On Tuesdays this semester, Kristin Contreras and I have been going to skid row to volunteer with a Christian-run tutoring program for elementary school children there called Say Yes. We leave at 3:15pm to arrive a little before 4pm. We help the students there with their homework until they finish it or until dinner starts. When the students finish they get to have “free time” and we play ball games or jump rope with them until dinner. Kristin helps in the office while I help serve dinner. She then joins be after dinner to help wash the dishes and he head out as the program’s high school students arrive and the elementary students leave. It’s Colleen Timmins who first volunteered and got other Oxy students to go. She leads a larger group to go on Thursdays, while Kristin and I go on Tuesdays instead due to our schedules.
It’s been an interesting experience. I’ve been involved in other volunteer tutoring before, partly because I know a lot of times at that age you wish you had more help. While it has been difficult at times dealing with some of the kids, I am still glad we did this. Kristin’s even considering looking into some other volunteer work with them later on.
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