Hi –
My name is Ilona Jurkiewicz (poland@learningenterprises.org) and I am a 24 year old professional living in NYC. I moved from Poland (born in Krakow) when I was 6 and have spent my whole life in the United States, with numerous trips over the years back to Poland.
I am writing to you because I am hoping you can help me…Several years ago I became involved with an incredible nonprofit. Learning Enterprises sends college aged students to 4 continents every summer to teach English in rural areas and to spread our mission of expanding horizons.
My freshman year of college at New York University, I became involved with the program. I went to Poland as one of the first volunteers and spent time in the Biesczady region with a truly amazing host family, teaching over 60 students for four weeks. The experience is unlike any other… and it really changed my life. The following year, I was the director for the Poland program (other programs include China, Thailand, Panama, Croatia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, etc.) and sent 15 volunteers to various villages in Poland. Since then, the program has thrived and last year we had the privilege of sending 24 volunteers.
I am once again the Program Director for the summer of 2012, and I have made it a mission to expand the program further and to find children who would benefit from this experience. At the core, the mission of LE is simple. It can be summarize in two sentences: “Teach to Learn. Live to Serve.” College aged volunteers give up their time to go to a rural setting and live with a host family, teaching English in a school for free. This is meant to be a truly free program for students, and to help enrich their lives, but ultimately, it also enriches the lives of volunteers.
If you know anyone that I can contact to discuss Learning Enterprises and spreading the mission further to rural areas, I would greatly appreciate it. Truly, making it happen, is simple. We need a school, a willing local contact and school director, a host family, and amazing willing students. We also have an in country coordinator who has been helping us coordinate host families and schools for the last few years that is available to speak.
I can tell you first hand that this program changes lives… it changed my life, and it continues to change lives. Here is a video that a volunteer made two years ago… it truly captures the experience that all can have.
I hope you’ll take a moment to watch the video on youtube by searching for learning enterprises poland and to look at the Learning Enterprises website.
And, hopefully I’ll hear from you…
Thanks in advance,
Ilona
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