I'd like to begin this post by taking a moment to thank everyone in our NOVES family for their voracious support of my hiring as the new Director of Ethical Education. I have received so many words of encouragement, congratulations and validation since the announcement was made at Winter Festival. Many of you took the time to personally congratulate me face to face, via email and by telephone. Your collective enthusiasm inspires me to do my very best for our kids!

My first official task as the DEE was to undertake the the Sunday School Service Project for February by creating and selling Valentines to benefit the Kakenya Center for Excellence. This project has been a tradition at NOVES for several years. Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya has previously spoken at NOVES about her dream and hopefully she will join us again in the future to share how she is seeing her dream become a reality. You can learn more about this organization here: https://www.kakenyasdream.org/our-work/

Step one in executing this service project was to have the kids create the art needed for the Valentines. After watching a video on the KCE and discussing the students thoughts and reactions, everyone settled down to draw. However, unbeknownst to me, there was a hidden gift awaiting me that day. I asked the children if they would like some background music and the room was unanimous: “only if its Imagine Dragons!” As I sat back and watched them work, they all began to softly sing together. Little voices lilting across the room and singing a song about believing in yourself and trusting that adversity makes you stronger. I will always smile to myself when I remember my “first day on the job” and being serenaded by the children of NOVES! The positivity of that day permeated the entire project. The members of NOVES were generous in their support of this service project and the Sunday School Valentines sale raised $228.00 for its charity. In addition, $332.00 was collected during the Sharing of Responsibility, bringing the total to $560.00 dollars raised for Kakenya's school!

I would like to close my first blog entry by thanking all of the people who have kept the Sunday School thriving despite not having a Director in place. Our teachers Iris, Heather W, Patrick, Julien, Kelly and Jaime are engaging and educating our kids every week. And the Sunday School Committee has kept this ship on course for over 6 months without a Captain! Thank you Heather W, Heather M, Marian, Jeff, and Randy.

Stay Tuned to this blog for more updates on what is happening with the youth of the Northern Virginia Ethical Society.