Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200520
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
CHURCH, VOLUNTEERS TEAM IN TUTORING PROGRAM
At 41 and the mother of two honor students, Valerie Smith of Salem is going back to school.She says she's rusty on skills acquired years ago when she finished high school and started college. But Smith, a seamstress for a uniform company, wants to coach youth and adults so they can pass the General Equivalency Diploma Test.
Smith is getting her refresher course in EXCEL - for Extra Care Enhances Learning - a free tutoring and vocational-counseling ministry at First Baptist Church of Salem.
The care Christians feel for each other and the skills the education establishment requires are at the heart of the program that involves about 25 students and nearly as many volunteer teachers and counselors.
Smith said she wasn't embarrassed to seek help to upgrade her skills, though she might have been if she had not been in the caring atmosphere she has experienced in her eight years at the church.
It's hard to tell who is happier at the ministry's success - the students who benefit or the volunteers who give time on Tuesday and Thursday evenings to help children and adults upgrade their educational skills.
The program is based on a Christian view that people should use their talents, said the Rev. James A. Braxton, pastor. All teaching is free and inclusive, he emphasized.
All the volunteer tutors are black, but some white students come from Glenvar Elementary and Salem High schools. "There's nothing I want to get across more than that this program is for people of any race or religious background," said Gloria Lindsay, director of the EXCEL project who holds a doctorate in education and is a career counselor at Virginia Western Community College. "And we're also open for people in the city and nearby counties."
Braxton and his teacher-wife, Louise, said they prayed for a long time for guidance on how to use a church addition erected nearly four years ago.
Braxton said several teachers in the congregation had a commitment to helping weak students who lack motivation because of too little individual attention at home or in school.
When Lindsay - who moved to the Roanoke Valley nine months ago from her native North Carolina - found her way to First Baptist, it seemed Braxton's prayers were answered.
Lindsay, who had visited several other churches, said she found "life and warmth" at First Baptist.
The church, she said, is "small enough to know people and yet there's stability and a desire to try new things."
After Lindsey's arrival, about 20 men and women, such as William Horne and Shirley White, offered to top their already busy days as teachers to help with tutoring or program administration. Because no one gets paid, the church is able to keep program costs to about $3,000 a year.
"I see a great need from both youth and adults to learn skills that pay good money," said Horne, who tutors when needed but mainly screens students and volunteers.
"There's a continuing demand in the community for specific skills that are responsibly done. The church tries to instill pride," said Horne, a member of the church and electronics teacher at Arnold R. Burton Technology Center, the Roanoke County senior high school that trains students for jobs in industry and business.
White is working with a pair of boys 12 and 14 years old. One's weakness in math is being helped, she said. The other, a youth with special needs, "gets help in whatever seems most important."
While 19-year-old Latasha Mays studies at the church for her GED, her young daughter is cared for in the church's nursery. She is considering taking a course at Virginia Western Community College.
The church's youth director, Gerald Wade, visited many homes and encouraged parents of neighborhood youngsters to become involved in the tutoring and literacy project. She also arranges transportation for those accepted into the program.
Lindsay said the church can do even more if it gets additional tutors. She and Braxton screen tutors for good character as well as for proficiency in their subject.
Both prospective students and teachers can receive more information by calling 389-9648. Though the program officially operates from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, arrangements can be made to get help at other times, Lindsay said.
At least one other church in the Roanoke Valley has an ongoing tutoring program. Other churches have had programs in the past or have provided space for tutoring programs.
High Street Baptist Church offers one-to-one tutoring, by appointment, on Tuesday and Thursday nights at its Anchor of Hope Family Life Center.
Dolores Johns, a member of the church, said the service has helped about 225 students over the past three years.
About 30 tutors, mostly from Northwest Roanoke churches, have given time to the program and more students could be helped if there were more volunteers, Johns said.
Most participants at High Street are high school students who are getting help with difficult academic subjects on a one-to-one basis. Arrangements can be made for half-hour or one-hour sessions, she said.
Those interested in giving time or receiving help can call the church, 563-1444, for more information. All services are free.