Volunteer Corner

(Castle Heights Elementary School)

When I became a KOREH L.A. volunteer, I was assigned to a little first grader named "Jake." In addition to having problems with his reading, he also came from a home that provided him with very little nurturing. He had very low self-esteem, never smiled and always seemed sad. That all changed when I started working with him. He started to smile and gradually developed some self-esteem. "Jake" went from being a poor reader with no interest in reading to being an enthusiastic and good reader. He began discussing what he was reading with me, and even laughed when he thought parts of the book were funny. We met twice a week, and he always looked forward to our time together (as did I). His teacher was thrilled with his progress and grateful to me. By the end of the year, he was writing his own books.

This past year, I requested to work with "Jake" again. He was very excited to hear that we were going to have our special time together for another year. When I met him at the beginning of the year, I was surprised and pleased to see a big maturity spurt in him. As the year went by, I could see that he really was blooming. Today, he's a very different child than when I first met him. This is a real success story for both of usl