Perry School Center Stories
As many direct service providers know it is difficult to measure the success of our services with statistics only. At the Perry Center, Inc. our impact in D.C. is best demonstrated through the stories of clients, neighbors, volunteers and supporters.
Annette is a 7-year-old After-School program student with a missed diagnosis of mild autism. Her parents cannot afford to pay for After-School care or the autism support advocate that Annette needs. After a tough first two months at Perry, Annette now is a team leader and helps the staff prepare for the program meal service.
Roderick lives in a homeless shelter in Northeast D.C. He did not graduate from high school and has been a student of the GED preparation program since September 2013. He just passed his Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies sections of the GED exam. He will take on the Mathematics section soon.
Mary has four children under the age of six. Her husband works occasionally and she works two jobs to contribute to their $13,670 annual income. Her kids are doing well with the HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters) instruction she and her husband provide - they know their letters, numbers, and colors. Mary was so grateful to receive Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets from Perry to make those holidays special.
John has been unemployed since 2011. He never had a resume, went on an interview, or knew how to search for a job or apply online. When Walmart needed employees, John joined our special accelerated workforce development program to receive customer service certification from UDC, developed a resume, applied online, practiced his interview techniques, dressed for success and went on the job interview. John now works as a greeter/stock person at the new H Street Walmart Store.
Sharlene has a goal to become a sous chef, to keep growing and to master all the steps in the culinary field. The only way to do that was get her GED and enroll in culinary school. Other GED programs didn’t work, until with the help of the “amazing” staff at the Perry Center she was able to focus and learn the necessary studying skills to further her education.
“The Perry Center GED program is for people who want to learn and need to learn. My classmates came a long way, and that has a lot to do with the instructors; they took us forward.”
Tim has been volunteering at the Perry School Community Services
Center since high school. As a student at Gonzaga College High School he tutored students in the Center in collaboration with Georgetown University.
“The Perry Center is one of those few nonprofits that makes visible changes in people’s lives."
