By Linmei Chiao, Volunteer Support Director

The biggest difference between FCSN and other similar organizations is probably the extensive involvement of our volunteers. Even with over 100 wonderful paid staff, FCSN’s volunteer power continues to be a great resource for FCSN.

First of all, we have many devoted parent volunteers, who in addition to serving on FCSN Board, also volunteer in critical positions such as FCSN President and Vice Presidents. Many of the Department Directors and Program Coordinators are also parent volunteers. I remember when we jokingly asked our President, C.K., which is his full-time job, either his high tech job or his volunteer work at FCSN? The answer is that he has two full-time jobs. And we also have our dear Auntie Anna, who has put in double time serving FCSN while wearing many different hats. Parents know our children best, their hands-on involvement makes a great difference for FCSN! Our sincere salute to all FCSN parent volunteers!

In addition to parents of families with special needs individuals, from day one, FCSN also has been involving community volunteers who do not have special needs individuals in their families. Their enthusiastic caring support has kept us going for 25 years and we’ll continue to need their love and talent for years to come. Volunteers are truly an important part of FCSN’s big family.

During this past year, facing the pandemic challenges, our community volunteers have poured out their hearts, put on their creative thinking hats and taken on many challenges. They have familiarized themselves with new technologies, tried out new ideas to make virtual classes effective and fun. Our volunteers do not just teach our special needs individuals, they also bring their smiles to brighten students’ day and make staying at home bearable with friendship and laughter.

In addition, some volunteers even stepped up to improve FCSN online communications or take charge in managing FCSN programs. One example is our electronic newsletter FCSN Voices. It is so incredible to see how our caring volunteers work hard under the leadership of Helen Chou to transform FCSN’s old, often out-of-date news blog into this wonderful, fun and informative communication platform. Another example is how high-school and college volunteers like Isabella He & Erica Chiu have taken on the “coordinators” positions and contributed greatly. Also, how each and every one of the 2021 Outstanding Volunteer Award winners took charge of their classes and succeeded in benefiting their students on many creative subjects. In addition, there are so many SNTutoring 1:1 virtual tutors who go out of their way to prepare for their classes; some take on more than one student, and many teach more than one session every week. Parents are very touched and grateful!

On 6/5/2021, FCSN celebrated its 25th Anniversary and we held our 2021 FCSN Volunteer Award ceremony. Please watch the 9 minutes FCSN 2021 Volunteer Award video and be inspired by the amazing spirits of FCSN volunteers. Congratulations to all award winners, and our sincere appreciation to each and every FCSN volunteer! Your caring effort really makes the difference!

The following are the lists of winners in each category.

FCSN 2021 Volunteer of the Year: Isabella He

FCSN 2021 Outstanding Volunteers Award Recipients
Ashley Ma, James Hsu, Kerensa Wong-Hardesty, Cynthia Zhan, James Wang, Kyra Deng, Irene Yuan, Joyce Lui, Michael Wu, Jacob Wong, Katherine He, Minjae Kang

FCSN 2021 PVSA: Young Adults Category Recipients
Gold: 250+ hours: Katherine He, Isabella He
Silver: 175-249 hours: Edbert Wang, Eric Zhu, Jenny Chin
Bronze: 100-174 hours: Ethan Yuan, Luna Chen, Joy Kuo, Meg Chang, Rachel Huynh

FCSN PVSA 2021: Teens Category Recipients
Gold: 100+ hours: Canis Li, Chengqi Li, Christina Chang, Hillary Chang, Himani Mishra, Isabella Yang, Jackie Wang, James Wang, Navish Sinha, Neeral Bhalgat, Sterling Xie, William Cheng
Silver: 75-99 hours: Candace Tsay
Bronze: 50-74 hours: Daniel Wang, Jason Chu, Jennie Wang, Kenneth Shui, Kyra Deng, Shayla He