Cumberland School Volunteers, Inc.

08/26/2026

Cumberland School Volunteers and PPAC welcomed the preschoolers back to school today at a “meet the teacher event.” Parents were reminded to fill out BCI forms in September if they want to participate in ANY school program this year.
CSV will bring a Reading Is Fundamental event to the preschool on December 17th!
Contact Cindy Thorsen if you want to help distribute free books on RIF day at the preschool!
[email protected].

08/16/2026

Another school year, another chance to volunteer! 🌟

Get involved in Just Friends: More Alike Than Different, and our free book distribution, Reading is Fundamental (RIF).

These are great opportunities to get involved in the schools. make a difference, and have FUN! Learn more and sign up here:

Contact Cindy Thorsen at [email protected] for more information or questions.

Thanks for your interest in the Cumberland School Volunteers, an organization dedicated to supporting volunteerism in the Cumberland Public Schools by promoting strong connections between the schools, educators, parents and the community. Our award-winning disability awareness program, Just Friends:...

08/03/2026

The Cumberland School Volunteers organization is excited to begin the new school year! We are sharing an informational pamphlet with our community to provide a description of the important programs that we sponsor: Just Friends and Reading Is Fundamental.

We welcome new and returning volunteers to help out with both of these fun programs! ALL volunteers must get BCI clearance to be allowed into the classrooms, so click the QR code for CSV Volunteer Opportunities, and you can sign up to volunteer and get BCI information!

WELCOME TO THE CSV TEAM! SEE YOU IN SEPT!

07/17/2026

CSV Director Cindy Thorsen joined volunteers at the Back To School Celebration of Rhode Island event to pack thousands of backpacks for distribution around the state. Garvin Elementary School will be Cumberland’s distribution site on August 15 from 10am-1pm.

Cindy enjoyed working alongside CSV Jim Thorsen, and they had the pleasure of greeting Governor Dan McKee and Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green on backpack packing day!
Look for our CSV tent at Garvin on August 15th!

07/10/2026

CSV is actively recruiting volunteers for the Just Friends (JF) Fall Program.

Contact Cindy Thorsen at [email protected] for more information.

07/04/2026

Your generous contributions and support in Fiscal Year 25-26 to Cumberland School Volunteers (CSV) are greatly appreciated as we are continuing to run our Just Friends: More Alike Than Different (JF) and Reading is Fundamental (RIF) programs in Cumberland.

Community contributions mean so much to CSV as we work to keep these two important programs available to the elementary school children in Cumberland! We have distributed over 6,800 new books to 2,330 students from grades pre-K - 5. The JF program, unique to Cumberland, is shared with over 380 students in the 4th grade classrooms by presentations and supervised hands-on activities that focus on the challenges of 1) Blindness & Deafness, 2) Physical & Intellectual Disabilities, 3) Learning Differences, and 4) Autism Spectrum Disorders.

We Are Grateful for Your Support of Our Organization and Programs!

Visit our Website: cumberlandschoolvolunteers.org

06/15/2026

RI State Representative Mia Ackerman invited the CSV Board of Directors to join her at Poppy’s for breakfast today and she presented us with a very generous grant! Thank you, Representative Ackerman, for your 25 years of volunteer efforts in our schools and for supporting our Reading Is Fundamental program with a RI House Legislative grant!

CSV Board of Directors is also very grateful for a RI Senate Legislative Grant sponsored by Senator Ryan Pearson and Senator Brian Thompson. It means so much to Cumberland School Volunteers to have the RI legislative support of our programs.

06/15/2026

Cumberland School Volunteers is very grateful to BankNewport for its generous donation in support of our Reading Is Fundamental and Just Friends programs. BankNewport has been a wonderful community supporter of these CSV initiatives and this donation will put new books into the hands of Cumberland’s kids. Thanks, BankNewport!!!

06/10/2026

Cumberland School Volunteers would like to thank the students and families who so generously donated books in May during the READ!SHARE!REPEAT! campaign to collect “like-new” books. We collected 1,000 books! They are still being sorted and catalogued, but some have already made their way into the hands of students at Community School.

CSV had our last Reading Is Fundamental event of the year today. We celebrated the end of the school year by giving away almost 550 books, bookmarks and stickers to the K-5 students at Community. The kids were very excited to see the variety of books on display, made possible by the variety of donated books!

Many thanks to volunteers Diane Grenon, Harshi Makecha, Mary Lynne Miller and Katrina Blancaflor for their tremendous help. And thanks to Principal Cheryl Vaughn and Administrative Assistant Christine Skawinski for organizing the teachers. The whole day ran really smoothly!

06/04/2026

It is with great pleasure that the Cumberland School Volunteers announces that the recipient of our 2026 Community Service Award is EMILY RAIMONDI!

This award is given to a CHS senior who best exemplifies the spirit of meaningful community involvement, believing that any definition of a successful life must include serving others.

In the last 4 years, Emily logged over 380 community service hours through the platform T.R.E.A.T.S. which stands for “Travis Roy Empowering All Through Service” and honors her late friend, Travis Roy. She organized “Treats For Troops”, collected supplies for the Providence Animal Shelter and toys for families in need during the holidays through the Northern Rhode Island Food Bank.

Congratulations to Emily and her fellow CHS graduates as they embark on the next chapters of their lives. CSV is proud of all of you.

Congratulations to Emily Raimondi, the recipient of 2026 CSV Community Service Award!