The Newsletter of Project L.O.V.E. Spring 1999 P.O. Box 325 Cornwall PE C0A 1H0
Telephone & facsimile 368-4695. e-mail love@isn.net Home Page: www.nald.ca/lovehmpg.htm
Project L.O.V.E. is a project of the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance and has received funds from the National Literacy Secretariat (Provincial Literacy Initiatives Committee) and corporate funders R.B.C. Dominion Securities Inc. and Canada Post Corporation. Registered Charity No. 88820 6237 RR0001

What is this thing called L.O.V.E.?

Project L.O.V.E. stands for Let Older Volunteers Educate.

More than 200 very committed (mainly retired) older volunteers help students in Prince Edward Island schools with their school work, usually in that most important area, reading.

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.

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.

Project L.O.V.E. On the Move!

In November, Project L.O.V.E. moved into an office space at 3 Brighton Road, which was donated to Project L.O.V.E. by the Department of Education. Early in January, we were notified that the building was going to be renovated to house the Department of Tourism and Fisheries, and that we would have to move out!

Luckily, we hadn’t accumulated a lot of belongings yet, in our new space. The Department of Public Works searched its other properties, and found us a wonderful new space at 3 Queen Street, (just across from the main entrance of the CP Prince Edward Hotel). They moved us in in early February.

We are now settling into our NEW new space. The PEI Literacy Alliance is in the same building, and there is a Board Room on the first floor which we can book for our monthly board meetings.

All our L.O.V.E. volunteers are welcome to visit our new space, or attend a Board meeting (the first Thursday of each month, at 3 Queen St.). Please call ahead so we can provide you with an agenda.

Education Minister Joins L.O.V.E.

Project L.O.V.E. had a very positive meeting with Education Minister Chester Gillan in November, which ended with the Minister agreeing to be an Honorary L.O.V.E. Volunteer!

Naturally, his present schedule prevents his active participation, but rest assured that he knows all about the Project, and the great work that you are doing in our schools.

You may have seen the photograph in The Guardian, when our Chair Bernice Bell, and vice-Chair Laura Mair presented the first copy of our Project L.O.V.E. Poster to Minister Gillan.

This poster was produced with the last of our Public Awareness and Promotion budget. We hope you have seen it in your school! If anyone would like a copy of the poster, especially for promotional purposes, please contact the office at the above number.

Letter Mates Project: An Update

Due to a number of factors (our two moves being some of them), our Intergenerational Letter-Writing project has been slower than expected to get started. However, there are a number of matches made, and we have letters from Grade 6 students who are still awaiting older pen pals.

If you know of an older person who can’t participate in Project L.O.V.E. for some reason, but who would like to write to an elementary school student, please get in touch with the office at the above number, and we will match them up with a Letter Mate - right away!

BOAST - a new project in Montague!

In December , Montague High School expressed an interest in working with Project L.O.V.E. to develop a special project which will bring older adults and adolescents together.

A few discussions and meetings later, we have a new name and new parameters for a High School project which we will assist and monitor this term.

Montague teacher Bobby Nicholson created the name BOAST, which stands for: Bringing Older Adults and Students Together.

Community volunteers are invited to participate in special projects with the students. One-on-one tutoring, assisting with the school musical (Meet Me in St. Louis), school yearbook, guest speakers, special after-school subjects (languages, dancing, crafts) are all areas where volunteers would be welcome.

An information meeting will be held in the school Feb. 25 (at 3:20 PM), but anyone interested in details or further information should call Mary Mermuys at 838-0835 or Malcolm Patterson at 838-2659.

1999: International Year of Older Persons

1999 has been declared the International Year of Older Persons, and projects with an intergenerational focus have been highlighted for Canada and for Prince Edward Island. Naturally, as a L.O.V.E. volunteer, you are involved in an intergenerational project every week at your school!

Canada’s objectives for the year (from the Community Kit for the International Year for Older Persons) include: “enhanc(ing) understanding, harmony and mutual support across the generations” and

“increas(ing) recognition of seniors’ contributions to their families, their communities, and the country”. That’s just what you are doing!

Project L.O.V.E. has been getting a lot of media attention, partly because of the special year, and we are always quick to point out that it is your work which makes the project succeed. Many thanks for the good work!

For copies of the International Year of Older Persons Kit, or for more information on I.Y.O.P., call Pat Malone at 368-6190.

Stories: We’ve Got Lots of Them!

These are some more of the stories collected at our Luncheon in June. We’re always ready to listen to stories! Hope you enjoy these.

“One little girl came to the reading room - very excited. She said she had only five “sleeps” until she would receive her first Communion. The girl and “LOVE Lady” discussed this in every detail. The child explained she would have Christ right in her hands. The result of the discussion was that the “LOVE Lady” attended the service!”

Another volunteer referred to this story as “Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover”.

“My brightest little student in Grade 2 was a good reader. I soon learned that she would bring books from her classroom that we could complete in about 10 minutes, so we had about 20 minutes left for reading other choices. I always have lots of books in my house, because my daughter-in-law brings them home from the library. She and her husband and family live with me.

“One morning when I was running late, I quickly picked up three children’s books that I thought looked suitable. When my student finished her book, I asked her which book she would like to select, she picked up one - titled Mommy Laid an Egg by Babette Cole. I was shocked as her reading revealed that this was a very graphic description of conception and birth, illustrated by cartoon-like pictures. As she ended the book, she said “Yuk!”

“My daughter-in-law and my son, both teachers, were very amused - and full of trepidation - when I told them of the incident.

“I worried all weekend until I could get in touch with the school counsellor. Fortunately he had heard of no repercussions, and he assured me that there would probably not be any.”

Thanks so much for sharing your stories. There’s always so much to learn from them - the last one being a really good illustration of the first rule of storytelling, that being: Never read a book in public which you haven’t read to yourself first!