Volunteer Appreciation

That's right - Peanuts is 100% powered by volunteers, which means every single thing we do requires the donated time and talents of our amazing Board and member community. Every single cohort speaker, every community event, every happy hour, every poster in Sherman circle, every email (and there are thousands), every word on the website, every social media post, everything we have done and given to the community is because a fellow Greater Petworth parent took the time and found the resources to make it happen. 

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We emphasize the "parent" part of that statement because we all have "real" jobs and crazy kids and competing priorities – but with our combined efforts we have made a true and profound difference. And it’s not just about the face value of a fun happy hour or playground meet up – it’s the lasting impact we’ve made in the lives of individual caregivers and in the Greater Petworth community. Peanuts has seen a 7000%+ increase in cohort participation since Spring 2020 when the organization began; we've grown from 15 women to 1200+ caregivers in just 3 years. That’s hundreds and hundreds of families who have had the opportunity feel connected and supported in an accessible way. And, looking at our wider community impact/involvement - we’ve had roughly 4,000+ people participate in the 2021 and 2022 Spooktaculars, Miracle on Upshur, and Pride in the Park events alone (big huge thanks to our sponsors!)....and we've been very proud (thanks to Community Service & Relations Officer Justine Williams) to spearhead service efforts on behalf of Ward 4 Mutual Aid and Greater DC Diaper Bank as a part of those community events.

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In the middle of this growth, Peanuts “relaunched” in Fall 2022, which included:

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• Recruiting 7 incredible volunteer Board Members/officers

• Beginning monthly cohorts (instead of quarterly); a total of 16 since Spring 2020

• Setting up a new paid membership model to sustain our events and initiatives

• Establishing new committees and subcommittees, including events and the community, equity and belonging committees

• Launched members-only events, including the continuing education speaker series, family portraits, playground meet ups, Spring Eggstravaganza egg hunt, and monthly happy hours

• Established new and expanded partnerships with our amazing community sponsors

• Launched WhatsApp groups for a wide variety of Peanuts member interests

• Launched Peanuts merchandise

• Totally revamped our social media; our Instagram has grown by around 900% since last year

• And we built this brand new website from the ground up, which is ever evolving!

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Meanwhile, we planned over 25 different events and initiatives in the last year alone, 23(!!) of which took place in the Fall and Winter of 2022-2023. Stunning, whirlwind growth!

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