Helping students in the ELL classroom.

Hey everyone! The holiday break is coming to an abrupt end and with classes starting back up why not volunteer to help teach in an ELL classroom at one of the local highschools.

The Star City Academy (a program within the Star City Soccer Foundation) has parterned up with RC Serve and is looking for tutors for the 2012-13 school year.Tutors will also be given a manual to help with the intricacies of working with a student from a different culture.

Star City Academy is a non-profit organization with the purpose of increasing the abilities of students from diverse cultural backgrounds to function in the classroom and become self-sustaining members of our community. As a volunteer you will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with an English Language Learner (ELL) during his or her school day at Patrick Henry and William Fleming High Schools. You will be working to improve the student’s conversational skills, reading comprehension, and writing skills.

The next step after committing to the program is to set your tutoring schedule. Your schedule is completely flexible from day to day/week to week. See the following table for the available time slots:

Location		Day		Times
Patrick Henry HS		“A” Days		A1 (8:45am-10:21am)
				A2 (10:27am-12:37am)
William Fleming  HS		“B” Days		B1 (8:45am-10:21am)
				B2 (10:27am-12:37am)
William Fleming  HS		After School Program		Tues/Thurs  (3:45pm-5:45pm)

 

As a reading and writing volunteer you will work one-on-one (or in very small groups) to review the lesson presented by the teacher at the beginning of the class. Although the ELL classrooms in Roanoke City are separated by language levels, there are variations of skill within each level, especially among beginners. Our reading and writing tutors will use materials provided by the teacher or volunteer coordinator to engage students in reading comprehension activities and editing their writing for grammar and spelling. It is not necessary to be an expert in grammar or a writer yourself, a basic knowledge of sentence structure and grammar are all that are needed.


Greek Government

 

 

 

 

Collage of flags! (can you see what countries the students are from?)

 

 For more information about volunteering in the ELL classroom feel free to email me (Alexus McPherson)  at amcpherson@mail.roanoke.edu or for more service opportunities in stop into the RC Serve center. We are located in the back room of the Chaplin's office and will be happy to guide you to the service project that best fits you! Make sure to check out our other blogs for more information!

Thank you!

Volunteer with Head Start!

 Hey Guys! Looking for something fun to do? Volunteer with Head Start!

Head Start is a local government funded pre-K program for underprivileged children in the greater Roanoke area! Head Start provides a safe and stimulating environment for kids ages 3-5. The center is open Monday through Friday 8:30- 1:00 and volunteers are welcome anytime. Constructed in a classroom setting, a typical day includes: arts and crafts, circle time, center time, and recess (of course). The kids have a lot of personality and are a pleasure to play with! These are some recent pictures from our Halloween events; Trick or Treat at City Hall and Healthy Halloween at Head Start!

For more information about volunteering at Head Start feel free to email me at anewman@mail.roanoke.edu or for more service opportunities in Salem related to education and hunger stop into the RC Serve center. We are located in the back room of the Chaplin's office. We have numerous volunteer opportunities and we are sure to find the right one for you! Make sure to check out our other blogs for more information!

Samaritan Inn!

Hey everyone!
My name is Charla Henley and I am posting on behalf of the Samaritan Inn, which is an awesome place in downtown Roanoke run by Georgia and Wayne Meadows.  Samaritan Inn is a non-profit organization that offers a day shelter for the homeless and low income families of downtown Roanoke from the hot weather in the summer, cold weather in the winter, and everything in between.  While Wayne offers a bit of a sermon/preaching, Georgia runs a continental breakfast and a hot lunch Tuesday through Sunday each week.  Georgia also runs a thrift store next store to the Samaritan Inn, where she sells many different used items at very low costs, and a Clothes Closet every Thursday morning, where she gives socks, undergarments, toiletries, jackets, etc, to those who are in need of these items but may not have the means by which to purchase them.

Kaylani Miller hanging out with Wayne! 

So where do you come in? Good question! Georgia needs help with all that she's got going on over there! To take a bit of work out of her hands, I coordinate volunteers to help prep and serve lunch and cleanup thereafter three days out of the week.  On Thursdays, we head over to Samaritan at 12:15 pm and return around 2:00 pm, so if you're looking for something to do during your lunch block and you don't have a 1:10, Samaritan is where you need to be! On Saturdays and Sundays, we head to Samaritan at 11:15 am and return around 2:00 pm.  On Saturdays and Sundays, we get the pleasure of hearing Wayne preach before the meal is served.  If you're interested in helping out at any of these times, please send me an email (cehenley@mail.roanoke.edu) so I can fit you into the schedule!

Kaylani Miller and Samantha Reis serving on Saturday, November 10! 

