Paradise Cove residents throw a holiday fundraiser for School on Wheels, a organization that serves homeless children.
By Laura Tate/Editor
The tutor and the teenager
One of the longest serving tutors with School on Wheels describes her experience working with a 13-year-old girl through the program. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of the girl and her family.
Life has not been easy for Denise. She’s just turned l3 and is a 7th-grader in a local middle school. Like most homeless children, she has suffered personal tragedy and serious interruptions to her educational journey. But she’s bright and is a talented musician. With a little bit of luck, a lot of determination and the impact of School on Wheels, she’s looking at a true future. Thanks to the powerful combination of the girl’s own desire and Jane’s dedication and caring, the hopeless became hope. This is what being a volunteer tutor is all about. (From School on Wheels.)
I first started tutoring Denise two years ago. She was living with her mother in a Salvation Army shelter. Joy, her mom, was on probation (for what I never asked), and their living arrangements were dictated by the terms. Denise had recently lost her father. I later learned he’d been killed in a shootout with police. They’d arrived in California from an eastern state and Denise was about to enter a new school.
She was pretty uncertain about herself and was a little frightened. She thought that getting a tutor meant she wouldn’t go to school. She was happy to learn that it was supplemental. She read well, yet didn’t think she was a good student. But she loved her backpack and all the supplies (she still carries the backpack today).
I spent every Wednesday evening of that first year with Denise at the shelter. After about six months, Denise and Joy moved into a little house with Joy’s new boyfriend. Denise had her own room, which she really liked, but there were other people in the house and it was often noisy. So we used a local bookstore to study.
Denise is intuitively good at math and I encouraged her. She’s also musical, and I encouraged that, too. I told her that people who are musical are often mathematically inclined. I enjoyed going to her school choir recitals. That spring she got all As, except in math. She got an A+ there. She also took up the flute. Her mother first rented, then bought her a flute. She practiced diligently. During last school year, I bought her some private lessons. She was awarded with a trophy for “Most Improved Musician” in the school band. She was so proud. So was I. She was elevated to the woodwind group and went on a school trip to Hawaii. She also performed in a recital with her private teacher’s other students.
Just before last Christmas, the relationship between Joy and her boyfriend ended. Mother and daughter then moved into an RV permanently parked in the yard of Joy’s parents. I continued to tutor her there. Joy and her folks don’t get along too well, but the grandparents really care for Denise. Earlier in the year Joy somehow violated her parole and ended up in jail for four to six months. Denise stayed with her grandparents and continued in school. It was a hard time for her and I tutored her twice a week during this period. Still, her grades remained high. Joy might be a bit “flaky,” but is a loving mother. She and Denise are quite close.
This fall, we started a third year of tutoring. I went with Joy to the Back to School Night.
The classes are shockingly crowded. There are 48 students in her advanced algebra class!
There was no camp or vacation activity for Denise over the summer. She spent her time watching TV or visiting the mall and, as a result, she wasn’t her usual sharp self when entering the new school year. But after a couple of weeks of schoolwork, her energy level is up and she’s doing well. Even so, there are some big gaps in her body of knowledge. She thinks, for example, that the American Revolutionary War was fought against the Nazis. I buy her books at Christmas and for her birthday, hoping to help plug some of the gaps.
Sometimes I feel a little guilty in continuing to tutor Denise She is much better off than when we first met and I think my time might be better spent with someone more needy.
But I know I’m a very steadying influence on her academically. No one else in her family is even remotely academic and able to guide her. Thus, I continue to be necessary in her life.
Denise’s dream is to travel-to visit exotic places, to see the world. To realize this dream, her ambition is to become a photographer, or a travel agent. Some day, thanks to her own continuing resolve and the influence of School on Wheels’ tutoring, her dream could come true.
Serving one of the fastest growing segments of the homeless population in the United States-which is families with children-School on Wheels, a Malibu-based nonprofit organization that tutors homeless children, is in a conundrum that many nonprofit charities are facing-falling donations.
Since Sept. 11, charities nationwide have seen a significant drop in donations, and understandably so, says Agnes Stevens, founder of School on Wheels.
However, residents of Paradise Cove recently chipped in and had a fundraising holiday party for Stevens and her School on Wheels. Also chipping in was Bob Morris of Beach Caf and the Kissel Company, which co-hosted the event. (Earlier this year, the Kissel Company and Paradise Cove residents settled a lawsuit concerning rent issues and park maintenance, as well as others things.)
“It was such a great morale booster,” said Stevens. “It came at a great time. We were low on all the necessities that we needed for the children.”
School on Wheels was founded in 1993 by Stevens and serves children from kindergarten through 12th grade. One-on-one tutoring, backpack and school supplies, assistance in entering school and locating lost records, and parent guidance in educational matters regarding their children are all part of what the organization offers families and children who are homeless.
The program has grown from two tutors to more than 1,200 volunteers who tutor children living in 50 shelters in Los Angeles, as well as parts of Orange and Ventura counties.
Stevens said this past year the organization helped close to 3,000 children. And last week, 42 new teachers were orientated, which is a record, said Stevens.
“The whole purpose of our program is to relate to that child in their world in going to school,” said Stevens. (See accompanying story: The tutor and the teenager.)
School on Wheels also opened an office on skid row on Sept. 14. So far, Stevens said, they have helped enroll more than 50 children in school, five who have never attended. She cited the generosity of local hotel managers who have donated space to use for studying.
A highlight of the party last Wednesday was when Stevens was asked to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him her wish list for Christmas.
“[He] threw me off guard,” said Stevens. “He wanted answers to his questions.”
Debbie Uhler, a Paradise Cove resident, said Stevens told Santa about how many homeless children she is reaching.
Uhler said people brought school supplies and donations to help out School on Wheels.
She said it was the first of “let’s get along” events, referring to former animosities between neighbors, and between residents and the Kissel Company.
Paradise Cove resident Linda Pettitt “got it rolling,” said Uhler of the party. Then a committee of women put it all together.
“There’s been so much fighting over legal stuff for such a long time,” said Uhler. “It’s time for us to move on and enjoy this gorgeous place where we live.”