Mom was very, very proud of the work she did for Americorps. She worked there from approximately 2002 until 2008 and I know she was thrilled to be doing something that reminded her of Camelot. Here’s a letter she wrote to prospective volunteers. On her old computer hard drive I found this file titled volunteer letter.doc dated October 15th, 2006.
Hi, Everyone!
Thank you so much for your interest in tutoring at-risk children in Alachua County elementary schools!
This year, we have 21 AmeriCorps Members who are serving thousands of hours to make a difference for kids who need a little help.
Statistics consistently demonstrate that, if a child cannot read independently by the end of the third grade, he or she will have over a 90% chance of dropping out of school!
You can be a part of changing children’s lives! By helping them to become better readers, by instilling in them a love of reading because you make it fun, and by letting them know that reading is the key to becoming whatever they want to be.
What we are looking for are tutors who can reasonably commit to tutoring a minimum of two hours a week for about
20 weeks. (More is great!) We’ll train you to use a simple tutoring session developed by an Alachua County Reading Coach. We have several schools available, all waiting for your help. Whenever possible, you pick the school, and you pick the time or times you want to serve.We’ll be having a recognition party in April, and everyone who participates will receive a certificate showing hours served and the location in which you tutored. You’ll also have access to trained AmeriCorps tutors at most of the schools we serve for support and information.
We have three training session scheduled in October. All will be held in the Board Room at the Kirby-Smith Center. We are located half a block east of the downtown library just before you get to 7th Street.
If you would like to join us for orientation, please select from 10/16 5:30-6:30, 10/18 4:30-5:30, or 10/24 5:30-6:30. To get to the Board Room, just come in under the arch and follow the signs. If you would like more explicit directions, please email me or call me at [redacted].
I hope to see you at one of our trainings in October. We will also be scheduling at least two more in November and two in January. If you can’t make a scheduled training, give me a call, and we’ll set a time to get you ready to tutor.
Again, our thanks,
Cordially,
Kathie Gagne
Program Director
AmeriCorps Alachua County READS!