VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEER STORIES

• Julie Mintenko
• Adele Rempel
• Lynne Bresselaar

Julie Mintenko

I am a volunteer with READ Saskatoon and have helped out with family literacy in our community for the past two years. I am also a news anchor and reporter with Global television and I am very passionate about the power of literacy. Not only has literacy played a major role in my career, and in helping me to achieve my goals, it's also allowed me to connect with people, to communicate, and opened up countless opportunities.

Two years ago I was introduced to the idea of story sacks. The way that they allow families to not only connect to a story, but become a part of it is something I had never experienced before. We all know that literacy is so much more then just picking up a book and reading the words, and what I love about READ Saskatoon is it puts every effort into giving communities and families the tools to discover the many facets of literacy…whether it's cooking together as a family and making that traditional recipe passed down through generations, or having a conversation, or playing a game, or singing a song…the list goes on and on.

I think what is most valuable about READ's familiy literacy programs is that they give you hands on examples of how a story can be told in so many ways, and even without written words…a story can be imagined, it can be told through pictures cut out of a magazine, through talking about family traditions and why we celebrate and have certain customs.

My favorite memory so far with READ is spring break camp where children come with their parents and grandparents or guardians and learn about fun, simple ways to incorporate literacy at home.

Personally I have struggled with literacy. As a child I repeated grade two because I struggled with reading and writing. I also developed a speech impediment as a child that I still struggle with correcting today, so reading out loud is sometimes awkward and difficult for me.

I think the main challenge as a volunteer is helping others understand why involving literacy in our everyday lives is so important. We have such busy lives, and it's easy sometimes to leave it up to others and let our children learn outside the home. This is why I love the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child." Together as a community we can do much more to make literacy a priority and I think it is so important that we take that opportunity. That's why I'm a proud READ family literacy volunteer because all it takes is a little bit of time to make a difference.

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Adele Rempel

I have been a tutor with READ Saskatoon for about 1 ½ years. Most recently I’ve also been helping with the ticket sales for the Fire Hall Playhouse.

One of my volunteer interests upon retirement was READ, because, although I wasn’t trained as a teacher, I had worked for 35 years as a Secretary/Executive Assistant, and decided that words would continue to be my strength. Aside from that, I am, and always have been, an avid reader, and I hoped to pass the enjoyment of reading along to others.

A highlight of my tutoring experience is my learner was told that her English has improved since starting her “lessons” with me. I felt very good about this comment on a personal level, of course, but also because it was positive feedback on the work that READ Saskatoon is doing. We’ve found that a technique I call rhyme and repetition works for us, although anyone listening in might think we’re both a little “off”.

My learner and I enjoy our time together in our sessions, and her family took me out to dinner on Family Day last year (it didn’t work out this year, but she did invite me again). Her husband and daughters often send me greetings, and I return them. I can honestly say that they’ve become new friends.

As to challenges that I’ve experienced, the two of us haven’t met as often as we would like, due to a series of circumstances and schedules, but get together when we can. From a learning perspective, I find it difficult to explain some of the English language “inconsistencies” that we’ve identified, because they don’t really make sense to me either. She has two degrees from China and can read English fairly well, especially in her areas of expertise, but is self-conscious about her pronunciation. She insists that I correct her, and assures me that she will not be offended. The local library has been able to accommodate us in a small side room so that our voices don’t disturb the other library patrons. She chooses the material for the evening, usually books for children, but which often have amazingly difficult words to read for someone with English as a second language. She’s very interested in learning the meanings of the words, not just reading them, so we spend time on that aspect as part of our session together.

I know that literacy is important to me, and others, because I feel that it is the foundation on which the rest of a person’s success and fulfillment are built on. If a person has difficulty with reading or spelling, his/her career aspirations could be limited, and day-to-day living won’t be as enjoyable if newspapers, menus, signs, and all of the other printed items that come our way every day can’t be read correctly or without difficulty. I feel empathy towards people who are struggling in a public setting when asked to read a passage because I’ve felt the same way when asked to supply an answer involving numbers.

I grew up in a small town (200 people) and our family didn’t have a t.v. until I was about 12. I’m sure I read every book in our school library (which really isn’t that much of an accomplishment since the “library” was smaller than most apartment galley kitchens. I’m so thankful I had that, albeit small, window to the world to expand on what I was learning in the classroom. Needless to say, my best marks were always in English, Spelling and Literature, and my poorest – well, math.

