Tag Archive: Volunteers
“I Wanted To Be Involved”
Steven Talpai – Volunteer Coach School was always a panic situation for me when I was a child. Right from the start, I didn’t like Kindergarten. I never felt like I belonged. When I had trouble learning, my Dad would try to help me but he would get frustrated and angry. The result was I [...]
If You Volunteer, You’ll ‘Get It’
One of the key volunteers at the school, when telling her friends about her activities at the school, was asked, “Why would you do that for free when teachers are paid to do that sort of thing?” Her response was, “You just don’t get it. You just don’t get it! It’s what it does for [...]
Returning the Favour
Volunteer Coach Jen I recently became a Volunteer Coach because I experienced first hand as a parent what the program could do for a child and his family. When my son, Brad, first started to lag behind in learning early reading skills, I quickly started working with him at home with the guidance of his [...]
I’m Glad I Got off the Bus
Pearl is a grandparent, a former nurse, and a former supervisor of a group home for substance abusers. When her health became an issue, she had to retire and change her lifestyle. While receiving social assistance she acted on her strong sense of community by thinking about how she could continue to help others. She [...]
Volunteers Play an Important Role
Kate – A long-time volunteer in schools. Some kids don’t have the parental help for many different reasons. It might be a language barrier as a new Canadian. It might be that parents can’t, or won’t, because of parenting styles or mental health issues or whatever. I find that school — and this is a [...]
Strong Start May Change My Life
Story from a Volunteer Coach – Kitchener, Ontario School had never been my favourite place. By grade six I was being suspended often. I lasted only two days in grade seven before being suspended again and transferred to a special program at the High School. In grade ten I quit to have my baby. My [...]
Many Reasons to Volunteer
Volunteer Coach – Delphine “I started volunteering because my two boys are in school now and I’m trying to decide if I want to go back to work. I have a background that gives me a good base to become an E.A. I wanted to figure out how much time I could devote to work [...]
A Volunteer’s Pride
“The day I realized what an impact Strong Start® – Letters, Sounds and Words Program has on the lives of the children and the volunteers in the program was Week 5 or 6 of the Fall 2006 session. When I started with one particular child, his pre-assessment showed a recognition of two words ‘I’ and [...]
Giving a Boost
“I have been involved in the Strong Start® program as a volunteer coach since 2004. The program has been very rewarding, both for me as a volunteer, and for my son who was involved in the program when he was in Senior Kindergarten. My son, Quinn, was recommended for the Strong Start® program because he [...]
Touching Lives in Many Ways
My mother died in the summer of 2004. My father was devastated and came to live with me and my family. My father was 83 at the time. He had been a teacher and a Superintendent at the W. Ross MacDonald School for the Blind before he retired. Dad was so lonely with Mom gone [...]