Below is Wilma Jones’ testimony to the Council of the District of Columbia Committee on Housing and Community Development.
I am Ms. Wilma Jones and I’m currently serving as a Corps member with the Jumpstart DC Community Corps program. I would like to thank the Committee on Housing and Community Development for giving me the opportunity to speak on how the funds received from the DC Office on Aging have been beneficial toward the Jumpstart DC Community Corps program and most of all myself.
Teaching is my passion. I am fortunate now to use my professional background in education to help preschoolers excel in the classroom. The Jumpstart DC Community Corps program allows me to give back to my community as the District of Columbia has given to my family over the past several years. The children I serve, the teachers I work with, and the team members I share this awesome experience with inspire me daily. I feel a great sense of pride.
The Jumpstart DC Community Corps program allows me to give back to my community as the District of Columbia has given to my family over the past several years.
As senior citizens we are not given many opportunities to use the skills and wisdom we have acquired over our lifetimes to give back to our communities. The Jumpstart DC Community Corps program gives us that pride and opportunity.
I leave you with the words of Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
I’ve been fortunate to lose myself in serving the future of this city: the preschoolers we work with in the Jumpstart DC Community Corps program.