Volunteering is important to many non-profit organizations, and I belong to a number of them. Although there always has to be employees in the office to maintain consistency, coordinate activities, be the communication hub, etc., volunteers are very necessary contributors to the success of reaching and maintaining the organization’s mandate. The volunteer benefits by meeting new people and feeling he/she has contributed to the betterment of society beyond the usual monetary way. It is often time-consuming, but it is also time well spent.

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Lynne Bresselaar

I am a 65-year-old woman, retired, with two grown daughters and five grandchildren, as well as three grown step-kids whose offspring I grandmother. I was a stay-at-home mom until my kids were both in school, then worked about 10 years as an Occupational Therapist before ceasing work for health reasons. Until a couple of years ago, my husband and I would spend months away from home, travelling in a camperized van. A rich and rewarding experience, but it kept me from being able to volunteer back home, and I found I missed the feeling of connection to my community that a job or volunteering provide. So once that lifestyle became history, I decided to sign up with READ Saskatoon, mainly because of a cousin in Regina who speaks fondly of similar work she does there.

My first match as a tutor was not successful: I was awkward and unsure of myself, my learner seemed unmotivated and more interested in a social outing than a learning experience. I think I forgot to concentrate on having fun, so we didn't and it ended badly.

Luckily, Mavis did not give up on me, and was able to match me almost right away with my current learner, a recent immigrant from Russia and the Ukraine. She is motivation personified, announced on our first meeting "I want learn irregular verbs", and so we began. That was eight months ago. She is young enough to be my daughter, but we formed an instant bond. Every once in awhile, I get to feeling inadequate, and wonder how much value she is getting from our sessions, but my insecurities turn out to be totally unfounded when I question her about it. So, I remain her tutor and am honored to do so, and she is my precious learner.

The highlights of this experience: I guess just the tremendous and growing rapport we have. Also, finding out that I have a deep well of experience and knowledge within me that I can tap to make our learning sessions vibrant and meaningful. One stream in that well is my love of music. I'll be driving along listening to music on my car radio, and think "Now wouldn't that song be great to use with my learner!" So I've introduced her to music, like Anne Murray's "Hippo in my Tub" - she has small children, so this CD made great listening in the car with her kids. We've also worked with Louis Armstrong, Joni Mitchell, and Vera Lynn songs. We'll listen to a song, a line at a time, trying to guess by sound and context what the singer is saying. She likes to go one step further, following the written song lyrics as she listens.

Another highlight is sharing my own love of books. I am always reading. When I find a book that I think would interest her, but would be too difficult and daunting for her to tackle now, I choose excerpts from it, usually a paragraph or two, type these out with a copy for her and one for me, then each week, after talking, writing and reading tasks are done, it's time for listening and I read her the latest excerpt. Slowly at first, stopping to explain new words, phrases or ideas. Then again, start to finish. She loves this part of the lesson because without having to work hard, she discovers how well she understands English and gets to add to her understanding. We've done this with Cellist of Sarajevo and are now using The Book of Negroes. Lately, we are also using old familiar excerpts for practice in reading aloud, with emphasis on pronunciation, rhythm and intonation. Hard work, but she rises to the challenge. And finally, I get her to form questions about each excerpt - who, what, where, when and why, and how - challenging her reading comprehension and sentence construction.

One of the challenges of working with her has been reconciling the goals and expectations of our learning endeavors with the realities of her life as a young mother with a full-time job. Because she works from 4 to midnight all week, her opportunities to converse in English are limited to some brief encounters at work, and the 2 hours we spend together. She was a kindergarten teacher back home and aspires to do similar work here someday. With this goal in mind, I found myself at one point urging her to consider using English more at home, til she pointed out to me how very little chance she has of doing so in her present employment situation. So a day job is a likely first step, and preparation for that has become one of our short-term goals.

Literacy is important to me because it is necessary to all the things we do every day. From grocery shopping to managing our health or communicating with our children's teachers, we need language skills to get by. The greater the skill, the easier it is to cope.

I know volunteering is important because there is so much work that needs doing in our society that couldn't be if a living wage were a condition for doing it. The very people who need the service in question would be denied it because of the necessity to pay. We all have talents and skills beyond those we need for employment, and by using them we enrich our own lives and others'.