The Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society (LASS) is hoping more people are interested in meaningful, one-to-one volunteer opportunities.
In the One to One program, community volunteers are trained to read with, and support, children in local elementary schools who are struggling with reading.
In the past three years, LASS has trained more than 300 community volunteers whose mission is to provide a supportive environment that builds the self-confidence and literacy skills of children and enables them to become independent and competent learners.
Kyla Sherman has been a volunteering with the One to One program as a school co-ordinator since 2011 and has had the chance to see firsthand the benefits the program has to offer—not only to the students but also to the volunteers that work with them.
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On an assessment tour last year, Sherman met volunteer Trudy Nedila who, with her four-legged helper, was working with a young Silver Creek Elementary student.
As the three cuddled up on the floor and read together, Sherman could sense the close connection and the mutual trust that had formed between them. The impact of a caring volunteer, who values education, was apparent when Nedila listened intently to the confident and enthusiastic reading.
Nedila felt welcome and valued at the school, providing an excellent example of how having community members volunteer in schools helps to strengthen the relationship between schools and the broader community.
At Grindrod Elementary, there was a bittersweet One to One session, a celebration that was also a farewell party for Joanne Giesbrecht who was moving out of the Shuswap.
A longtime One to One school co-ordinator, Giesbrecht clearly had made an impact at the school. Students and parent helpers made her an apron as a going away gift, knowing she could often be found canning, baking and preserving food when she wasn’t volunteering at the school.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as Giesbrecht received hug after hug from the long line of students she had assisted over the years.
In her travels, Sherman met community members who, through their work with the program, contribute to the growth and success of not only literacy but to their communities in general.
Anyone who is interested in more information, or thinks they might be like to volunteer in the One to One program, may contact LASS at 250-463-4555 or email Kyla at onetoone@shuswapliteracy.ca.