Loudoun Cares Kicks off 11th Year of Claude Moore Community Builders

Earlier this month, the Loudoun Cares Claude Moore Community Builders launched their eleventh year of providing outstanding community service in Loudoun County.

The CMCB program welcomed 35 new students at the Student/Parent Orientation held at PaulDavis Restoration in Ashburn. Following orientation was their kick-off overnight retreat at the Northern VA 4H Education Center in Front Royal.

Each Builder will be completing over 100 hours of volunteer service with local nonprofits over the next 10 months. “These students come from all over Loudoun County often only knowing one or two other Builders. They leave as a well-functioning team thanks to the expertise of the 4-H facilitators. This is essential to the success of our program.” commented Valerie Pisierra, Loudoun Cares Program Administrator. During the retreat, the Builders participated in a series of teambuilding activities that targeted communication, leadership, and time management skills. These activities were all metaphors for the challenges that Builders will encounter at their future nonprofit placements.

“Their spirit of service and energy is contagious” -Sue Khalil

This program year, Loudoun Cares is partnering with 25 Loudoun County nonprofit organizations. Their assigned Builders will each provide the organization with 50 hours of dependable volunteer service during the year. Last year, the collective monetary value of Builders’ completed volunteer service exceeded $124,000. Since the inception of the program, the Builders have contributed just over 26,800 volunteer hours to Loudoun County.

The Builders’ reputation for working hard, being proactive and respectful of their surroundings and for the individuals with whom they work, has made them a volunteer commodity. The local nonprofit organizations have come to rely on, not just the individual placement service hours (50 required), but also on their group service hours (30 required). Many times, with very short notice, CMCB can provide Builders to assist organizations with their events.

“Welcoming each new year of Builders we wonder how the incoming Builders can ever be as fantastic as the year’s prior”, said Sue Khalil, Executive Director of Loudoun Cares, “and we find our Builders get more fantastic with each new year. Their spirit of service and energy is contagious”.

This year’s Builders represent 14 Loudoun County high schools. Maeve McQuillan, Pranav Nagendra, Yash Kadigari, Chloe Marshall, Hamza Aziz, Namitha Kapa, Rohit Ramakrishnan, (Briar Woods); Vihita Kanteti, Sonal Prakash, (Dominion Academy); Cher Jiang, Meenakshi Kakani, Seshadri Kakani, Sonia Jethwani, (Freedom); Neha Malik, (King Abdullah Academy) Lana Bennett, Anna Morris, (Middleburg Academy); Feras Alsaiari , (Park View); Julian Bernard, Kiran Bajal, Kyana Cutting, Lucy Eckman, Rhea Agarwal, (Potomac); Brian Kapusta, Maria-Paula Proano, (Riverside); Rishika Randev, Anisha Kohli, Arul Kumar, Harshita Pathipati, Laya Bharath, Anuraag Kaloji, (Rock Ridge); Alekzander Massiah, (Stone Bridge); Daniel Carr, (Thomas Jefferson High School of Science Technology); Kate Sulek, (Tuscarora); Allison Nunez, (Virginia Academy); Nicole Stuva, (Woodgrove).

For information on sponsoring this program, please contact Sue Khalil, Suek@Loudouncares.org. ML

Loudoun Cares is a nonprofit organization serving the Loudoun community through the Loudoun Cares Information and Referral Helpline (703)669-4636; Loudoun Cares Volunteer Center (volunteer.loudouncares.org); Claude Moore Community Builders. For more information, please visit
www.loudouncares.org or call 703-669-2351.