and Beadsie both got an opportunity to speak with the President, shake his hand, and snap a few photos. Nikki said that volunteering with the Obama family was “very cool” and added that she thought the president was “very kind” and that they talked about school. “Nikki and I were excited about doing service on Martin Luther King Day and to be at a site with lots of other mentor-mentee pairs from across DC” said Beadsie, “ It was a bonus that we were able to paint with the Obama family!”

Thank you to Greater DC Cares for organizing this great event! Thank you to the Obama family for taking time to volunteer!

It was a busy week for our Bancroft students before the winter break. They had been preparing their Christmas carols for the AALEAD Holiday party and the Stoddard Baptist Home. Our teachers were sometimes overwhelmed by the students’ energy level every time they heard the fast music of the Christmas songs. Sometimes the teachers just allowed them to jump and dance crazily just to get their energy level to go down first before teaching them the correct steps of the song. Our teachers can testify to the fact that it was not easy combining 1st to 5th Grade in one performance. But, we needed to teach these students how to use their energy not just for their own enjoyment but to help make others happy. Every practice time, we challenged them that they needed to give their best so that the elderly people in the nursing home will enjoy watching their performance.
When December 16th finally came, it snowed in the morning and the teacher who was the main person teaching the students the songs and steps texted us just before our program that she was not feeling well and could not make it to the nursing home performance. We were tempted to cancel the nursing home caroling, but this would mean that our students would miss this opportunity to serve the people at the nursing home. We decided to go ahead with the activity, and we were so glad that we did! Our students performed in all three floors of the nursing home, performing to different crowds on each floor. We were encouraged to see the mutual benefits of having this event for both the students and the elderly. First, the students really enjoyed each performance even with the limited space they had to do their dance. Secondly, seeing the smiles and hearing the applause from the elderly and staff of the Baptist Home made our hard work worth it.
We all left the Stoddard Baptist Home happy for allowing us to sing them Christmas carols for the last four years now. We are looking forward to next year so that we can visit them again.

This year AALEAD is looking for mentors and mentees, staff, friends, and students who would like to participate in the 5th Annual Pope Branch Park Clean-up. This event will last from 8:30am to 1pm on January 17th.

This Community Service Project celebrates Dr. King & the memory of the late Joseph Glover, Founder & Chair of the Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance to restore & beautify the Pope Branch tributary of the Anacostia River. We will clean-up trash & debris from along the creek & surrounding park, remove invasive plants & plant 12 trees. We will have a shuttle service courtesy of the Earth Conservation Corps meeting volunteers at the Potomac Metro stop (Orange & Blue lines) from 8:30 am to 9:30 am to Pope Branch. Volunteers will be shuttled back at the end of the event.

We will be meeting at AALEAD  (2100 New Hampshire Ave NW) at 8am. We will walk to Columbia Heights metro at 8:30am. If you are interested in coming please contact Alex Cena at SSP@aalead.org

Here is a blog about the event and let me know if you have any questions please let me know.

http://popebranch.blogspot.com/