Local kids in need of tutoring

Volunteers helping these kids be successful in school. These children will be the business owners of our country's future. DP

Contributed By Daniela Lee

Redandblack.com: Every weekday, Daisy wakes up and goes to school at Fourth Street Elementary where, like most kids in the fourth grade, she learns about subject-verb agreement, long division and the planets.

Unlike most kids however, when the school bus stops at Pinewood Estates around 3 p.m., Daisy steps off and heads, not for home, but for Oasis Católico Santa Rafaela, or “the Oasis,” as it is affectionately called.

Daisy and her mother emigrated from Mexico last year and they live with Daisy’s father in a mobile home community whose population is almost wholly comprised of Mexican-American immigrants.

Neither of Daisy’s parents speak English, so if she needs help with homework, she can either try to reason it out for herself using her limited English vocabulary or go to the Oasis, a tidy double-wide white trailer and convent where tutors are waiting to help her.

Daisy is only one of about 100 kids who have walked through the doors of the Oasis since its inception in Fall 2003.

Under the guidance of sisters Margarita, Marietta and Angela, children like Daisy have been able to improve their English and excel in their class work.

Though the sisters do a lot of work in other areas, the tutoring program relies heavily on the volunteer work of college students who agree to come one or two days a week from the hours of 3 to 5 p.m. and help the students in a safe and positive environment.
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