THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609100141
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 50 lines
If there was a thank-you card big enough to express his feelings, Charles Payne would send it to the Making A Difference Foundation.
A 1994 Norview High School graduate, Payne says he's well on his way to realizing his dream of a career in physical therapy thanks to the Virginia Beach-based non-profit organization that helped him qualify for admission to Old Dominion University two years ago.
Now, this Norfolk man is a part-time student at Tidewater Community College and works at a sports equipment outlet full time.
``Without Making A Difference, I would have gotten into school, but it might not have been then,'' he said.
``He's one of our real success stories,'' MAD director Bob Bobulinski said.
Payne brought his Scholastic Assessment Test scores up by a full 120 points after working with MAD's volunteer tutors for just one school year. He was in the first wave of Hampton Roads students to take advantage of the tutoring and mentoring program.
Since its inception four years ago, MAD has worked with more than 7,000 students and seen 2,017 of them off to college. The group has just received a $25,000 state School-to-Work grant that enables it to expand its program and provide scholarships to deserving students. Payne is one of those students.
He'll get a $1,000 this year to continue his studies at TCC.
MAD now has sites in all South Hampton Roads cities except Norfolk, though many Norfolk students travel to evening and Saturday MAD classes in other cities.
Christopher Lundy, for example, spent his summer vacation at his grandmother Ruth DeLaine's house in Virginia Beach. She took Christopher, an 8-year-old Sherwood Forest Elementary School second-grader, to MAD classes at Kempsville High School.
``He enjoyed learning for a change,'' DeLaine said. ``Before, he wouldn't pick up a book, but now he has a library card and reads better.''
Lundy got the kind of attention he needed from MAD tutors, DeLaine said.
``They're flexible, like if he wants to talk about something or something's giving him trouble,'' tutors work with him one-on-one, DeLaine said.
The influx of new state money will let MAD open new sites in South Hampton Roads and on the Peninsula. The money also will provide funds to offer scholarships to deserving students and help purchase a van to transport students to study sites when transportation is a problem. Sometime this winter, MAD will host a college and job fair for local kids.
For information, call 474-0392. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Charles Payne is seeking a career in physical therapy. by CNB