SCHOOL ON WHEELS CELEBRATES ITS SENIOR VOLUNTEERS

Retired and Senior Volunteers are the backbone of local nonprofit organization

California, December 4th 2013  - As the holidays approach, we think of giving to others.  There can be no better way than the way senior volunteers in our community give.  For the vast majority of seniors who volunteer their service to others helps define who they are.  Nearly 100 % of senior volunteers say that volunteering is important to their lives.  One in five senior volunteers says it's the most important thing they do. 

Quietly and with thought towards a better future for the community, hundreds of School on Wheels senior tutors are currently volunteering homeless children in Los Angeles County as well as throughout Southern California.  Because of their understanding of children, their rich intellectual histories and their dedicated commitment, School on Wheels deeply values retired volunteers.

Here are a few of their stories... 

Luisa Latham is a professional in the education field, a retired school administrator and college educator.  With more time, Luisa decided to do something different to help others; she described it as desiring to work in a "microcosm" rather than the "macrocosm" she was familiar with.  Luisa says she remembered reading an article about School on Wheels.  So, when she was ready to volunteer, she began searching online for this organization that had so interested her. For the past year Luisa has been a School on Wheels volunteer in the San Fernando Valley area.  Read about Luisa here.

Richard "Dick" Bennett's School on Wheels experience has been very different from Luisa's.  He volunteers in the Glendale/ Pasadena area. Throughout his professional career, Dick worked in business, traveling throughout the world.  Upon retiring, he began volunteering at the Gene Autry Museum, taking students between fourth and eighth grades on tours of the facility.  Dick found that he enjoyed the children and wanted to make a bigger impact on young lives.  For the past five years, Dick has been a School on Wheels volunteer.  In fact this year Dick was awarded a Presidential Service award through School on Wheels for the number of hours he volunteered...

John Schemm began his career as an aerospace engineer, working for over 15 years for Northrop.  When the company relocated, John decided to follow a new career path and became a high school teacher. He taught mathematics, algebra and geometry in a local high school for another ten years before retiring.  Now John volunteers for School on Wheels in the South Los Angeles area, a place where more tutors are always needed. Just as homeless children move often, John found himself changing locations to volunteer with School on Wheels. Two of the shelters where he tutored closed, disrupting not only the families living there but also the volunteers who go each week and the bonds they create with their students...

 To read all their stories in full please visit our blog - http://www.schoolonwheels.org/blog

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School on Wheels, Inc.