May 20, 2020

Dear learners, tutors, and friends of ELTOC,

We hope this finds all well and continuing to practice the necessary preventative measures to minimize the risk of COVID-19 within our community. This will be an ongoing responsibility for all of us in the future months, and possibly years ahead, and more so now with the government planning to gradually reopen the economy.

ELTOC takes the health and safety of all our stakeholders very seriously and has formed a Risk Assessment Committee to assess COVID-19 hazards and if, and how, they can be addressed to create safe work and volunteer environments. We have representation on the committee from staff, tutors and the board which will help achieve robust plans, policies and practices to ensure safety. Our expectation is that, until there is a vaccine, there will be a “new” normal where physical distancing measures, such as remote access, and infection control will be the regular routine within both our operational and volunteer environments. We will share more details by July on this committee’s recommendations.

While this has been a period of major adjustments, it has also been a time of lateral and creative thinking. On behalf of the board, I would like to commend the tireless efforts and flexibility of our inspiring executive director, innovative staff, dedicated volunteers and amazing learners for stepping up to the challenge of transitioning our service model to on-line in response to COVID-19. It would have been unimaginable in early March to predict that over 50% of our learners would be on-line within two months. That is quite the accomplishment, thanks to all of you! On-line tutoring brings with it a set of different needs and continued collaboration will help identify these needs. During these times, we will work to expand our on-line learning model so that when a learner is able to come on-line, we will be able to provide the support. All this takes time, tremendous effort, flexibility and funds. As our staff work hard to source the appropriate learning materials and tools, we will depend on the generosity of our donors, current and new, to support these efforts.

Tutors, we ask you once again to please contact your learner(s) and let them know that this letter has been posted on our website. At the top right of the page, they can use the SELECT LANGUAGE option to have the information translated into another language.

We all look forward to the day when this will all be behind us. When that day arrives, we can take pride in saying that all your efforts achieved ELTOC’s vision for a strong, inclusive multicultural community, despite a pandemic.

Until then, please stay safe.

Sincerely,

Giselle Leduc, Executive Director and the ELTOC Board of Directors