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Ashleigh Smith listens to Lexly Vanessa Lugo, 10, as she sounds out a word while reading a book in the One on One Reading Program at the House of Neighborly Service in South Tucson.
Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
The House of Neighborly Service needs volunteers to work with elementary-school-age children to improve their reading and writing skills. Training is provided. The organization is also seeking sponsorships of $20 to $25 per month to help cover the costs of field trips, meals and other activities for youths and seniors. Additionally, the house has an extensive wish list, ranging from a printer and nonviolent computer games to household items (lotions, soaps, cleaners) and supplies for arts and crafts. For more information, call 623-0100.
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to: House of Neighborly Service, 243 W. 33rd St., Tucson, AZ 85713.

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Profile: One on One Reading (House of Neighborly Service) How you can help

Children on the path to literacy

By Loni Nannini
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.10.2006
Ashleigh Smith and Amy Myers know firsthand that volunteers are making a world of difference right here in Tucson.
The Peace Corps Fellows, who collectively spent almost six years volunteering in Central and South America, are now involved in a work-study program in One on One Reading at the House of Neighborly Service.
"I think it is beneficial for everyone to experience different ways of life and different ways of thinking about things," said Smith, 25, who spent 2 1/2 years teaching basic health and hygiene, nutrition and environmental education to elementary schoolchildren in Guatemala before coming to Tucson last year. "It is good to experience things outside of your normal day-to-day life. It helps us become more understanding of one another."
Smith said her Guatemala experience has been invaluable during her work tutoring elementary schoolchildren at the House of Neighborly Service. She and Myers, who are University of Arizona graduate students in the College of Education's department of language, reading and culture, said their goal is to put children on a path to success through bilingualism and bi-literacy.
"To help them really start to value themselves is the goal, and if they get the support they need, they will be good readers and good students," Myers said. "We want the kids to still value their home culture and the capabilities they have in Spanish and understand that bilingualism and bi-literacy is a huge advantage."
Myers spent more than three years as a Life Skills Educator and library coordinator for secondary students in Nicaragua and Guyana.
Myers said she loves the warmth of the culture in South Tucson, as well as the enthusiasm and "chaos" of the children at the House of Neighborly Service, which has been providing social services since 1946 and served 862 youths last year.
The nonprofit organization offers a wide range of services for families, children and the elderly: In addition to after-school tutoring and mentoring, youth services include the Second Chance Tattoo Removal program, a Native American youth program, a Baile Folklorico group that performs nationwide and a youth basketball league.
Services for the elderly include one of the only volunteer care-giving programs for Spanish-speaking seniors on the South Side, which provides grocery delivery, a meals program, transportation, and assistance with yard work and housekeeping. The organization also operates a food pantry.
Fund Developer Gale Thomssen said the House of Neighborly Service is an integral part of the South Tucson community, a place where parents feel comfortable bringing their children. She said volunteers are its lifeblood.
"In order for a nonprofit to have one-on-one programs, especially for the children, you have to have volunteers. The kids really need one-on-one attention when they are trying to learn English. They have great ideas but need help focusing and putting them on paper, and if a volunteer is excited about being here, that kind of attention makes all the difference," Thomssen said.
Myers agreed that the children really appreciate all that volunteers do.
"It means so much to the kids, and having been a Peace Corps volunteer and working with different populations, I would not be anywhere near the person I am unless I had taken the time to volunteer. . . . It makes you value your own life," she said.
● Contact freelance writer Loni Nannini at ninch@comcast.net.
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