NJEA Volunteers and EducationAd Funding support GED and Basic Skills Training Program for Homeless Veterans at Home for the Brave in Camden

CAMDEN, NJ, September 19, 2013 /3BL Media/ – Active, retired and student New Jersey Education Association members spent today enthusiastically working with homeless military veterans on GED and Adult Education tutoring programs at the Volunteers of America Delaware Valley Home for the Brave/Aletha R. Wright Center; conducting Mommy & Me programs and providing homework help at the Anna Sample Complex and Eleanor Corbett House; and then preparing and serving meals to residents at all three facilities.

It was all part of NJEA Volunteer Day held to commemorate the new public-private partnership between Volunteers of America Delaware Valley and the NJEA, which comes as the result of NJEA’s EducationAd advertising through CBS EcoMedia.  NJEA’s advertising is funding educational materials to help these military veterans gain their GEDs, learn job skills and money management, and engage in life skills training. NJEA’s funding also pays for key classroom supplies including a video projector, as well as linens, toiletries and cleaning supplies.

“Some folks have asked me why NJEA would get involved with homeless shelters in Camden,” said NJEA President Wendell Steinhauer. “I tell them when you help the city, you help the schools. If our students, their families, and their neighbors are in need, we all need to step up and help make the situation better.”

The Volunteers of America’s Home for the Brave is a 30-bed shelter for homeless veterans that opened earlier this year, and is already at full capacity with a waiting list. 

The Anna Sample Complex homeless shelter was dedicated by Volunteers of America in 1988 in honor of Anna M. Sample, a woman who devoted her life to fighting poverty in the City of Camden.  This 65-bed transitional housing program serves homeless families. This program focuses on assisting the women to become self-sufficient members of the community.

The Eleanor Corbett House – A Safe Haven For Women provides shelter for single women or women with children and families. Daily meals, workshops, tutoring, special events, transportation and supportive services are provided to residents.

“We are very grateful to the NJEA and CBS EcoMedia for their support of our programs and their commitment to the clients we serve,” said Gina Adams, COO of Community Housing and Supportive Services, Volunteers of America Delaware Valley  “They are giving hope to a community and it is very much appreciated.” 

Two shifts of NJEA volunteers worked from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and ended their day of service by serving dinner to the clients of each facility and sharing the meal with them.  Included among the volunteers was Philadelphia Eagles Radio announcer and former All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick.  Quick, of WIP-94 Sport Radio was on hand at the Home for the Brave to encourage the residents and show his support.

“EcoMedia is proud to partner with Volunteers of America and the New Jersey Education Association to provide critical educational materials for the homeless veterans at VOA’s Home for the Brave, here in Camden. Thanks to the generous financial support provided by NJEA through our EducationAd program, these vets will now have the resources they need to earn their GEDs, gain job skills, learn money management, and engage in life skills training,” said Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder of CBS EcoMedia Inc. “While we can never truly repay our military veterans for the sacrifices they’ve made for our country, we can certainly do more to ensure that they have every opportunity to build meaningful and productive lives here at home -- and we are grateful to our advertising partner, NJEA, and our nonprofit partner, Volunteers of America, for the efforts they’ve made on behalf of our servicemen and women. This project is just one example of the positive social change that’s made possible when we all work together – the philosophy at the core of our EcoAd, WellnessAd, and EducationAd programs."

The New Jersey Education Association (NJEA)
NJEA is a diverse, democratic organization working to create an optimal environment to achieve excellence in public education in New Jersey. The mission of the New Jersey Education Association is to advance and protect the rights, benefits, and interests of members, and promote a quality system of public education for all students.

About Volunteers of America, Delaware Valley
Volunteers of America Delaware Valley is the Greater Philadelphia regional affiliate of Volunteers of America, a national, faith-based nonprofit founded in 1896. Volunteers of America Delaware Valley annually serves more than 11,000 men, women and children in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Our 43 professionally staffed programs help families who have lost their homes find places to live; help people struggling with alcoholism and addiction find recovery; and help ex-offenders find jobs. We provide affordable housing for families, senior citizens, and disabled individuals. We serve people who are dealing with chronic mental illness or domestic violence. We have been fighting these and other good fights for 117 years. We are Volunteers of America Delaware Valley.

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.
At EcoMedia, we're propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that's been our mission since we founded the company in 2002.  In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media. 

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide.  In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change.  Please visit ecomedia.cbs.com to learn more. 

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.  EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.