By Brooke Boelman
Ascendium Education Group

Vera Court Neighborhood Center has been a safe place for children and families in the Northside community for over 25 years, and even during a pandemic, their support for the community has not waivered. In fact, with help from organizations like Ascendium Education Group, Vera Court has been able to expand their academic support and programming to ensure that children and families have what they need, especially during this unprecedented time.

Ascendium recently donated $55,000 to Vera Court Neighborhood Center. These funds were gifted to the organization as part of the company’s Unite for Our Communities campaign, in which employees pledged over $18,000 to United Way of Dane County and Community Shares of Wisconsin; and in return, Ascendium donated matching funds to the tune of $55,000 to advance the company’s mission of improving lives through education. This year was extra special as Ascendium committed to a three-to-one dollar match of employee pledges that directly impacted the local community.

“With Ascendium’s support, we can continue to offer expanded hours and programming in the spring semester 2021,” Rebecca Ressl, Vera Court Neighborhood Center development director said. “The donation will allow us to make sure we can adapt as quickly as possible to support kids and their families.”

Vera Court Neighborhood Center serves over 2,000 residents a year. Students of all ages — elementary, middle and high schoolers — can participate in programming offered by the center, which is provided year-round, is free of charge to families, and includes afterschool and evening programs, summer camp, meals, academic support and more. These services have only ramped up since the beginning of the pandemic.

Ascendium employees have supported Vera Court Neighborhood Center for many years, but officially “adopted” the nonprofit organization in 2018. Vera Court’s commitment to the success of students and families in their community aligns with Ascendium’s commitment to the success of individuals in school and their careers, which made adopting them as an organization a good fit. Since then, employees have participated in many volunteer activities at the center, from donating supplies to using hundreds of paid volunteer hours to help out in person.

Although the pandemic has prevented employees from participating in their usual on-site volunteer activities, several Ascendium employees volunteered time in early November to stuff envelopes for the center’s end-of-the-year mailer and clean up the yard and gardens at the center. 

“It was a beautiful day to be outside and volunteering in my community,” said Tom Wilkowske, a senior writer at Ascendium. “It’s a great feeling to give back and I’m proud to be part of a company that supports the local community.”

And while these tasks may seem small, for staff at Vera Court, that’s hours of time they can invest in working with children, reaching out to families and providing the best programs.

“We have other organizations and companies that volunteer their time at Vera Court, but Ascendium has become more part of the family than others,” said Tom Solyst, executive director. “It’s not just a company, but individuals at the company that volunteer and spend time with the kids. They’ve become part of the family, true family members. We’re very, very appreciative for the years of unquestioned support from Ascendium.”

“Ascendium is part of our community and we see so much potential to continue to strengthen this partnership,” Ressl added.