Assistance League of the Chesapeake has no paid staff, and yet all the volunteers show up at the right places and at the right times. How do we make this happen? We do this through the Monday Minute. While it may actually take more than a minute to read, our weekly Monday Minute keeps everyone up-to-date with our activities and programs.

The most recent edition included the usual calendar of events, a plug for our sing-alongs, and information on a new coordinator at our tutoring programs at Georgetown East and Meade Heights elementary schools. Also featured were a call for volunteers for our Chessie Reading Club, and information on packing school clothing for our Kids In Need program. Members could then read the usual housekeeping information about membership and a bylaws change that needs to be voted on. The Monday Minute is also where members find information on educational programs at our meetings and our fundraising events.

As a special bonus, the Monday Minute comes with thoughtful illustrations, photos of our activities and meaningful quotes. A recent one came from Tom Brokaw: “It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.”

“I connect ‘Communication’ and ‘Community’ because without the Monday Minute, our community of volunteers would have a hard time doing its work,” says Assistance League of the Chesapeake president, Lyn Hopkins. Our Monday Minute editor, Deborah Gruen, provides an essential behind-the-scenes service to everyone who belongs to Assistance League of the Chesapeake, and by extension, to everyone we serve in Anne Arundel County. Without this weekly communication, our community of volunteer tutors, singers, readers and uniform “measurers” and packers could not do its work.