The Newsletter of Project L.O.V.E. • SPRING 2002 • PO Box 2000 Charlottetown PE C1A 7N8 Telephone 368-4695   Fax 368-3269   Toll Free 1-866-741-5683 Email: love@isn.net
Home Page: www.nald.ca/lovehmpg.htm

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 intermediate and high schools.

In 34 schools across PEI, more than 240 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.

UNV Article on older volunteers

A recent report by UNV - The Office of United Nations Volunteers - talks about the value of older volunteers in terms which we, at Project L.O.V.E., endorse heartily.

Briefly, the report discusses the transition from a working life to retirement, and explains that the part-time and unofficial work which many retirees choose to do, is a major, often unrecognized, contribution to society.

“ For older people the ageing process is generally accompanied by a transition in social and economic roles. In some societies, people move from full-time, formal work to retirement, in others into part-time work of an informal nature. This transition is often treated, erroneously, as a move from a productive role to a non-productive or dependent one. Most older people, far from withdrawing from participation in society, continue to contribute actively to their household, to their descendants and to their community or society, although this contribution may not necessarily be measurable in monetary terms. Rather than producing goods and services, contributions may include a socially valued product like counselling, mentoring, child-care, peer care, end-of-life care or community leadership, political involvement or role model figures. Such non-monetary endeavours may have high economic and human benefits, but they generally go unrecognized.”

Please be assured that your efforts on behalf of Island students has a high value, and does not go unrecognized by us!

For a complete copy of the report visit the web-site www.unvolunteers.org and follow the links to “ageing”.

Annual Recognition Luncheon is coming up!

Please mark your calendars for our annual recognition luncheon to be held on Saturday, May 25. The location is to be decided, so look for your invitation in the mail shortly!

The date has been changed from June to allow our volunteers to get out into the garden on what has always been a simply beautiful summer Saturday. So, this year, see you in May!

Should we be spending time talking with our students?

Volunteers sometimes worry about how much time they spend talking with their students, and listening to their stories, instead of concentrating on reading.

Recently a volunteer reported that a student’s “LOVE privileges” had been cancelled because he had been spending too much time telling the volunteer stories, and “wasting his LOVE time.”

A Handbook to support reading acquisition produced in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Education suggests the following:

“ Children first learn to listen and speak, then use these and other skills to explore reading and writing. Like child development in general, language development is interrelated. Children who have many opportunities to listen and speak tend to become skilled readers and writers. Children who can put their ideas in writing become better readers. Children who are read to often, learn to love reading and become better listeners, speakers, and writers” - From: On the Road to Reading, 1997.

Anyone wishing to see the full Handbook may contact the LOVE office or visit the U.S. Department of Education web-site at www.ed.gov and search for “Reading”.

And do go on chatting with your students. Research shows that it’s doing them good!

LOVE in the News

Project L.O.V.E. and its volunteers has been fortunate this year to receive much recognition and publicity. The photo is from a recent meeting with Federal Cabinet Minister Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, who met with L.O.V.E. in March. Also present at the meeting was Malpeque MP Wayne Easter.

The Minister heard from the group on their personal concerns, which he will take to his Federal colleagues in Ottawa.

Congratulations to a Great LOVE Volunteer!

“Hearty” congratulations go out to Marie Wood, Georgetown’s Citizen of the Year 2002. Marie is LOVE Captain for Georgetown and is involved in many other volunteer capacities in her community. Thanks for your support of Project L.O.V.E., Marie!