RL’s Irreplaceable Volunteers

This year, I have been consistently impressed with the volunteers at our RL Stevens CalSERVES program. They consistently have a great attitude, and are friendly with all of our kids. We regularly have volunteers stay after 6PM (when our program ends) in order to make sure the mentors have everything they need, and that all the loose ends from that day are tied up. One of our third grade class volunteers, Kristyn (who has volunteered over 100 hours), often volunteers for entire Wednesdays (12:30PM-6:00PM), as has led her own club. Giovanni (who has volunteered over 150 hours) has worked with several different grades, and knows every student in each class he works with.

Both Ericka (left) and Zully (right) have volunteered with CalSERVES for multiple years, and are looked up to and adored by the students they work with.

The tutoring program at CalSERVES requires such consistency and structure that volunteers are usually not formal tutors. At RL, however, we have two volunteers, Rebecca and Lan, who have shown not only a willingness to consistently arrive early in the morning, but also the understanding necessary to fully implement the tutoring curriculum. We are grateful for their time, as are the students and their teachers. 

I am unable to convey how important and meaningful volunteer support is to our program here at RL, though I have tried. Our volunteers are talented, kind, dedicated and intelligent individuals, and there are an infinite number ways they could spend their time. We are grateful they choose to spend so much of it helping our students.        

Former Americorps member Nick works on homework with a sixth grader. Nick has volunteered over 100 hours with Cool School, and has attended several service days.