The Newsletter of
Project L.O.V.E. Fall 2001 P.O. Box 2000 Charlottetown PE C1A 7N8 BOASTing about this thing called L.O.V.E.! Project L.O.V.E. stands for Let Older Volunteers Educate, and is our elementary school project. BOAST stands for Bringing Older Adults and Students Together, and we find BOAST volunteers in high schools. In 29 schools across PEI, more than 200 very committed (mainly retired) older volunteers help students with their school work in various areas. In the elementary program, help is usually in that most important area, reading. L.O.V.E. Volunteers go to their school once a week, spending between an hour and a whole morning or afternoon in the school. They usually help one student at a time, listening and coaching them with words, reading aloud to model good pronunciation and expression for them, helping with classroom projects or to get caught up on missed assignments. BOAST Volunteers are more flexible - some visit the school once a week, while others work on short-term projects, which may involve more visits over a shorter period of time. The volunteer work is usually focussed on specific areas of expertise of the volunteer. Teachers whose students work with the Project L.O.V.E. volunteers all agree: Their students benefit greatly from this help, gaining self-confidence through the interest shown in them by the volunteers. Hear 'em on the radio, see 'em on TV - and in the papers! This fall we have been running a promotional campaign to recruit more volunteers for Project L.O.V.E. schools, and starting up projects in schools which are new to L.O.V.E. and BOAST. We are grateful to long-time volunteers Belle and Al LeBlanc, from Parkside School in Summerside, for being our models in the television commercials and in the print advertisements. We would also like to express our great appreciation to the National Literacy Secretariat, which provided us with a grant to make the advertisements possible. This kind of work is very expensive, both in production and in airtime and newspaper space, and we wouldn't have been able to do it without the assistance of the NLS. We are pleased with the results of the campaign as well. Many new volunteers have come forward, and we are working with two new schools at the moment, helping them get started with volunteers working with their students. Many thanks, too, to both CBC, ATV and Island Radio for providing "freebie" ads in addition to those for which we paid. As we are a non-profit organization, they offered us many additional airings of the ads, which helped to get the message out. And, of course, thanks to those of you who responded to the ads and joined the project. We would be nowhere without you! Straight From the Heart proceedings now available The Straight From The Heart Seminar held last November for our volunteers is now available in written form. Notes from presenters, as well as participants' notes and handouts have been compiled into a booklet which is available to all volunteers. If you have not received a copy, please get in touch with the office (368-4695 or our new toll-free number, 1-866-741-5683 for out-of-Charlottetown callers) and Mary will be happy to send one out to you. Packed with interesting information about learning disabilities, the Reading Recovery program, family literacy and suggestions on how to keep the attention of the students focussed on their work, it should provide you with reading material for some time! Call for your copy today. Highlights from the June luncheon As usual, wonderful stories about the children and their reactions to school situations with their volunteers abounded at our recognition luncheon in June. One story focussed on Farmer Joe. For those not familiar with this picture-book character, he is a busy farmer with a few strange ideas about farming methods and a very busy wife. In this particular story, Farmer Joe kept coming to his wife complaining about being too hot. His wife kept advising him to put on more clothes - jacket, mittens, scarf, and so on. Each time he returned to complain his wife was busy with yet another farm chore - scrubbing, doing dishes, baking, feeding chickens, and, in the pertinent page, she was fixing the family vehicle. The young lad reading with the volunteer observed all this womanly activity, and, upon seeing that she could fix cars too, remarked: "I'll never be able to find a wife like that in Prince Edward Island!" International Year of Volunteers conference A conference entitled "A Year for All 2001" was held recently in Slemon Park, sponsored by Community and Cultural Affairs. It brought together a number of organizations which benefit from the work of volunteers and volunteers from various organizations as well. Morning speaker Hon. Marion Reid had, as usual, many words of wisdom for those who give their time as volunteers. Mrs Reid pointed out that the number of seniors in Canada is growing - from 3.2 million in 1991 to an estimated 8.7 million in 2035. She suggested that seniors are being under-utilized by volunteer agencies, and extolled the benefits of seniors being able to pass on their history to the younger generation through volunteering. She also noted that we volunteer "because we feel good. It feeds our spirit. Volunteers have much better health than those who don't. Thinking positively is a big part of it," she added. She also quoted Ghandi, who said: "People are not remembered for what they have, but for what they have given." She might almost have been talking about you, our wonderful LOVE and BOAST volunteers. Thank you! More stories In visiting some of the start-up meetings at different schools, more stories have come out. Another funny one from Souris comes to mind. Volunteer Mrs. Townshend brings along her favourite "Little Noddy" books to read with her students after their joint reading practice is over. One student, who apparently enjoyed the books very much, asked the next volunteer he was working with: "Do you know Mrs. Townshend?" to which the volunteer replied "Yes. Why do you want to know?" The student replied: "Mrs. Townshend reads me Noddy books." However, the volunteer, unfamiliar with "Little Noddy", heard "Mrs. Townshend reads me naughty books" and was taken aback for a minute. Then, with great presence of mind, she said: "Well, if Mrs. Townshend reads them to you, they must be all right." |