abuse, and many experiences with Child Welfare and Social Services. Cheryl was a non-reader who had failed to meet on four consecutive occasions with the first tutor we matched her with.

We had almost determined that we would not be able to match Cheryl again because her problems were too much for a literacy volunteer to be expected to handle. However, all of the main matching criteria fit (meeting time and place, level of ability and so on) so we discussed this option with Dora. She was not fazed by this challenge and agreed to tutor Cheryl at our centre.

They have only met for five weeks so far, but Cheryl has turned up keen and eager to learn each time. Dora has been willing to listen to Cheryl's concerns without allowing them to take over their tutoring sessions; in particular she has helped Cheryl to think about how to approach her children's teachers about their difficulties in school. While there is always the possibility that Cheryl's life problems will consume her time and energy and get in the way of her tutoring, we feel that she is off to a promising start. Dora, meanwhile, is also writing to her first student as a way to keep her reading and writing until she can return to tutoring. Chris has written back, too, expressing thanks for Dora's ongoing concern.

Dora's innate empathy for people and her great common sense have enabled her to become a very successful tutor. But she certainly needed more than average encouragement and support as she started out. She then later appreciated the challenge of a more difficult assignment and has risen to the challenge admirably. As with Sarah, we did not go to extraordinary lengths to support Dora. By being sensitive to her needs both as a beginning tutor and then as one with growing confidence, we were able to offer her the degree and type of support she needed at the time she needed it.

Ron and Angela Make a Commitment

Ron, a non-reader, has been around our program, on and off, for more than five years. He was actually "blacklisted" before all of the present staff joined the organization because he had dropped in and out so many times that tutors were discouraged by him and they dropped out too. When he approached us one more time, we decided to place him in a small group workshop first to see whether he could make a commitment.