Agency: Catholic Charities

Description:

Join a group of volunteers on a done-in-a-day project led by a Hands On Greater Portland project leader. No advance training or ongoing commitment required, so sign up and participate in a project that fits your schedule. Need help signing up? Call 503-200-3355.

When was the last time you sat down with a child to work on a math problem or helped sound out a 3-syllable word while being read a story? This is a great opportunity to do just that. Spend a couple hours with the kids at Kateri Park housing community, helping them with their school assignments.

Kateri Park is an affordable housing community, located just south of Powell on 28th Avenue. It so happens that in more than half of the apartments, the residents are refugees. The largest group is from East Africa, and we also have some Burmese families. The refugee families face formidable obstacles now that they live in the USA. Most of them speak very little English, and many of the adults are illiterate in any language. The kids are learning, bit by bit, how to speak, read and write English, but they are really struggling.

To help them, Kateri Park runs a "Homework Club" M-Th from 3-5, where kids can work on their assignments. "Homework club" is enormously popular. Recently we've had over 40 kids stop by for help in the course of an afternoon. It can get loud but it's a lot of fun!

Sign up below to join a group of Hands On Greater Portland volunteers for an afternoon of fun with some awesome and energetic kids. If you enjoy it, there are always opportunities to expand this one-time project into an on-going volunteer opportunity, like the following:
Ongoing Homework Helpers at Kateri Park

Volunteers must be 16 years of age or over to attend this project. While no teaching experience is required, this project does require a fair bit of self-direction as the students are at all different stages of learning.

This project is great for volunteers 16 and older. Volunteers under 18 must attend with a parent/adult chaperone. Volunteers under age 18 will need to bring a waiver signed by a Parent/Guardian; please click on the link below to download:

Youth Volunteer Release Form

Impact Areas: Children & Youth, Children & Youth, Community Enrichment

Interests: The interests recommended for this project are:
Youth & Family Services, Community Enrichment, Affordable Housing, Children & Youth, Family Services, Education, Diversity

Skills: The skills helpful for participation in this project are:
Language Skills, Good with Kids, Working with People, Computers, Recreation, Facilitation/Conversation, Reading