Ellen Green and Joanna Peders making sandwiches to serve on Sunday, November 11!

Don't have the time to go to Samaritan? Not a problem! You can still help out the cause! Since the majority of the people who frequent Samaritan Inn are homeless, they carry all of their belongings on their person at all times.  For this reason, Georgia is forever in need of bags (backpacks, duffle bags, suitcases, etc.) to give away to these people in need.  If you happen to have some bags that you don't use, please consider donating them to this cause.  I will be hosting a campus-wide collection November 26th until the 30th so if you can bring some bags back from Thanksgiving break and drop them off at the Chaplain's Office, that would be amazing!!

As I said, there's plenty to do at the Samaritan Inn so if you'd like to help with the homeless of downtown Roanoke in any way please email me and I can certainly find something for you to help with!! 

I look forward to volunteering with you! <3 

~Charla Henley

Micah's Backpack

Hey everybody!

Micah's Backpack has been a successful endeavor so far this year. The program is currently serving two elementary schools right here in Salem (Salem Elementary & G.W. Carver). For those of you who unaware of what Micah's Backpack is all about; it's quite simple with a clear purpose. Micah's Backpack puts together bagged lunches that are delivered to these schools for kids who would go hungry on the weekends otherwise. The lunches are packed on Wednesday afternoons at 3:30 PM and delivered bright & early Thursday morning at 7:15 AM. So far each school has requested 20 lunches per week. The program communicates with a representative from both schools. The kid's parents pick up the lunches on Friday at some point or the kids themselves bring them home in their backpacks (hence the name). This is the 1st year that the program is up & running at Roanoke College. I am confident it will be the 1st of many successful years to come. Anyone interested in volunteering or helping out is encouraged to display their interest, help is always welcomed. I can be reached by my cell (781-223-2239) or at my e-mail (jaweaver@mail.roanoke.edu). Micah's Backpack is made possible by food donations, food drives, money donations & other ways as well. The impact it has on these kid;s lives is profound. Let's keep it going!

Alex W.

Family Promise of Greater Roanoke! :)

Family Promise of Greater Roanoke is an awesome new site working with RC Serve this year, and we're off to a fantastic start!

Family Promise of Greater Roanoke (formerly the Roanoke Valley Interfaith Hospitality Network) is a really cool program that works with down-on-their-luck families to help them find permanent housing and employment. In doing so, they have established a network of 28 faith communities - churches and synagogues - that each put up families for a week at a time and provide food and other necessities. Their office is located at the corner of Market St. and Clay St.

Roanoke's role with Family Promise is still in-transition. At the moment, we have a group of people that goes and tutors and plays with kids of families that are being helped. One family currently being helped has a really awesome little boy that loves ball games and drawing, and his two little siblings that are hilarious characters.

 Andrew Dittmar & Emily Brun, tutors

In addition, we go roughly once a week to help the office organize supplies, their attic, and their various toy and book collections. We also have a group that serves as middle-men for the program's furniture ministry. The furniture ministry takes donations from people around the Roanoke Valley to help furnish the permanent housing the program provides.

Wanna volunteer? Family Promise has three big needs right now:

Office aides: Wednesdays, 10 AM - 2 PM (stay for as long as you like/are able)
Office aides do traditional office administrative work--answering phone calls, filing paperwork, etcs.

Footsteps for Families Walk-a-Thon: October 21st, 2 PM - 4 PM
Come to help raise money for Family Promise! Walk, or help set-up/clean-up

Financial Planning Babysitters: Monthly, beginning October 25th, 5:45-8:15 PM
Babysit current/former Family Promise families' kids while their parents are at financial planning seminars provided by Family Promise.

If you'd like to help in any capacity, contact Andrew Dittmar!
ajdittmar@mail.roanoke.edu  or  (216) 316-2530

If you have time and a heart for service, we have a place for you!!

Site's

Hey everyone!

So all of our sites are off and running!
At Lincoln Terrace tutoring has begun and many volunteers will start in the coming weeks!

The sign

If your interested contact: Sarah Palmer (sepalmer@mail.roanoke.edu)

One of the buildings at Lincoln Terrace Elementary School

RoCo service is back and ready to serve!

Welcome back and welcome to the freshmen and transfers to the Roanoke College Service Office Blog!!!!  We will be updating you here about our various projects on campus and in Roanoke and Salem.  Hope to see you all coming out and joining us!

The house on Tuesday morning

Two service Corp members awaiting some more O-groups

Working on the siding!

One of the trailers used to move the house!

We had a great start to the semester at R-House.  Many freshmen came out to serve during orientation alongside Service Corps and volunteers.  The house has been moved from the lower Olin lot to the site.  Every weekend (except this one) you can go out and help finish up the house for the family!